Goodbye Barry - Welcome Home AMERICA!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Blacks, whites show prejudices along racial divide - - and this is news because?

I was just reading an Associated Press article on the Internet, bearing the above amazingly un-insightful headline. And, the story beneath the headline was equally un-insightful. But, it was the use of a statistic that caught my eye -

"Four of every 10 white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, calling them "lazy," or "violent" or blaming them for the ills of black America, according to the AP-Yahoo poll."

Exactly where is the surprise in that? Chances are that four of every ten Americans hold a least a partly negative view toward their neighbors, regardless of their race. Here's the deal ...

  • There is no genetic, inborn dislike of the unlike. Racism, on all sides, is taught by those considered to be authority figures within the family, neighborhood and community. This indoctrination generally begins informally, at an age pre-dating that of understanding, through casual conversations among adults overheard by small children. Wishing to please the adults, the children memorize and practice the litany of hatred which they have heard, hoping for positive recognition.
  • It seems to be a part of human nature, at least in many people, to want to look down the social ladder and see somebody beneath them. If there's nobody there, they will - in their own mind - place somebody there. Nobody wants to be on the bottom rung.
  • There is resentment for some historical events within all ethnic and racial groups. Some of these events are well-known outside the group primarily affected by it, others are relatively obscure and well-hidden from 'outsiders '. The holocaust, and enslavement of black Africans in post-colonial America, are probably the two best-known. The Turkish war of genocide against the Armenians in 1915-1916, at the cost of 1.5 million Armenian lives, is probably one of the least remembered. The Irish and Italians weren't exactly received with open arms when they immigrated to the USA. But, we tend to forget about those things which happened before most of us were born ... if we ever learned about them in the first place. The whiners get the attention.
  • Revisionist history has become a fun subject for our liberal left educational/indoctrination centers to foist upon the innocent young. The basic philosophy there is one of - if you don't like the way things happened in the past, rewrite history the way you would have liked it to have been! The hope there is probably that 'if a thing is ignored long enough, perhaps it will become less noticeable in the future.' If you ignore a scab it will heal more quickly ... but if you ignore a cancer, it may just kill you!
  • Most people have had at least one negative social interaction with someone of a different race or ethnicity ... and probably 20 times that many with people of their own race/similar ethnicity, but which do they remember? (That was, of course, a hypothetical question which I shall now answer ...) They remember the one with the member of a different race, because there is something about them that makes it more memorable. It may be the color of their skin ... or the way they talk ... or their manner of dress. Regardless of what it may be, there is something about them that causes us to make a mental generalization about all the others who may resemble that person. That's just another negative aspect of human nature. Here's a surprise for some of you readers -human beings are not perfect, and the vast majority don't even strive for - or desire - perfection. It's easier to go with the flow of one's peers. 'Going with the flow' requires less objective thought, provides less emotional turmoil and less social conflict than taking an oppositional stand. On a slightly more positive note, you remain on good social terms with your peers and reap the rewards of being accepted as one of the like-minded masses.

Almost every race and ethnic group has been on the receiving end of prejudice somewhere and at some point in time. And many - besides people of African descent - have ancestors who were slaves. What would be newsworthy, would be if the media stopped fanning the flames of racial discord with insipid,sophomoric articles such as this one!

There must be some point in time at which we are all ready to put the injustices of the past to rest. Resentment of things that happened to ancestors 150 to 2,500 years ago is ridiculous! Yes, it was a bad deal. But, as the Irish and Italians have done, get on with your life - the one YOU have in the here and now. Living in the past is counterproductive, in that it will not resurrect your ancestors ... it will just keep feeding resentment. And that resentment seems to cross-feed to those you resent - who go merrily about resenting the resenters for their resentment, which only feeds that resentment, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

But, this is just the way I see things. I may be as socially myopic as most people seems to be. I'm not certain that I'm finished with this subject yet, but I'm going to post it anyway. I can always come back and continue it at a later time in a separate post.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

DO YOU SUFFER FROM POLITICAL BURN OUT?

