The gift that keeps on giving

Amid all the John Kerry brouhaha, I’d like to make a simple, yet poignant observation:

On display is the quintessential Northeast or Westcoast liberal, one that is:

Arrogant
Condescending
Elitist
Patronizing
Self-loathing
Shows contempt for our military
Not trustworthy to protect our country

Truth be told as a group, the military population is MORE educated than the rest of the nation. At this point in time, Kerry still hasn't acknowledged and apologized to the military for the potential unintended interpretation of his “joke”, although he probably meant what he said, damned Freud, anyway.

It’s actually fun to watch the media try to cover this flap objectively (they can’t). Amazing he did something this stupid this close to the election. He (and liberals like him) are overconfident and got caught spiking the ball on the 10-yard line again. We'll see what happens in a week, or did I miss the election? The media's already coronated the Democrat winners, so let's just save ourselves the time and money and forego the actual voting from the citizenry.

Keep on energizing the conservative base, please...



UPDATE (11/01/06)
As more of this controversy comes to light, I don't know what disturbs me more, Kerry's botched joke or the students laughing at it. Whether or not he meant to say what he did, it does reinforce the stereotype of the modern liberal elitist mindset that looks down their noses on the military and the men and women who volunteer to serve.

Imagine the media frenzy if President Bush mispoke like this?

As an employer, I would appreciate the training of the former military person much more than those oh so useful workplace preparation skills garnered from art history, gender, ethnic, and diversity studies, or collegiate sports, unless of course you actually get a job in one of those fields instead of at Starbucks.

I'm sorry, that was supposed to be a joke...

It's more than a civic duty

We just sent in our absentee ballots. Cross the fingers.

A few items of note and/or consideration:

As you may have already guessed, my preference for the size, role, and the level of intrusion of government can best be described as - LIMITED. Please let me repeat that again– L-I-M-I-T-E-D. So anything that I can do to help reverse the exponential acceleration of governmental largesse I will emphatically support. Fortunately for us all, this election cycle you have ample opportunity to join me in my most noble quest. Read the propositions and THINK, don’t feel, about it. The fewer bonds, lower taxes, fewer bureaucracies, less debt, regulation, and blue ribbon commissions anchored to us and the younger generations the better it is for all of us. Force those who volunteered to manage our democracy to be more responsible with the funds and trust given to them.

The public school monopoly gets PLENTY of OUR tax dollars. Make them cut the phat from their bloated and inefficient indoctrination centers. I remember last year our community voted to “give more money to the schools” (I voted against) and guess what happened? It was reported that there was a SURPLUS. Where’s my refund of the extra funds confiscated from my property and county taxes? (crickets chirping…) It’s MY money, not theirs. Give it back! My sympathy only goes so far when they come back crying for more, especially when they refuse to be responsible with what was given to them.

If voting absentee in CA (the regular ballots may be similar), don’t forget to flip your ballot over to vote for prop 90 (restricting government eminent domain powers). Funny that it got printed as the only proposition on the second page, when there was PLENTY of space to print it on page one. Conspiracy? Could be...

On a national scale, whatever your “feelings” about President Bush, Vice President Cheney, or the war in Iraq, please THINK before you vote. Who do you TRUST to keep YOU and your family safe from harm? I don’t throw this bit of rhetoric out lightly. I can honestly say that I don’t trust the majority of Democrats with national security matters. We are at war. THINK about it. What freedoms and rights have you lost by the passage of the Patriot Act and other such legislation? I’ll bet you can’t name anything specific, just fuzzy liberal ACLU talking points. Yes, I’m mad as hell that the Republicans are spending money like drunken sailors, but what choice do we have? All of our rights and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution will be null and void if we are overtaken by an Islamist regime. It CAN happen. No country, even one as great as ours, can survive forever (the Romans?). The Democrats and the mainstream media, by their continual and predictable passive appeasement, embolden our enemies. The Islamofascists want the Democrats to take over Congress and the Presidency. What does THAT tell you? Hey, if the Republican is a piece of shit, don’t vote for him or her. Vote for an AMERICAN, not a Republican or Democrat. VOTE!

If you don't then you have no grounds upon which to bitch. My ears go deaf to your whining...

