So beginith the rant:
I had the great opportunity to travel to Kenya years ago. To make this trip I had to file papers and get a passport. I also had to spend hard earned cash to be stabbed with a number of needles to make sure I didn't die from some awful disease. And lastly I had to go to a doctor and receive a prescription for an anti malaria drug to keep me from getting mosquitoed to death.
The trip another continent took me to three major airports, all which required that I show my papers proving I was an American Citizen and had received my shots. When I arrived in country my passport was stamped with various visas to let any authority know why I was in country and how long I was allowed to stay. I was informed that when traveling I should keep my papers safe, but readily accessible just in case I was asked to present them to anyone. I was a white person in a black nation and this didn't at all seem out of the ordinary. In fact I never once gave the idea that I could be asked to present my passport and visa to anyone another thought, it just seemed like a normal and logical request that could be made to me at anytime.
I drive a car. For those of you who do not let me fill you in on the basic premise. To operate a vehicle (with the exception of certain agricultural options) one must be of a certain age and pass a driving test to show that you have the basic ability to understand the laws that govern our roads and highways and preform basic driving functions with a vehicle. When finish this process you are given a license to carry with you whenever you are driving. When using the road system in any of the United States you can be asked if, and must be able to prove, you have completed this age and testing requirement. The standard and legal way is by presenting a government document to the agent. I have been asked only a few times, unsolicited, to show my proof of legal drivemanship. (by unsolicited I mean not because I broke a law to provoke an officer to inquire about my legitimacy as a driver... that has happened far more than a "few" times) These unsolicited verifications of my legal driving status have all been at a road block, but since the roads are government owned I feel that they have the right to make sure that all who are using them are doing so legally. As annoying as this is I have given it very little thought.
I once used a PO box. To obtain this mailbox I was asked to present two forms of government ID to show that I was who I said I was. I didn't see this as weird or in any way a violation of my rights. I recently found myself taking a job and needing to file employment papers with an HR firm. This firm also asked for two forms of government issued ID to prove that I was who I said I was.
Why am I listing these examples? Simple. In the state of Arizona they recently passed a law that allowed state officials to actually enforce the Federal Laws on people who are in our country illegally and fail to produce an ID in a situation that calls for one. Any of the above mentioned scenarios can be used as probable cause to ask a person to prove their citizenship or legal visiting status. Those who fail will be detained and deported.
Some see this as racist... I see it as... DOING WHAT EVERY FREAKING COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET DOES!!!! EVERY COUNTRY REGULATES VISITORS AND IMMIGRANTS EVEN MEXICO! As a country you have to... Well, you don't have to if you country has a system of government or a standard of living that will not be ill affected by a flood of people who are not part of any regulatory system.
The issue I have here is this. If I were ever asked to prove my citizenship, and as I mentioned above I have been, I will proudly show my papers. I have read and listened to people compare this law to the Nazi's and them gun butting people who refuse to show their papers as they are walking down the street. Seriously... Is a law designed to get a handle on a flood of illegal immigrants by enforcing the laws that are already on the federal books fascist? Or is the real reason this is a big deal is because the people are brown? I know I'm white and therefor racist by nature... Well, at least that's what I've been taught, because we all know only white people can be racists.
If Montana or Maine made laws that required this of the Canadian immigrants would that lead to such an outcry? (NO.. the answer is no. Because both states have laws that do the very same thing... Well more to the point they just enforce the Federal Laws on immigration) What about the poor Canadians who are just coming down here to escape their high taxes and weak health care and bilingualness? (French... uhhh torture) Where are the celebrities boycotting the states? Where are the protesters? Sorry Frenchy you're white and therefor you have to obey the letter of the law, but had you been born brown you could cry racism and make us all feel terrible that we are abusing you by holding you to the same standards as other races...
The more I write the more sickened I become... I mean what kind of sick race hater am I to think we should treat all people the same under the law regardless of skin color? Who would ever dream of the blasphemous idea of judging someone on their actions rather than their skin color? I'm glad that type of thought is limited to us fringe white racists... I mean NO person of color would ever utter such ideas of injustice...
To wrap up. If I were in another country illegally I would be deported... Especially if I were fraudulently abusing that countries social programs put in place to help its citizenship. I would be deported and held to the full letter of the law, but only because I'm white.
So endith the rant:
Friday, May 7, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
way to go
So beginith the rant:
I have absolutely no love loss for the creepy fundamental religious zealots. To be PC (even though I don't really care) I truly mean every fundamental religious zealot from Islamic to Jewish, from Christian to Atheist, From Buddhist to Scientologist. The moral of this story is if you reach that special place of militant following where by you find that your brain has been damaged to the point that violence and murder with threats and terror are considered acceptable practices for conversion to your belief system I truly care nothing about you. I do not hate these people (only because my Lord really frowns on hating. Unless it's the hating of evil, but seeing how its also a big no no to assume someone is evil... you know that judge not line...) I only ignore them and carry no weight of respect for them.