Well, I do. As you may have noticed, I am not a fan of Barack NObama. I do not belong to the mindless masses that have deified NObama ... nor do I belong to the legions of well-meaning do-gooders who incorrectly believe that NObama is the answer to the questions that have not been asked of him - or answered by him! NObama is totally devoid of substance - period. End of discussion. He is a 'dream weaver' ... he plays to the emotions of the audience that he is addressing today. What do I like least about NObama? It's a tossup ... it's like asking what one likes least about a root canal. Maybe I should make a list -

1. His apparent lack of serious commitment to the culture and traditions of this country ... the country which he hopes to lead.

2. His racism. "What? A black racist! How can that be?", you ask yourself. You may be surprised to discover that racism is not the sole domain of the well-known Red-Necked WASP. NObama has demonsrated his racism by his own words and actions. He has denied the half of him that is white at every opportunity. He "resented" his white Mother, and refers to his maternal Grandmother - the woman who raised him - as "a typical white person".

After that it becomes a goulash of reasons: poor judgment, as evidenced by those he keeps close and calls friend or mentor; lack of governmental executive experience at any level; no military education or experience whatsoever (and people think he is qualified to be Commander-In-Chief of our military?); a strong affinity toward Islam - the same Islam that is sending terrorists around the world - "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." Barack Obama; etc.

NObama cannot ever deny being a Muslim - he was, and it is public knowledge. The problem is compounded by this ... "there is no dispute among either ancient or modern Moslem scholars that under Islamic law, a murtadd, 'one who turns his back on Islam,' an apostate, must be put to death. Irtidad, apostasy, is committing treason against God, and traitors deserve to be killed." That would certainly create a problem for his achievement of longevity ...

Then there's John McCain ... whose main problem seems to be his longevity. McCain is ... mature ... and probably approaching his "Best if used by:" date. Perhaps he has passed that date already. But, at least McCain has proven his devotion to our country, our culture, and our traditions. Maybe these aren't the highest recommendations to become President, but they beat none, hands down.


I'm not a big fan of McCain, but I see a terrible future for America and Americans under a NObama administration. It really hurts the country when we are forced to choose between for the marginally qualified or the unqualified. Maybe one of the 3rd Party candidates would have been a better offering to our citizens. Sadly, our citizenry lacked the good sense to ignore the offerings of both the Democratic and Republican Party. We will, therefore, always have a "settle-for" Presidency. Russian roulette, anyone?

Monday, September 15, 2008

FreddieMac and FannieMae, Doodah, Doodah ...

Why is it, that corporate CEO's who (mis)manage the corporation for which they are ultimately responsible into bankruptcy or government bailout, always get a multi-million dollar departure gift? This is especially true when the product being managed is MONEY!

Let me see if I can figure this process out ...

1. I have been appointed as the CEO of XYZ Financial Management Group. The "job" pays me $22M simoleans per year.
2. In return for that outrageous sum of money, I am responsible for insuring that the corporate assets are invested in such a fashion that the corporation receives a statistically reasonable return on said investments.
3. I achieve the above by managing the human resources immediately below me in the Corporate Senior Management hierarchy - the Chief Financial Officer; the Chief Operating Officer; the Chief Administrative Officer, etc. - and I am responsible directly to the Chairman of the Board of Directors (or I may, in fact, BE him ... in which case I am responsible to the stockholders).
4. I play golf Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, drop by the office about 11:30am, then have a "business lunch" with my corporate cronies at "The Club" from around 1:00pm until ... oh, 2:30-ish. After such a sumptuous meal, a good massage is always in order, and I get back to the office around 4pm and waste the next 15 minutes waiting for my chauffeur to arrive so he can drive me home.
5. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the only change to my routine is that I play racquet ball in the mornings.

As you can plainly see, my job is one of responsibility, as opposed to effort. I get paid for accepting responsibility for those beneath me, who have a more realistic level of responsibility. Their jobs require that their respective divisions actually accomplish something! Using a stagecoach analogy; they are the horses that pull the coach ... I am the coachman who chooses the direction in which they travel. I do proportionately little, but then, I don't work for hay. However, if the stagecoach doesn't reach the appropriate destination, can I blame the horses?

