Browsing all posts in Musings.
Jobs Americans Don’t Want to Do
When I hear the argument that illegal immigrants are doing jobs Americans don’t want to do, I think, “What difference does that make? Most Americans don’t want to do their jobs. Haven’t you experienced the current level of customer service in our country?” How many Americans do you know who hate their jobs but do them anyway because that’s simply LIFE. Continue reading →
Have You Ever…
…happily helped a stranger with directions, then 10 seconds after he drives away realized, “Oh shit, I told him the wrong way.” Continue reading →
Googley Eyed for China – Not So Fast – Warning: If Your Are a Resident of China Stop Reading Now
First Yahoo! helped China restrict freedom (hey, anything to promote “free trade” is a-ok these days, including slave labor), then Google decided to be the final arbiter on the China-Taiwan dispute.
But then had a change of heart.
The Aussies Are Fatties Too!
Tucker Carlson thinks we are just too obsessed with our national chubbiness: “I hate how people beat up on fat people. They’re the underdog in this society.”
Me too, Tucker, and I hate how they beat up on people who wear bow ties (I wonder if he saw Curb Your Enthusiasm this week…).
The Ninth Amendment
When I hear people scream about the second amendment, particularly in relation to such laws as the new “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida (aka Shoot-First-Ask-Questions-Later law) I sometimes wonder if they think this is the only amendment in the constitution. Continue reading →
Rightmares
These are nightmares I have about what the right will do next…
Anyway, I have a Republican friend who likes to find examples of Dems acting foolishly and point them out to me, “This is a blue stater.”
My last response: “This is a red stater”
A good laugh was had by all.
Having Faith in the Reality-Based Community
As we all know, Bush is part of the faith-based community. Although I’ve written earlier that it’s more about his faith that anything that serves the personal interests of his clan is good enough for the rest of us.
Now there are more folks promoting the reality-based community.
I’ve chatted quite a bit with my friends Frank and George at the Conservatory for Coffee & Tea (which we jokingly refer to as the “conservative for coffee & tea” based on the owners decidedly rightish leanings) about this idea – what I’ve seen as the Americans Against Science movement. Not sure it is simply intellectual laziness or a lack of curiousity, but there are quite a few people who seem to want to be told what is right, and they want their world to be easily understood and even more easily digested with such gems as:
That one is evil.
That one is good.
That is right.
This is wrong.
No grey area, seemingly not even between the ears.
Should we really expect much more these days – life is stressful enough without having to think about complex issues and, godhelpus, not have an absolute answer.
People don’t like doubt. They don’t like conundrums. They like simplistic paradigms to explain their world.
In fact, this human characteristic – the need for things to be dumbed down – is probably the greatest argument against evolution. I mean, really, this long after the Scopes trial we are arguing about teaching evolution in schools AGAIN? We are getting dumber, not smarter. Devolution more like it.
OK, I don’t want to get too negative, cynical, pessimistic, cranky…
I do think these things are cyclical – but unfortunately, the zeitgeist today is resembles the zeitgeist of, oh, say, the Middle Ages.
The most distressing part is not that people who are supposed to run this country are substituting faith for facts, it’s that they are so agile at manipulating the willing to vote themselves into a lower standard of living while a few of the chosen people profit.
I have faith too – faith in people’s ability to AT SOME POINT figure out reality, while not always pretty, must be faced. You can’t close your eyes and say “all good all good all good” and have it be true.
You can have faith and accept facts too. Denying facts makes you the fool, not the faithful.
Can It Get Any Nuttier Than This? I’m Sure It Can…
When a right-wing white guy tries to join the Black Caucus you have got to think some voters have lost their minds. Continue reading →
Reasoning with the Unreasonable
It does seem that at some point local governments will need to create ways to encourage people who are able to evacuate from zones in the path of disaster but choose not to do so. Although in the case of many people in New Orleans, it wasn’t a matter of choice, I grew up on the Gulf Coast and know that many people more than able to evacuate shrug their shoulders and say, “I’m going to stick around.” I remember talk of “hurricane parties” throughout my childhood – we would shake our heads in disbelief.
The costs to rescue such people are astronomical – and the neighbors who were smart enough to evacuate pay for those costs through taxes.
Maybe a mandatory evacuation should include a price list for rescue should those who can leave, not leave.
Rescue by helicopter: $500 per hour helicopter rental, 2-man crew $100 per hour.
etc.
They would accrue the bills to their property tax bill if they own a home. Other ways could be created to allow them to pay it back over time. Of course, exceptions would be made if one could prove they tried to leave but could not – and the local government would need to provide transportation in advance of a storm to evacuate those who did not have their own transportation or had medical needs that required help so they would not be trapped by circumstances.
The money raised could be put into a disaster fund for future storms.
I’ve always found it astounding that areas such as Malibu vote down changes that would make it easier to fight wildfires because they fear it will change “the local character.” Nothing like fire that can’t be fought to change “the local character.” The selfishness is astounding – they put firefighters at risk just because they like that narrow road vs. one a firetruck can easily maneuver on.
Wages Are Falling
What’s the first thing to do when people are suffering, their homes and jobs gone? Lower their wages! Yeah, that will stimulate the economy (huh?).
(you need the Flash Player to view the little movie linked above)