Now I know religion can be twisted by leaders and used to enslave and incite people to do awful things, horrendous things ranging from mass murder to blind judging and shunning. And I know that it is not the religion's fault, and I know that trying to stop this abuse by writing laws or shutting down hateful sects would open the door for people to start attacking legitimate religious organizations just because they didn't like their message. It's a slippery slope.
Having said that I will now chime in on the South Park Muhammad debacle. (if you seriously don't know anything about this go to yahoo and search it) The moral of that story was two guys who make a habit of slandering every religion and call it satire (tastelessly depicting Siddhartha doing lines of blow off a table in front of 4th graders is not satire, or really funny, or clever...) but some of what Matt and Trey do is actually kind of funny and is considered satire. Even some of their approach to religious mockery. Primarily the Scientology episode. Seeing how this cult is about as much a religion as Sam's Club membership I don't consider any dig at them an attack on a belief system. More to the point these two guys are rude and do not care who they offend, for that last part I have a little respect. (I'm all about say what you think)
You see I live in a country, that at the moment, allows me to have views that offend other people. And the great thing about that is others can have views that offend me. That's a freedom thing, and I love it. But what crawls in my craw and festers is when one group gets to bully another because it has been offended. (see also people suing teachers and coworkers for praying, reading a bible, or talking about their faith) In the South Park case some backwards ass group of Islamic-retards. Yes they are retards, anyone who slows or negates the process of something is retarded. Yes it it offensive. Yes it is true. You know that the Islamic nation was resposible for some of our worlds most important leaps of civilization? The number zero. They had women leaders, and respected the sharing of the Holy Land by all faiths... Until a group decided that enlightenment was stupid and started shoving the whole religion back to the dark ages... That is regression, those people are retarded and in my book are right up there with child molesters and rapists. (because no one should be allowed to spread hatred, shame, and misery)
Back on task. For some reason the media and "intellectuals" keep going out of their way to keep us (everyone but that 15% of the population that shares their beliefs) from hating these retards. They say it is wrong to lump a people and judge them. They say that not all Islamic people are evil retards. (which is true) But what they also say is we should respect these Islamitards (my word. yes you can borrow it) beliefs and not offend them. This is where I draw the frigging line. Here is why.
In my 28 years, 13 of those as a Christian, I have seen my Lord and savior depicted as:
-gay
-pissing on people
-a drunk
-a hippie
-weak
-a pedophile
Just to name a few.
I have seen my God the creator of the universe depicted as:
-a machine that grows algae
-a platypus monster
-a sex crazed old man
-Alanis Morissettte
Some of these depictions caused a few members of more conservative chapters of my faith to write letters or even stage a demonstration or two. And sadly I'm sure someone threw out a death threat or two. But these depictions of my Lord and God were allowed to be seen and the coverage from the media painted those who complained as a fringe group that needed to shut up and face the fact that, "This is 'merica and we don't cotton lightly to being told what we can say and who we can say it to. So suck it." Not an exact quote but close enough.
But when these Islmatards threaten violence we hear things like, "we should respect their views." "It's wrong to offend them." No it's not wrong for us to offend them. It's wrong for us to heed their threats and empower them. Yes, I agree that he Christian-tards who send death threats and call for the killing of people should be shunned and written off as idiots and arrested. By the same token so should the Islamitards. They are not a minority being punished or repressed they are a minority punishing and oppressing. When will people see this? Where is the outrage? Where is the intellectuals sitting them down telling them to "Respect our beliefs"?
Now, let me park this bus. There was a group sponsoring a "Draw Mohammad Day" where everyone can draw Mohammad and post it on a site to tell these groups to suck it. I seriously thought about doing it. But then I would, out of fairness, have to participate in the "Draw an insulting picture of Jesus Day" and "Make a Graven Image of God Day". I'm not going to offend an entire religion to get at one group. Nope. What I'm going to do is pray. Laugh at the funny satire about my faith, and be offended at the offensive stuff. But more importantly I'm going to enjoy living in place where that kind of garbage and creativity can exists freely. I need to do it while I can I fear its only a matter of time before someone ruins it for us all.
So endith the Rant:
I have absolutely no love loss for the creepy fundamental religious zealots. To be PC (even though I don't really care) I truly mean every fundamental religious zealot from Islamic to Jewish, from Christian to Atheist, From Buddhist to Scientologist. The moral of this story is if you reach that special place of militant following where by you find that your brain has been damaged to the point that violence and murder with threats and terror are considered acceptable practices for conversion to your belief system I truly care nothing about you. I do not hate these people (only because my Lord really frowns on hating. Unless it's the hating of evil, but seeing how its also a big no no to assume someone is evil... you know that judge not line...) I only ignore them and carry no weight of respect for them.