How many of us have held jobs where we were rewarded for our failures? Let's have a show of hands ... just one hand! (Okay Barack, you can put your hand down now.) These "Golden Parachutes" are ridiculous. (Basically, a A golden parachute is a contractual agreement between a company and an employee (usually an upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. Sometimes, certain conditions, typically a change in company ownership, must be met, but often the cause of termination is unspecified. These benefits may include severance pay, cash bonuses, stock options, or other benefits. They are designed to reduce negative incentives should the company change hands, not to protect some corporate Phoenix who burns his company nest! There should be federal regulations allowing corporations or receivers to negate a Golden Parachute clause when the company fails due to the action/inaction of any, several, or all executive officers. If XYZ Financial Management Group can't file criminal charges against me, and/or my subordinates, they should at least be able to refuse any further compensation. I have destroyed their company through my own mismanagement/non- management of available resources!

But, that's just the way I see things ... am I wrong?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

2,347 THINGS THAT REALLY CHEESE ME OFF!

Well, this will be a start, anyway. I may not live long enough to list all the things that cheese me off - I'm doubtful that Methuselah lived that long!

1. Outsourcing American Jobs
- There was a song, popular in the late 1950's-early 1960's, called "Love Makes The World Go 'Round", and the title was spot-on. Love is what makes the world go 'round! However, it's not the kind of love the song was touting. It's not spiritual love ... or compassionate love ... or brotherly love. What makes the world go 'round is greed ... the love of MONEY and/or POWER! And, they who have it wish to keep it ... no, not just keep it ... amass more of it! Those individuals and corporate entities are as much "junkies" as are those who are shooting, snorting, huffing and otherwise absorbing toxic chemicals into their bodies. The more they get, the more they require. Do they care about the American worker? No. What they do care about is expanding their control of ever-increasing sums of their "drug of choice" - money or power. Now you should familiarize yourself with the term R.O.I. (also ROI) - Return On Investment. ROI is what allows these junkies to feed their acquisition habit, and the greater the ROI the more they can feed from it. How do they get the ROI up? By lowering production costs, and/or increasing the price of the end-product. A manufacturer can only raise the price so far before their product becomes less desirable to the greatest number of customers, and the market begins to shrink, which is counterproductive. So, reducing production costs is the obvious way to increase profit margins. This is most easily accomplished by eliminating union (or similar relatively high-paying) jobs at the production facility, and subbing them out to some 3rd world country - where anybody making $1 per hour is considered to be in the upper-middle class! What's worse, is that our government gives those who ship American jobs overseas tax incentives to do so! What SHOULD our government be doing for the American people?
a. Eliminate all tax incentives for jobs outsourced overseas.
b. For each job outsourced to another country, the corporation should be required to pay full unemployment benefits for one American worker.
c. All products manufactured by an American company outside the United States of America, must either be subject to a 100% tax to allow importation, or be for consumption solely outside the borders of the 50 United States.

2. Immigration Issues - Our government shouldn't even be considering another amnesty program for illegal aliens! They have already proven their total disregard for our laws and our sovereignty, by not complying with the established procedures for legal entry into the USA. They are therefore by definition, criminals. No excuse is acceptable. If they are qualified political refugees, there are already procedures in-place to effect their rapid admittance into the USA. "I want a better paying job.", is not an acceptable reason to be here without the proper documentation! Let their country create that "better paying job". It is not incumbent upon the citizens of the United States to supply the entire world with better paying jobs!

What SHOULD our government be doing about illegal immigration and border control?
a. First, be honest about the designation of ILLEGAL ALIENS. They are no more "undocumented workers", than looters are "unreceipted shoppers", or than bank robbers are simply making "unestablished account withdrawals"! Call a spade a spade ... it's not a "manually operated personal excavation device". If they were not born in this country, they are aliens - and, if they are here in violation of our laws, they are ILLEGAL ALIENS. What's so difficult to understand about that?
b. Round them up and send them all back to where they came from. The bleeding heart, liberal left in this country cries, "That's too expensive. We can't afford it!" We seem to have been able to "afford" the millions of dollars per day it takes to keep them in welfare and health benefits. One months savings in benefits could send 50% of them back where they came from, and in 60 days our entire problem would be solved ... IF we followed up with "c.", below.
c. Secure our borders - both southern and northern. Although the vast majority of illegal entries - of which we are aware - come from Mexico, a significant number have been slipping over our northern border as well. Augment the Border Patrol with National Guard personnel. That's what the "National Guard" is supposed to be doing - guarding the nation. Isn't it odd that the actual name of the organization states that so clearly? And, they can do that best along our borders.
d. Those who are still interested in acquiring US citizenship, may take a number and move to the back of the line. When your background investigation has been completed, and your number is called, you may then enter the United States of America, take a citizenship test - in ENGLISH - and pick up your Green Card, just like all the other people outside the USA who wish to live inside the USA. You get no special privileges for having violated our sovereignty and breaking our laws.

