Issues
Random Thoughts on a Friday
1. Number One was an angry rant. When I re-read it, it sounded childish and petty, so I deleted it. Feel free to continue on to Number Two.
2. I wish I had enough money to quit my job. I'm burned out, angry, grumpy, and generally unhappy. I don't know if it's anyone's fault, particularly, though I tend to be upset at my bosses. It's just the way I feel.
3. Dumb quote of the day: Republican Representative John Duncan -- "… it seems rather elitist that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents..."
When did being "elite" turn into a bad thing? When did it become a sin to be educated and trained? Personally, I WANT my doctor to be one of the elite! I want the people governing me to be elite. I want the people teaching today's children to be elite.
Rep. Duncan was talking about sex education. His view is that the parents should be in charge of educating their children about sex, and he's right -- parents should teach their children about such things. But they're not, so the schools have to instead. And if the schools are doing it, what's wrong with having an educated professional in charge of the program?
It seems miserably backwards to me that we should choose those who are to educate our children based not on their education and qualifications, but rather their lack of such education or qualification.
4. I'm tired of getting political "jokes" e-mailed to me. I'm getting probably 15 or 20 anti-Hillary e-mails a day. I'm hoping Obama gets the nod in the primary, but I don't wanna see anti-ANYONE e-mails. They're rarely funny, and all they do is prove, once again, that our nation can't decide politics on issues -- we depend instead on slurs, slander, and cheap humor. Don't get me wrong, a good political cartoon can make a definite statement, and so can a well-turned phrase. But the vast, vast majority of what I see is merely ignorant name-calling. I don't want to see it in my e-mail any more.
That's what blogs are for.
5. United States President G. Walker Bush has disappointed me. He has once again stood in front of the nation and failed to take responsibility for his actions. Instead of acknowledging that his policies may be flawed, he's telling everyone that the current political and economic mess is Congress' fault and that there's nothing he could do about it.
Whatever happened to Democratic President Harry S. Truman's famous "The Buck Stops Here" philosophy? Whatever happened to the notion that we must hold our public officials accountable, including the President, for their actions? Yes, Congress plays an important part in public policy, but I don't want to hear excuses. Get the job done, dammit.
Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain is already showing signs of continuing the Bush/Cheney/Rove policy of blame-shifting. He has publicly denounced an attack ad being run by the North Carolina Republicans as being false, but claims he's powerless to stop them from running the attack ad. Isn't he kind of the guy in charge these days? Doesn't he have control over his own party? Why won't he step up to the plate, do the right thing, and declare attack/smear ads be stopped? Because then he'd be held accountable...
6. I get an e-mail roughly three times a day, the same message, listing the various ways Christianity has played a part in American history. At the end it says, "It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or 'In God We Trust' on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!"
Well, I have problems with that.
My first question is quite simple -- who's trying to change our money? Is someone seriously trying to change the Pledge of Allegiance? No. Oh, sure, some whacko comes up every now and then who wants to make waves, but no one takes them seriously. This is NOT an issue, as far as I can tell. Liberals do believe in the separation of church and state, but I don't see anyone getting freaky about it... Most liberals are, after all, Christian -- just like Jesus, the most famous progressive of all.
My second problem is a bit more touchy. It's my opinion that if your faith in God is so weak that you need to be reminded of Him every time you spend a dollar to buy yourself some Ho-Ho's, you have more problems than you know. If you truly had faith in God, you mightn't feel so threatened.
My third problem with the e-mail revolves around the base logic of the last sentence, quoted above. Iowa passed a law recently banning cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants. This has caused quite the upheaval -- the level of chest-thumping and moaning by smokers is incredible; they feel their rights are being violated, and that the government has no right to tell them what to do. One survey I saw said that some 82% of Iowans are non-smokers. So why can't we tell the other 18% to sit down and shut up? That's what the e-mail said about religion... So, if the smoking minority are upset about their rights being trampled by the majority, don't you think they'd also be vocal about the religious majority trampling the rights of the minority religions? Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working that way.
Personally, I fail to see where another person's beliefs threatens my belief in God. We are a Christian society, by and large, and part of Christianity is accepting other people. Acceptance. Compassion. You know, those values. They pertain to other people, too, you know.
7. A meme... SkylersDad memed me a while back. I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy. Until now. It's a simple one -- list five relatively clean web sites you like. Feel free to play...
Torso pants -- Odd t-shirts. Fun site.
I Can Has Cheezburger -- lolcats
HippieBoy Design -- My site. Go there. Buy a website or something. Please.
Weather -- I live on this site waiting and hoping for good riding weather...
Drew -- My buddy's site. He's trying to work his way out of the print shop too.