Now I know religion can be twisted by leaders and used to enslave and incite people to do awful things, horrendous things ranging from mass murder to blind judging and shunning. And I know that it is not the religion's fault, and I know that trying to stop this abuse by writing laws or shutting down hateful sects would open the door for people to start attacking legitimate religious organizations just because they didn't like their message. It's a slippery slope.
Having said that I will now chime in on the South Park Muhammad debacle. (if you seriously don't know anything about this go to yahoo and search it) The moral of that story was two guys who make a habit of slandering every religion and call it satire (tastelessly depicting Siddhartha doing lines of blow off a table in front of 4th graders is not satire, or really funny, or clever...) but some of what Matt and Trey do is actually kind of funny and is considered satire. Even some of their approach to religious mockery. Primarily the Scientology episode. Seeing how this cult is about as much a religion as Sam's Club membership I don't consider any dig at them an attack on a belief system. More to the point these two guys are rude and do not care who they offend, for that last part I have a little respect. (I'm all about say what you think)
You see I live in a country, that at the moment, allows me to have views that offend other people. And the great thing about that is others can have views that offend me. That's a freedom thing, and I love it. But what crawls in my craw and festers is when one group gets to bully another because it has been offended. (see also people suing teachers and coworkers for praying, reading a bible, or talking about their faith) In the South Park case some backwards ass group of Islamic-retards. Yes they are retards, anyone who slows or negates the process of something is retarded. Yes it it offensive. Yes it is true. You know that the Islamic nation was resposible for some of our worlds most important leaps of civilization? The number zero. They had women leaders, and respected the sharing of the Holy Land by all faiths... Until a group decided that enlightenment was stupid and started shoving the whole religion back to the dark ages... That is regression, those people are retarded and in my book are right up there with child molesters and rapists. (because no one should be allowed to spread hatred, shame, and misery)
Back on task. For some reason the media and "intellectuals" keep going out of their way to keep us (everyone but that 15% of the population that shares their beliefs) from hating these retards. They say it is wrong to lump a people and judge them. They say that not all Islamic people are evil retards. (which is true) But what they also say is we should respect these Islamitards (my word. yes you can borrow it) beliefs and not offend them. This is where I draw the frigging line. Here is why.
In my 28 years, 13 of those as a Christian, I have seen my Lord and savior depicted as:
-gay
-pissing on people
-a drunk
-a hippie
-weak
-a pedophile
Just to name a few.
I have seen my God the creator of the universe depicted as:
-a machine that grows algae
-a platypus monster
-a sex crazed old man
-Alanis Morissettte
Some of these depictions caused a few members of more conservative chapters of my faith to write letters or even stage a demonstration or two. And sadly I'm sure someone threw out a death threat or two. But these depictions of my Lord and God were allowed to be seen and the coverage from the media painted those who complained as a fringe group that needed to shut up and face the fact that, "This is 'merica and we don't cotton lightly to being told what we can say and who we can say it to. So suck it." Not an exact quote but close enough.
But when these Islmatards threaten violence we hear things like, "we should respect their views." "It's wrong to offend them." No it's not wrong for us to offend them. It's wrong for us to heed their threats and empower them. Yes, I agree that he Christian-tards who send death threats and call for the killing of people should be shunned and written off as idiots and arrested. By the same token so should the Islamitards. They are not a minority being punished or repressed they are a minority punishing and oppressing. When will people see this? Where is the outrage? Where is the intellectuals sitting them down telling them to "Respect our beliefs"?
Now, let me park this bus. There was a group sponsoring a "Draw Mohammad Day" where everyone can draw Mohammad and post it on a site to tell these groups to suck it. I seriously thought about doing it. But then I would, out of fairness, have to participate in the "Draw an insulting picture of Jesus Day" and "Make a Graven Image of God Day". I'm not going to offend an entire religion to get at one group. Nope. What I'm going to do is pray. Laugh at the funny satire about my faith, and be offended at the offensive stuff. But more importantly I'm going to enjoy living in place where that kind of garbage and creativity can exists freely. I need to do it while I can I fear its only a matter of time before someone ruins it for us all.
So endith the Rant:
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
H is for sucking at life
So beginith the rant:
If you know me you know that I have a raw seething hatred of all things "reality TV" I have a hard time watching the Ultimate Fighter on SPIKE even though I have been an avid MMA fan for years (thanks God for allowing us to have the brainpower to invent the DVR allowing me to pre-record the whole show and fast forward to the actual fights... Really who wants to see grown men bickering over who stole their stickers and who said whose butt was fat... Or whatever they talk about between the fights.) Back on topic. For some reason this reality crap continues to grow and mouth breathers continue to watch it allowing for a parade of stupidity to overrun my airways. Even the most educational of television stations have fallen prey to this disease of stupidity.