3. Press "1" for English - This is the United States of America! English is our de facto National language, whether Congress wants to recognize it as such or not. What number do I press for Amharic, Swahili, Thai, Mandarin Chinese or Esperanto? If they can't speak English, why are they using a telephone in the United States to call an American business? And, what about all the other world languages? Are they so insignificant that they don't rate a button to press?
By the time we finished listening to all the button pushing options, we'd have forgotten who we were calling and what we were calling them about! Political correctness has no practical place in the real, work-a-day world.

What should be done about it? We could boycott all businesses that offer language options ... but, that would mean we would conduct business with almost nobody, which would leave us very needy. So, I offer the following alternatives:
a. Press the * button at the voice prompt. This usually connects you with an operator, which gives you the opportunity to complain to somebody about having to press 1 to speak English in the USA.
b. Visit, write, email or telephone your elected representatives, and demand that they support English as the official language of the United States of America.
c. Modify the current recorded message to something like, "If you do not speak English, please dial the appropriate code for your country of origin, followed by any numbers you might wish to press. Your call will eventually be answered by a speaker of your native tongue." or perhaps, "If you wish to speak any language other than English, press 1, and then hold your breath until somebody answers. If you wish to function in our country, learn the language!" (I, personally, have been to more than a dozen, non-English speaking foreign countries, and have always tried to learn as much of their language as I could during the length of time I was there. People all over the world appreciate it when you show enough of an interest in their language and culture to make an attempt to learn it! It tells them that they count with you, and that you respect them enough to make the effort.)

4. Those Who Strive To Eliminate The American culture - The same culture which made us the most powerful, productive, and technologically advanced country in the world. There's an old saying ... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Well, it ain't broke ... yet. But, if the left-wing whiners are permitted to have their way, it will be before long! All one has to do is look around them to see the beginnings of the end.
a. Our public schools are teaching crap courses in 'alternative lifestyles', instead of conducting a reality education, and teaching hard-core, necessary life skills. History has become an elective course in many places, because it hasn't been re-written to reflect the way some people would like it to have happened. Our educational institutions have been converted over the years to indoctrination centers for the weak-willed masses, teaching our children what to think rather than how to think. Discipline has become non-existent in our schools, hence the attacks on both students and teachers by other students. Weapons carried into schools by students was unheard of 50 years ago, yet today they're getting through the doors with assault rifles! What's wrong with this picture? If you can't see it, then show the picture to Stevie Wonder - even a blind man can 'see' that our country is rapidly deteriorating.
b. Our legal system has imploded. Why doesn't our system work the way in which it was designed ... to protect the innocent and punish the guilty? Because those making our laws - our legislators - have made our laws Labyrinthine in order to protect their own interests. Once upon a time, our laws were relatively simple. If you were found guilty of crime "X" then you were sentenced to punishment "X" ... end of story. Today we have ten exceptions to each crime, and sixteen definitions for each word used to describe the particular crime. Our laws have become so complicated that the average person stands no chance of understanding them without acquiring the services of an attorney. "And why is that?", you ask. Because 90+% of our legislators - the rascals making our laws - are attorneys themselves. Liberal judges are now making law from the bench, rather than enforcing the laws that are on the books, and the liberal media are cheering them on. Justice for the victim has become secondary to the rights of the criminal! If one ever goes to court seeking "justice" he or she will leave the court in bitter disappointment. Courts no longer dispense justice, they dispense law - perhaps even dispensing a law that the presiding judge just then decided we needed, so he/she created it on-the-spot.