The Waiting Game

That about sums it up. After three weeks of exhaustive effort, we've established a figure-eight holding pattern, traversing infinitely, smoothly, and quietly around the same two foci of real estate - our existing house and our (hopefully) future house. To say that this current mode of uncertain habitation is the antithesis of the prior weeks of chaos is quite an understatement. The stillness and peace here is actually more unsettling than Zennish, although that wouldn't be the case if the eagerly desired evacuation was not ever present and the distant nagging voice in the back of my mind wasn't convincing me that I was no longer the rightful resident, but a guest that is uncomfortably overstaying my welcome. Although it's very soothing to coexist in a more clean environ and with less clutter and "stuff" clogging the arterial infrastructure of the home, it's also almost restrictively antiseptic and cold at the same time, like being in a hospital without the patronizing staff. In opposite circumstances, this would be nirvana.

Let not your troubled hearts be overly burdened, we're only moving to an alternate East Bay locale, one that is more congruent to our lifestyle. More importantly, it helps facilitate my early departure and release from the restraints of the working world and opens the gates to infinite possibilites.

Please buy my house (non-contingent offers preferred). Please...

MLS #40216332, Click HERE to view property.

Charity is not optional

There is probably no way to come out of this without sounding like a total cad, just like arguing with someone who says, “who could be against clean air and water or increased school funding?”, but here goes anyway...

It seems that charity no longer begins at home, although it does pay a visit from time to time. I'd like to take three items that I heard recently and thread the provincial needle through an interrelated node shared by all. These topics are:

[1] Californians are less generous than most other states’ citizens.
[2] Healthcare premiums are growing at a faster rate than inflation (no, really? I didn't notice).
[3] Californians pay more per kilowatt-hour than most people.

First, I heard recently on the radio about a report that determined that per capita, Californians give less money as a percentage of income than most all others in the United States. The report also noted that we control over a trillion dollars in investments from which charitable contributions could be siphoned. The rationale mentioned in the article for such stinginess is that since Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the country, most people are letting the state and local governments use their tax dollars to care for the needy, as opposed to the rest of the country who generally prefer to donate more of their own money to charities rather than relying on the government to fund it with tax dollars. I’m not going to debate the superiority of one versus the other, just that I lean towards the latter, but reality proves the former. I know personally that I don’t give of my resources (time, talents, and money) to those less fortunate as much as I should, mainly because I think that the state and federal governments get enough of my money as it is, and they seem to be the largest benefactor to the needy. So I represent the statistics reported.

Second, this is open enrollment period for many of us to choose the lesser of multiple evil insurance companies (not just politicians). As a business owner, I’ve seen our insurance costs (employer and employee) go up 10-20% every year for the past few years while the rate of inflation increased less that 5%. Why? My broker tells me that much of the increases are due to having to pay for the uninsured and illegal immigrant population. So we’re forced to foot the bill for these people. And don’t get me started about universal health care. That is something we DON’T want. What I don’t understand is that the same people that despise HMO’s want government-controlled healthcare. What in the hell do you think socialized medicine is going to be? It will be a larger, less efficient, more bureaucratic, über HMO that emphasizes mediocrity not excellence. How many people do you know go to Canada, Mexico, or France for medical procedures? I thought so. The pharmaceutical issue is another thing altogether.

And third, my wife frequents an online finance message board. One of the threads recently related to someone (not in the area) who was questioning her electric bill and was wondering if she was paying too much. My wife reviewed our recent bills and discovered that we pay a significantly higher rate per kilowatt-hour. Why? Let me guess. Besides the excessive regulations and usual state meddling, we also pay federal and state mandated fees to help assist low-income customers. While at the surface, that sounds very noble, but let me help out in my own way. Don’t force me to do it. I don’t have a choice in power providers, so I am stuck with this mandated charitable contribution. Take a look at your other utility bills, like your phone or your internet service bill.

Seeing a pattern develop? Do you see now how [1] is a related result of [2] and [3]? I didn’t even mention federal, state, and local income and property taxes in this. Here again is another example of the Big Sister government nanny forcing us to pay for more social programs because some busybody bureaucrat thinks it’s a good idea, and since we (obviously) are unable to take care of ourselves.

Look at the little chickies

Pinch hitting

Don't be surprised if you start reading some guest bloggage from time to time. Generous amounts of camouflage to protect the identity of the author(s) will be provided free of charge.