Starting with Discovery, and their deadliest catch, but I don't mind it. Not because I enjoy the show but it falls under the scope of documentary with Mike Roe narrating the story and filling in the situations with facts. Yes, the show has leaned toward the obvious "drama" but still holds to the, "see what happens when people risk their lives on the frozen sea to yank crab from the mud on the bottom" premise.
But the station that has fallen farthest from grace is History "H". I used to have this station trained on all the time. One could do a brief run through the tripe being peddled on the other stations and find their dials on H and know that they would be educated. Either by how the stuff we have came about with Modern Marvels. Or, you could get the opportunity to get a in depth view of a classic battle from WW2 or some ancient civilization. My personal favorite was the Gunny's Mail Call that told me about obscure weapons used in past and present warfare. You could even find some shows about the Bible and some were even well done showing the historical context of some of the more common known stories.
Now, the stations is held together with Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, not one, not two, but three logging shows, and a show called American Pickers about two junk peddlers digging through hillbilly hoarder's trash piles. How did that become history? How is that educational?
When did the people at the station go:
"Well ladies and gentlemen. We have had a good run with shows with educational value. Yes, I know we have thrown in some weird stuff about Roswell and UFO's in the world wars, but even those obscure shows feature some historical context. But now we are going in a new direction. We are going to make shows that feature nothing educational. In fact most of these shows will rob people of intellect, possibly undoing years of our programmings good work. Why? you may ask. Money. More people want to stay dumb than learn stuff. More people want to watch people bleep cussing out of conversations and react to normal daily situations... Well scripted normal daily situations. I know. I know. It seems like we are selling our soul here, but we can't put all our eggs in that "people who actually like quality educational informative programs to learn new stuff" basket. All in favor?.... I see the I's have it."?
But I'm not here to talk about H's dive to the dark side of reality TV. No, I'm here to point out the ripple effect that crap programming has. As the mind numbing garbage of reality spread to more time slots more and more "stupid" people... Wait why did I use parenthesis for stupid there? I'm not one to try not to offend. If you watch reality TV you like stupid TV. And unfortunately you are part of a demographic of people with sub par scholastic goals. No, I'm not calling you stupid, but if you were to gather with your peers who also enjoy those shows you would call them stupid. If not.. then you are too stupid to know and you probably gave up reading this when you saw the words.
Dang it... back on task. The other shows had to watered down to make the other not crap reality time slots appealing for this demographic of trash eaters. Which I'm sure is how we got the programming gold that was "Ancient Aliens".
This show went about "proving" or "offering" that the greatest achievements of man were in fact the work of aliens. A professor from a college that I was too bored to remember, the moral of the story is this jackass is teaching people for a living, was convinced that the great pyramid was a power plant that turned hydrogen to a focused beam of microwaves that could charge up the batteries of passing mother ships... Just let that sink in for a minute.... An f'n pyramid with no moving parts... made of rock...
The next and what I think was the creme de la creme (or is it crem de la crem... who cares) was the three educated men, doctors, professors who all agreed that he Ancient of Days (AKA GOD) who delivered manna from heaven was in fact a nuclear powered algae refining machine that used water vapor from the morning air to start the process of cultivating and producing a high protean green algae that could sustain an entire nation of people while roaming the desert of the middle east. (turns out NASA lets astronauts eat green algae, and it work as a super food... kind of like soilent green only less peopley) No the ancient Hebrews didn't come up with the machine on their own. Some nice aliens dropped it off for them. Wait there is more. These "experts" also came to the conclusion that the ark of the covenant was probably the nuclear reactor core of the device which is why those who touched it, came close to it, and opened it died. In case the question of "How did an ancient people handle nuclear materials let alone a reactor core?" was the wrench keeping the cogs of this idea from spinning in your mind.
I have come to terms with people trying to use science to explain some of the great mysteries of God's powered chronicled in the old and new testaments. Even though I see this a fools errand because at best they are just describing the "how" not the, "how could that happen at just the right moment?" I also understand that intellectuals are terrified of God because His existence makes them just people, and they must be more important than that.
Sadly, that show went on the air. Which means money was spent to make it. Which means that the idea was pitched to investors. Which means that people with means saw this subject matter as valid and in need of dissemination. Or even worse that these morons received grant money from a government or used university money to produce this.
Why does this crawl in my craw?
Because it makes a mockery of my God?
Because it proves that those who can't teach?
Because I fear my tax dollars made it?
No, because this show was allowed to exists and FIREFLY was canceled. The only way I sleep at night in a world like this is with the knowledge that there is a just and loving God who will right the wrongs of this world... Or beep and whip me up an algae smoothie.
So Endith the rant:
If you know me you know that I have a raw seething hatred of all things "reality TV" I have a hard time watching the Ultimate Fighter on SPIKE even though I have been an avid MMA fan for years (thanks God for allowing us to have the brainpower to invent the DVR allowing me to pre-record the whole show and fast forward to the actual fights... Really who wants to see grown men bickering over who stole their stickers and who said whose butt was fat... Or whatever they talk about between the fights.) Back on topic. For some reason this reality crap continues to grow and mouth breathers continue to watch it allowing for a parade of stupidity to overrun my airways. Even the most educational of television stations have fallen prey to this disease of stupidity.