8. I'm tired. Shoot. I just caught myself sleeping. I think I was snoring. Not good when you work ten feet from the boss' door.
9. I'd best get something done. Have a good weekend, ever'buddy!
1. Number One was an angry rant. When I re-read it, it sounded childish and petty, so I deleted it. Feel free to continue on to Number Two.
2. I wish I had enough money to quit my job. I'm burned out, angry, grumpy, and generally unhappy. I don't know if it's anyone's fault, particularly, though I tend to be upset at my bosses. It's just the way I feel.
3. Dumb quote of the day: Republican Representative John Duncan -- "… it seems rather elitist that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents..."
When did being "elite" turn into a bad thing? When did it become a sin to be educated and trained? Personally, I WANT my doctor to be one of the elite! I want the people governing me to be elite. I want the people teaching today's children to be elite.
Rep. Duncan was talking about sex education. His view is that the parents should be in charge of educating their children about sex, and he's right -- parents should teach their children about such things. But they're not, so the schools have to instead. And if the schools are doing it, what's wrong with having an educated professional in charge of the program?
It seems miserably backwards to me that we should choose those who are to educate our children based not on their education and qualifications, but rather their lack of such education or qualification.
4. I'm tired of getting political "jokes" e-mailed to me. I'm getting probably 15 or 20 anti-Hillary e-mails a day. I'm hoping Obama gets the nod in the primary, but I don't wanna see anti-ANYONE e-mails. They're rarely funny, and all they do is prove, once again, that our nation can't decide politics on issues -- we depend instead on slurs, slander, and cheap humor. Don't get me wrong, a good political cartoon can make a definite statement, and so can a well-turned phrase. But the vast, vast majority of what I see is merely ignorant name-calling. I don't want to see it in my e-mail any more.
That's what blogs are for.
5. United States President G. Walker Bush has disappointed me. He has once again stood in front of the nation and failed to take responsibility for his actions. Instead of acknowledging that his policies may be flawed, he's telling everyone that the current political and economic mess is Congress' fault and that there's nothing he could do about it.
Whatever happened to Democratic President Harry S. Truman's famous "The Buck Stops Here" philosophy? Whatever happened to the notion that we must hold our public officials accountable, including the President, for their actions? Yes, Congress plays an important part in public policy, but I don't want to hear excuses. Get the job done, dammit.
Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain is already showing signs of continuing the Bush/Cheney/Rove policy of blame-shifting. He has publicly denounced an attack ad being run by the North Carolina Republicans as being false, but claims he's powerless to stop them from running the attack ad. Isn't he kind of the guy in charge these days? Doesn't he have control over his own party? Why won't he step up to the plate, do the right thing, and declare attack/smear ads be stopped? Because then he'd be held accountable...
6. I get an e-mail roughly three times a day, the same message, listing the various ways Christianity has played a part in American history. At the end it says, "It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or 'In God We Trust' on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!"
Well, I have problems with that.
My first question is quite simple -- who's trying to change our money? Is someone seriously trying to change the Pledge of Allegiance? No. Oh, sure, some whacko comes up every now and then who wants to make waves, but no one takes them seriously. This is NOT an issue, as far as I can tell. Liberals do believe in the separation of church and state, but I don't see anyone getting freaky about it... Most liberals are, after all, Christian -- just like Jesus, the most famous progressive of all.
My second problem is a bit more touchy. It's my opinion that if your faith in God is so weak that you need to be reminded of Him every time you spend a dollar to buy yourself some Ho-Ho's, you have more problems than you know. If you truly had faith in God, you mightn't feel so threatened.
My third problem with the e-mail revolves around the base logic of the last sentence, quoted above. Iowa passed a law recently banning cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants. This has caused quite the upheaval -- the level of chest-thumping and moaning by smokers is incredible; they feel their rights are being violated, and that the government has no right to tell them what to do. One survey I saw said that some 82% of Iowans are non-smokers. So why can't we tell the other 18% to sit down and shut up? That's what the e-mail said about religion... So, if the smoking minority are upset about their rights being trampled by the majority, don't you think they'd also be vocal about the religious majority trampling the rights of the minority religions? Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working that way.
Personally, I fail to see where another person's beliefs threatens my belief in God. We are a Christian society, by and large, and part of Christianity is accepting other people. Acceptance. Compassion. You know, those values. They pertain to other people, too, you know.
7. A meme... SkylersDad memed me a while back. I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy. Until now. It's a simple one -- list five relatively clean web sites you like. Feel free to play...
Torso pants -- Odd t-shirts. Fun site.
I Can Has Cheezburger -- lolcats
HippieBoy Design -- My site. Go there. Buy a website or something. Please.