5. Those Who Feel They Need Special Entitlements - This is a group that really frosts my apples!
a. If you are a cab driver, your JOB is to pick up people with your cab, and deliver them to their desired destination. If you have an objection to doing that, perhaps you should find a different line of work ... like working at the local 7-11.
b. Wash your feet at home before you leave for that flight to Afdinkistaq ... don't expect the taxpayers to 'foot' the bill for a foot washing facility at the airport. If it's that important to you, put your foot in that sink ... or, better yet, wash your feet in one of those large, white, flushable ceramic bowls on the floor inside the restroom. That's why they call them "restrooms" instead of bathrooms ... you aren't supposed to bathe in there, you morons! If this is inconvenient for you, tough! You can avoid that little inconvenience by not traveling with human beings.
c. You don't deserve a driver's license unless there is a recognizable picture on it. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say you have the right to a driver's license. Operating a motor vehicle on our roads, streets and highways is a privilege, not a right. A picture of a pair of eyes peering out from inside a burkah is not proper identification, morons! If it was, anybody should be able to have their driver's license picture taken with a bandana covering their chin, mouth and nose, wearing dark glasses, and a ball cap ... or wearing clown makeup. If you don't like following the same rules that everybody else must follow, return to the sand pit you came from!

6. Other Assorted Whiners -
a. Neither I, nor any of my ancestors for whom I can account, presently owns, or has at any time owned, slaves. Your request for "reparations" for slavery is therefore denied. Suck it up, get an education, get a job, and then get on with your life! If you want reparations, take that matter up with your African brothers who sold your ancestors into slavery.
b. PETA - as far as I'm concerned, that acronym stands for People Eating Tasty Animals! That's why human beings are at the top of the food chain, you idiots! I don't believe in, or in any way support the mistreatment of animals ... even those specifically raised with the intent to eventually become food. All creatures should meet as instantaneous and pain-free a demise as we can possibly provide for them. But Bubba, we eat that which does not eat us first, and nowhere does it say that man shall not eat meat. There are some religious taboos about what kinds of meat we should not eat, but there are no laws prohibiting eating anything.
c. ACLU - the American Communist Lawyers Union. You people should be run out of the country, period. Your organization was founded by Roger Baldwin, a card-carrying communist whose avowed purpose was to destroy our way of life ... "We are for SOCIALISM, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the state itself. We seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the SOLE CONTROL of those who produce wealth. COMMUNISM is the goal." Another Baldwin quote goes, “Do steer away from making it look like a Socialist enterprise…We want also to look like patriots in everything we do. We want to get a good lot of flags, talk a good deal about the Constitution and what our forefathers wanted to make of this country, and to show that we are really the folks that really stand for the spirit of our institutions.” (Roger Baldwin’s advice in 1917 to Louis Lochner of the socialist People’s Council in Minnesota.) Don't try to convince ME that the ACLU is the least bit interested in American Civil Liberties ... unless it's in destroying those civil liberties.

7. The AARP - for providing $5,000,000 as a financial gift to the above ACLU. Therefore, I will never be a member of that organization!

Well, it's a beginning ... only 2,340 more things to go!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Pundits Praise Palin's Political Prowess

A recent headline on the Internet read, "Poll: 51 percent say reporters are trying to hurt Palin". Well, DUH! YA THINK? The liberals, which includes about 99% of the U.S. media, are scared to death of this woman! And for good reason ...

1. She's a woman ... which effectively offsets NObama's advantage of being a person of color ... whatever color that may be. Yellow is the one that comes immediately to mind.

2. Sarah Palin is every bit as intelligent as NObama, the significant difference being that she has used her intelligence to hold several responsible jobs.

3. She has actual experience running government at several levels - a claim NObama cannot make.

4. She is as effective a public speaker, and exudes as much charisma as NObama. The difference here is that when Palin finishes speaking, you actually KNOW what she said!

5. She, as the GOP's VP nominee, has more experience in governance than the Democrat's Presidential nominee ... who has never held a real job.

These are just a few of the reasons the liberal media is nothing but negative about Sarah Palin. They fear that her presence will have such an impact on the Presidential election, that Emperor NObama may actually lose! Her pregnant daughter has nothing to do with anything - the daughter is not running for any office. Her being a mother has nothing more to do with her ability to be the Vice President than NObama's being a father should bring his candiacy into question. Her husband got a DUI 22 years ago ... how is this somehow worse than NObama's admission to using cocaine at about the same point in time?

Anybody with any intelligence should be able to see through NObama's Hollywood Hype Campaign. Here is a man who is so self-important that he actually believes what he reads and hears about himself in the left-wing media. Barack, Jesus loves you ... everybody with a brain thinks you're an idiot!