Starting with Discovery, and their deadliest catch, but I don't mind it. Not because I enjoy the show but it falls under the scope of documentary with Mike Roe narrating the story and filling in the situations with facts. Yes, the show has leaned toward the obvious "drama" but still holds to the, "see what happens when people risk their lives on the frozen sea to yank crab from the mud on the bottom" premise.
But the station that has fallen farthest from grace is History "H". I used to have this station trained on all the time. One could do a brief run through the tripe being peddled on the other stations and find their dials on H and know that they would be educated. Either by how the stuff we have came about with Modern Marvels. Or, you could get the opportunity to get a in depth view of a classic battle from WW2 or some ancient civilization. My personal favorite was the Gunny's Mail Call that told me about obscure weapons used in past and present warfare. You could even find some shows about the Bible and some were even well done showing the historical context of some of the more common known stories.
Now, the stations is held together with Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, not one, not two, but three logging shows, and a show called American Pickers about two junk peddlers digging through hillbilly hoarder's trash piles. How did that become history? How is that educational?
When did the people at the station go:
"Well ladies and gentlemen. We have had a good run with shows with educational value. Yes, I know we have thrown in some weird stuff about Roswell and UFO's in the world wars, but even those obscure shows feature some historical context. But now we are going in a new direction. We are going to make shows that feature nothing educational. In fact most of these shows will rob people of intellect, possibly undoing years of our programmings good work. Why? you may ask. Money. More people want to stay dumb than learn stuff. More people want to watch people bleep cussing out of conversations and react to normal daily situations... Well scripted normal daily situations. I know. I know. It seems like we are selling our soul here, but we can't put all our eggs in that "people who actually like quality educational informative programs to learn new stuff" basket. All in favor?.... I see the I's have it."?
But I'm not here to talk about H's dive to the dark side of reality TV. No, I'm here to point out the ripple effect that crap programming has. As the mind numbing garbage of reality spread to more time slots more and more "stupid" people... Wait why did I use parenthesis for stupid there? I'm not one to try not to offend. If you watch reality TV you like stupid TV. And unfortunately you are part of a demographic of people with sub par scholastic goals. No, I'm not calling you stupid, but if you were to gather with your peers who also enjoy those shows you would call them stupid. If not.. then you are too stupid to know and you probably gave up reading this when you saw the words.
Dang it... back on task. The other shows had to watered down to make the other not crap reality time slots appealing for this demographic of trash eaters. Which I'm sure is how we got the programming gold that was "Ancient Aliens".
This show went about "proving" or "offering" that the greatest achievements of man were in fact the work of aliens. A professor from a college that I was too bored to remember, the moral of the story is this jackass is teaching people for a living, was convinced that the great pyramid was a power plant that turned hydrogen to a focused beam of microwaves that could charge up the batteries of passing mother ships... Just let that sink in for a minute.... An f'n pyramid with no moving parts... made of rock...
The next and what I think was the creme de la creme (or is it crem de la crem... who cares) was the three educated men, doctors, professors who all agreed that he Ancient of Days (AKA GOD) who delivered manna from heaven was in fact a nuclear powered algae refining machine that used water vapor from the morning air to start the process of cultivating and producing a high protean green algae that could sustain an entire nation of people while roaming the desert of the middle east. (turns out NASA lets astronauts eat green algae, and it work as a super food... kind of like soilent green only less peopley) No the ancient Hebrews didn't come up with the machine on their own. Some nice aliens dropped it off for them. Wait there is more. These "experts" also came to the conclusion that the ark of the covenant was probably the nuclear reactor core of the device which is why those who touched it, came close to it, and opened it died. In case the question of "How did an ancient people handle nuclear materials let alone a reactor core?" was the wrench keeping the cogs of this idea from spinning in your mind.
I have come to terms with people trying to use science to explain some of the great mysteries of God's powered chronicled in the old and new testaments. Even though I see this a fools errand because at best they are just describing the "how" not the, "how could that happen at just the right moment?" I also understand that intellectuals are terrified of God because His existence makes them just people, and they must be more important than that.
Sadly, that show went on the air. Which means money was spent to make it. Which means that the idea was pitched to investors. Which means that people with means saw this subject matter as valid and in need of dissemination. Or even worse that these morons received grant money from a government or used university money to produce this.
Why does this crawl in my craw?
Because it makes a mockery of my God?
Because it proves that those who can't teach?
Because I fear my tax dollars made it?
No, because this show was allowed to exists and FIREFLY was canceled. The only way I sleep at night in a world like this is with the knowledge that there is a just and loving God who will right the wrongs of this world... Or beep and whip me up an algae smoothie.