Weather -- I live on this site waiting and hoping for good riding weather...
Drew -- My buddy's site. He's trying to work his way out of the print shop too.
8. I'm tired. Shoot. I just caught myself sleeping. I think I was snoring. Not good when you work ten feet from the boss' door.
9. I'd best get something done. Have a good weekend, ever'buddy!
posted by Chris the Hippie at
8:51 AM
10 Comments:
Great list, and you touched on a few of my hot buttons also. Thanks for doing the meme, I will check out the sites later!
Chris, you really need to think about a change. You, Fruitloop, your Austrian Snickerdoodle and Snickerdoodle Sr. need to visit Pixie in the land of cheap housing and lots of jobs. Snicker Sr would have tons of activities, Fruitloop would love the lizards and I bet Dagmar's health would improve!
We can have a GIANT beer and hot wings at The Vine. Ask Pixie about it!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Leoness is correct! You need a GINORMOUS icy cold beer and suicide wings at the Vine! YES!
and... this made me choke on my ice cube, ...if your faith in God is so weak that you need to be reminded of Him every time you spend a dollar to buy yourself some Ho-Ho's, you have more problems than you know...
You're beautiful, man.
Item #2 - An English lesson: Yep we want the elite on our team, but we do NOT want elitists running stuff - Elitist believe that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources...Elitism is the sense of entitlement...control and domination are implied. Percieved superiority instead of REAL superiority...
Oh and leonesse may be right about Pixie-land (where Moriah is too)...lots of opportuinities AND motocycles are free to roam all year long! Might be time to take the risk, make the leap, stop the pain ... know the defintion of insanity? Look it up! 8-)
Just Me
In Sunny Santa Fe
www.puverpages.com
"They're rarely funny, and all they do is prove, once again, that our nation can't decide politics on issues -- we depend instead on slurs, slander, and cheap humor."
AMEN.
"It's my opinion that if your faith in God is so weak that you need to be reminded of Him every time you spend a dollar to buy yourself some Ho-Ho's, you have more problems than you know."
AMEN.
Sounds like someone needs a vacay. The worst thing about taking a "vacay" is that there's just more crap for you to do when you get back to the office. I had been bringing work home and checking emails over the weekend for a long time. The last two weeks, because of having lots of work around the house, I haven't been, and my Mondays have been heck because of it.
Also, #6. Hallelujah and amen, brother! I'd like to say more, but for some reason do not want to offend the religious among us. I wish they'd return the favor, though.
I don't remember Dagmar being a fan of heat. I remember the issues with the thermostat when you were first married.
Personally, above 75 degrees and I start to think it's too hot. It's always more pleasant to snuggle for warmth than to strip down and sit in front of a fan.
Ah, and no helmets, either.
(LK mostly wore one, but once in awhile....)
SkyDad -- Thanks!
Leo -- A change would be good... But we have family here in the city to consider... But GEEZE I can see Fruitloop having a riot!
Pix -- Chicky wings 'n beer is always good! I've never heard of this "Vine" place you and Leo are talking about, but maybe it's time for me to start planning next summer's vacation... I don't know if Dagmar's ever been to the desert, either...
Aunt V -- I still maintain that wanting someone who has a higher education to teach our children is NOT elitist, but rather just plain smart... I just get tired of the three candidates each pointing at each other hollering "He's an elitist! He's elite!" Push comes to shove, which one of the three millionaires is truly on our level?
Fawl -- Hey, thanks!
Katze -- Yep. I haven't had any time off in years. We took a long weekend last summer... When I DO get time away from the print shop, it's spent in front of my own computer freelancing. Oh, and the temperature thing isn't such a problem. I used to be cold all the time and she was hot all the time. Then she lost 50 pounds and I gained 50...
Leo -- Sounds like LK and I are on the same wavelength. I wear mine most of the time, but once in a while, if I'm just going the four blocks to work...
I like how a belief in God instantly means the Judeo-Christian God of the Ten Commandments. I happen to believe in Zeus, and I find the Ten Commandments offensive.
I also think it's a hoot that people make a chest-thumping big deal about the "in god we trust" when there's also a huge Masonic pyramid on the money, and most Founders were Deists who thought Bibles were dumb.
Once again, YOU MAKE SENSE! I mean you always make sense. You're like my bible of sanity! As a non-religious person I don't give a rat's ass what the pledge or anything else says. If people believe in something I don't, that's fine and I expect the same respect back. Tolerance is what is called for.
And the main reason politics pisses me off to the extent it does is the back stabbing and campaigns that seem to be waged on defaming the other guy instead of telling us what they can do for us.
And I'm totally with you on the job dissatisfaction thing lately.
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