So Endith the rant:
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
a trip
So beginith the rant:
I recently took a trip to Oklahoma to visit my family. This trip was long over due and I have recently found myself in a position to take a week long jaunt. My visiting of family and friends was great and recharged the batteries, if you will. The only downside, if you consider it a downside, is I chose to drive rather than fly. The drive is 13 to 15 hours depending on the method of driving and traffic, and takes me across 4 states.
On this drive I made one observation, which I will first context with this phrase, "If everyone is supposed to strive to be rich and famous we would have no janitors." I like this phrase. I can't remember where I heard it but I know I didn't come up with it. If I did then I'm pretty awesome, and have come up with a phrase that I often think about.
You see this phrase implies two things.
One, that not everyone will be rich and famous. Which is true. We will not all get fifteen minutes let alone fifteen seconds.
Two, if everyone strove to be rich and famous the jobs on the low end of glamor such as custodial work would be left vacant. Because we all know the best way to get noticed and become rich is to be scrubbing a toilet.
Why is this phrase significant? Why is it in my mind after two 14 hour road trips a week apart?
On my travels I stopped for gas three times coming and three times going. Each in a different area of the states I crossed. When on these short stops I generally like to do some jumping jacks, stretch my legs, and relieve myself. This has allowed me to see a cross section of bathrooms in truck stops. And one thing I can say is "Grrrmnthmmgag" that's my typing of the that dry heave noise we all make when we trigger our gag reflex.
I know that at times the rigors of being a gas station worker can be busy. Every now and then you'll have a rush of people and a line at the register that may even take 20 minutes to clear. I know this because I have worked at a convenience store. But the fowl condition of these restrooms rivaled any privy I may have had to use in the backwoods while camping. In more than one case I could smell the offending water closet before I could see the door. These dank urine soaked hell holes showed days of neglect, and no convenience store is so busy that a person can't find ten minutes to run a mop and broom, maybe even a rag and a cleaner.
The moral of this story is sometime in our society we have made it so stigmatizing to take pride in your job, even if its just a lowly gas station attendant whose responsibility could include the frequent mopping and cleaning of a bathroom, that those who find themselves in that position just provide a warm body to push buttons on a register and get offended if you ask them to print a gas receipt.
I guess what I'm going to wrap up with is this. Too many people just show up to work for their paycheck. They feel because they have graced the place with their presence they are entitled to pay and those paying are lucky that they did. This entitlement mindset keeps people from looking at where they work and thinking, "Wow, I'm lucky to even have a job. What can I do to make this place better and therefore my job better?"
Yes, I connected the filthiness of gas station bathrooms to the decline of the United States work ethic, and they both stink.
So endith the Rant.
I recently took a trip to Oklahoma to visit my family. This trip was long over due and I have recently found myself in a position to take a week long jaunt. My visiting of family and friends was great and recharged the batteries, if you will. The only downside, if you consider it a downside, is I chose to drive rather than fly. The drive is 13 to 15 hours depending on the method of driving and traffic, and takes me across 4 states.
On this drive I made one observation, which I will first context with this phrase, "If everyone is supposed to strive to be rich and famous we would have no janitors." I like this phrase. I can't remember where I heard it but I know I didn't come up with it. If I did then I'm pretty awesome, and have come up with a phrase that I often think about.
You see this phrase implies two things.
One, that not everyone will be rich and famous. Which is true. We will not all get fifteen minutes let alone fifteen seconds.
Two, if everyone strove to be rich and famous the jobs on the low end of glamor such as custodial work would be left vacant. Because we all know the best way to get noticed and become rich is to be scrubbing a toilet.
Why is this phrase significant? Why is it in my mind after two 14 hour road trips a week apart?
On my travels I stopped for gas three times coming and three times going. Each in a different area of the states I crossed. When on these short stops I generally like to do some jumping jacks, stretch my legs, and relieve myself. This has allowed me to see a cross section of bathrooms in truck stops. And one thing I can say is "Grrrmnthmmgag" that's my typing of the that dry heave noise we all make when we trigger our gag reflex.
I know that at times the rigors of being a gas station worker can be busy. Every now and then you'll have a rush of people and a line at the register that may even take 20 minutes to clear. I know this because I have worked at a convenience store. But the fowl condition of these restrooms rivaled any privy I may have had to use in the backwoods while camping. In more than one case I could smell the offending water closet before I could see the door. These dank urine soaked hell holes showed days of neglect, and no convenience store is so busy that a person can't find ten minutes to run a mop and broom, maybe even a rag and a cleaner.
The moral of this story is sometime in our society we have made it so stigmatizing to take pride in your job, even if its just a lowly gas station attendant whose responsibility could include the frequent mopping and cleaning of a bathroom, that those who find themselves in that position just provide a warm body to push buttons on a register and get offended if you ask them to print a gas receipt.
I guess what I'm going to wrap up with is this. Too many people just show up to work for their paycheck. They feel because they have graced the place with their presence they are entitled to pay and those paying are lucky that they did. This entitlement mindset keeps people from looking at where they work and thinking, "Wow, I'm lucky to even have a job. What can I do to make this place better and therefore my job better?"
Yes, I connected the filthiness of gas station bathrooms to the decline of the United States work ethic, and they both stink.
So endith the Rant.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Middle
So beginith the rant:
My friend Brett hit on a subject today on his blog that put my wheels a spinning. Our president has scrapped the manned space mission. I remember reading this in a headline a few weeks back, and thinking nothing of it. The focus of my political ire has been environmental policies based on lies and a health care "reform" based on statistics that no single group can agree on.
Now that the killing of the NASA manned space program has been brought to the forefront of my mind I can't help but start drawing conclusions about how this decision will negatively affect our societies future.
For starters my sarcasm will take a big hit. When someone is struggling with some simple task my goading, "Come on, it's not rocket science." will not hold the same weight. Sure there will still be rockets and therefore rocket scientists, but without the idea that mistakes in rocket science resulting in charred spacemen this comment loses intensity... For me anyway.
Next is when a preschool student is asked what he/she wants to be when they grow up the response of spaceman or astronaut will no longer be acceptable. It will be lumped in there with the princesses and wolfman categories possibly pigeonholing potentially intelligent children with unfocused dreamers and mouth-breathers. (by the way I wanted to be wolfman when I grew up)
Finally the cost to the public school systems as a whole will be staggering. You see every single poster that reads, "reach for the stars" or some variation of this must be removed and replaces with "look at the stars" or "shoot stuff at the stars" which I find slightly less motivating.
But really are we shocked at all that our government has found yet another way to "nerf" the childhood dreams and potential of the children of our great nation. I'm sure everyone will get a trophy.
"If you set the bar low, when you miss you have short to fall."
YEAH middle of the road!!
Thus endith the rant:
My friend Brett hit on a subject today on his blog that put my wheels a spinning. Our president has scrapped the manned space mission. I remember reading this in a headline a few weeks back, and thinking nothing of it. The focus of my political ire has been environmental policies based on lies and a health care "reform" based on statistics that no single group can agree on.
Now that the killing of the NASA manned space program has been brought to the forefront of my mind I can't help but start drawing conclusions about how this decision will negatively affect our societies future.
For starters my sarcasm will take a big hit. When someone is struggling with some simple task my goading, "Come on, it's not rocket science." will not hold the same weight. Sure there will still be rockets and therefore rocket scientists, but without the idea that mistakes in rocket science resulting in charred spacemen this comment loses intensity... For me anyway.
Next is when a preschool student is asked what he/she wants to be when they grow up the response of spaceman or astronaut will no longer be acceptable. It will be lumped in there with the princesses and wolfman categories possibly pigeonholing potentially intelligent children with unfocused dreamers and mouth-breathers. (by the way I wanted to be wolfman when I grew up)
Finally the cost to the public school systems as a whole will be staggering. You see every single poster that reads, "reach for the stars" or some variation of this must be removed and replaces with "look at the stars" or "shoot stuff at the stars" which I find slightly less motivating.
But really are we shocked at all that our government has found yet another way to "nerf" the childhood dreams and potential of the children of our great nation. I'm sure everyone will get a trophy.
"If you set the bar low, when you miss you have short to fall."
YEAH middle of the road!!
Thus endith the rant:
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Good times
So beginith the rant:
Some folks asked me when I moved to Florida 4 years ago if it was better than living in Oklahoma. Today the answer to this question is still the same. I will smile and say, "I can't say living in Florida is better than Oklahoma, but it sure isn't a step down."
Most will laugh it off as me being polite. but today I wish to offer you a comparison about where I live. I live in Santa Rosa Beach FL, my house is on a canal that leads strait to the bay. I am never more than one mile from white sand beaches.
But, living hear I miss out on mingling with the down home folks of Oklahoma. Such as this man trying to barter with law enforcement using a stick as payment... http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12108733
Makes me miss home a little, just a little bit.
So endith the rant:
Some folks asked me when I moved to Florida 4 years ago if it was better than living in Oklahoma. Today the answer to this question is still the same. I will smile and say, "I can't say living in Florida is better than Oklahoma, but it sure isn't a step down."
Most will laugh it off as me being polite. but today I wish to offer you a comparison about where I live. I live in Santa Rosa Beach FL, my house is on a canal that leads strait to the bay. I am never more than one mile from white sand beaches.
But, living hear I miss out on mingling with the down home folks of Oklahoma. Such as this man trying to barter with law enforcement using a stick as payment... http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12108733
Makes me miss home a little, just a little bit.
So endith the rant:
Thursday, March 4, 2010
zobies
So beginith the rant:
Went and saw the movie the Crazies last night. As most of you will know I am a bit of a zombie movie fanatic. I'm also a avid reader of THE WALKING DEAD an awesome comic book, which A&E will be making into a series or mini-series in the fall. All in all I would consider myself a subject matter expert in the field of zombies.
So, the Crazies started out the way any film should with a Johnny Cash song, this alone unfairly tilted my opinion of the film toward awesome. But past that it was a pretty mild plot of people becoming crazed killing machines via some type of biological weapon.
Now, I know zombies will probably never overtake the world, but as any red blooded man I have my plans for the zombie apocalypse worked out. Always be prepared, says the Eagle Scout.
Anyway. I find the most frustrating plot device in all zombie films the person who refuses to kill the infected person for some reason, that reason being some emotional attachment. You know they will become a zombie, and therefor a walking biting bio-weapon, but you can't kill them you "wove them". This plot device is supposed to make you struggle with the idea of killing zombie mom or soon to be zombie mom. How many times can you hit that horse?
In this movie the people of the town were rounded up by the military and separated using a simple test into two groups, soon to be crazies and not infected. The soon to be crazies were then put into two groups the already showing symptoms and the not showing symptoms. Those that weren't spitting screaming zombies were then tied down and administered a blood test to make sure they were actually infected.
Now, the movie had an underling theme that became very obvious here. The enemy was not really the Crazies killing people but the military who made the bio-weapon that was spilled and then tried to clean it up by wiping out a majority of a town to avoid the whole world being destroyed, or at best millions of lives being lost.
My question is this... If it were to happen. If a mistake of biblical proportions was made, and the government actually came and cleaned up a mess, with force, would it be right? Is it right for a town of 1,200 be nearly wiped out to save a world of people? Should we demonize the military for making the hard choice?
Had that been the moral of the story I would have left the movie thinking that was a slightly new spin on the could you kill a sick loved one to save the group. But it wasn't.
At the end you find that the military actually exterminated everyone. Even the ones who were not sick... SO, as per usual Hollywood had a pretty good movie idea and a decent plot until the last 10min. At that point they let their hippie friends or a third grader with emotional issues wrap up the story...
Now the movie that started with Johnny Cash ended with the idea that the US military would be willing to separate, test, and quarantine people only to turn around and kill them all. Because that's what our evil military does. Goes through the motions of logic to end up with mindless slaughter.
Because, GOD knows, our military is never actually up to any good. (that was sarcasm)
Stupid hippies (that was a fact).
So endith the rant:
Went and saw the movie the Crazies last night. As most of you will know I am a bit of a zombie movie fanatic. I'm also a avid reader of THE WALKING DEAD an awesome comic book, which A&E will be making into a series or mini-series in the fall. All in all I would consider myself a subject matter expert in the field of zombies.
So, the Crazies started out the way any film should with a Johnny Cash song, this alone unfairly tilted my opinion of the film toward awesome. But past that it was a pretty mild plot of people becoming crazed killing machines via some type of biological weapon.
Now, I know zombies will probably never overtake the world, but as any red blooded man I have my plans for the zombie apocalypse worked out. Always be prepared, says the Eagle Scout.
Anyway. I find the most frustrating plot device in all zombie films the person who refuses to kill the infected person for some reason, that reason being some emotional attachment. You know they will become a zombie, and therefor a walking biting bio-weapon, but you can't kill them you "wove them". This plot device is supposed to make you struggle with the idea of killing zombie mom or soon to be zombie mom. How many times can you hit that horse?
In this movie the people of the town were rounded up by the military and separated using a simple test into two groups, soon to be crazies and not infected. The soon to be crazies were then put into two groups the already showing symptoms and the not showing symptoms. Those that weren't spitting screaming zombies were then tied down and administered a blood test to make sure they were actually infected.
Now, the movie had an underling theme that became very obvious here. The enemy was not really the Crazies killing people but the military who made the bio-weapon that was spilled and then tried to clean it up by wiping out a majority of a town to avoid the whole world being destroyed, or at best millions of lives being lost.
My question is this... If it were to happen. If a mistake of biblical proportions was made, and the government actually came and cleaned up a mess, with force, would it be right? Is it right for a town of 1,200 be nearly wiped out to save a world of people? Should we demonize the military for making the hard choice?
Had that been the moral of the story I would have left the movie thinking that was a slightly new spin on the could you kill a sick loved one to save the group. But it wasn't.
At the end you find that the military actually exterminated everyone. Even the ones who were not sick... SO, as per usual Hollywood had a pretty good movie idea and a decent plot until the last 10min. At that point they let their hippie friends or a third grader with emotional issues wrap up the story...
Now the movie that started with Johnny Cash ended with the idea that the US military would be willing to separate, test, and quarantine people only to turn around and kill them all. Because that's what our evil military does. Goes through the motions of logic to end up with mindless slaughter.
Because, GOD knows, our military is never actually up to any good. (that was sarcasm)
Stupid hippies (that was a fact).
So endith the rant:
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