Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Proof that dining alone is bad for you

I went to lunch solo today, as I often do, and stopped in at the local BBQ joint for a po'boy and an iced tea. The place is packed as usual with oilfield and refinery workers, all rough and driving 3/4 ton trucks that could tow your house. While dining and minding my own business, I made a random observation about the dessert most were having. There is absolutely no manly way to eat an ice cream cone. You can be a 6'4", 300 pound guy with a beard thick enough to scrub rust from a barbecue grill and a shaved head yet the moment you start eating an ice cream cone you look like more of a fairy than the cast of an average show on Bravo. It is a thought I just didn't need. And now I have passed it to you. Try cleaning that out of your brain...

Monday, March 26, 2007

Solving the world's problems

My wife and I had a conversation last night that started with me coming up with the solution to something, can't remember what, and her asking if that was what I was spending my time thinking about on the crapper. I came back with, "Well that and solving world hunger."

Then it somehow took a serious turn as the solution to world hunger popped into my brain. Solve for greed and indifference. If we can solve those problems we end war, hunger, poverty, and hate. Now before everyone goes, "Boy is this guy a naive little shit" hear me out. I get that it is truly impossible to solve for greed completely. It is part of human nature. It is worth trying though.

If we took the amount spent on the Iraq war, we could fully insure 246,000,000 Americans, or give scholarships to 19,000,000 Americans, or build over 3,000,000 additional housing units for the poor. If we took the amount spent on projects designed to line the pockets of corporations that paid for campaigns, we could feed every hungry child in America. Every bomb we drop or missile we fire costs another $30-50,000 not counting the costs of rebuilding the country we just bombed to hell. Every soldier that dies costs this country another of its finest citizens, something we could never put a price on.

Don't get me wrong, I will support any war that defends our borders or rights civil injustices. Iraq does neither of those. It serves only to forward the interests of Haliburton and the other vultures the President has allied himself with. If it were about human rights then why aren't we in Darfur? Why haven't we sanctioned China? If it was about terrorism why haven't we taken on Saudi Arabia or Syria? Iraq was solely about greed in its most unabashed form. Why has it continued? Because Americans are so indifferent and lazy we refuse to actually take action to stop this. We accept all the garbage the media (I am looking at you Fox News) feeds us and let these greedy bastards destroy our world.

So how do we solve for greed? How can we, average citizens of the world, stop greed at its highest levels? Stop it at home. Stop running up debt to acquire crap you don't need. Stop teaching our kids it is okay to purchase $100 jeans and $500 shoes. Stop promising to donate to charity and then deciding you need something else instead. As for indifference, we who are awake to the travesties committed by our government have to shout these atrocities from the rooftops (no, not literally) and rally all of America. Our destruction comes not from a bearded asshole with a turban but from a well dressed politician claiming to protect us as our liberties are stolen slowly away.

Write your congressman, your senator, even your city councilman. Propose that your legislators support resolutions to end this war. While a city council has no real power to end this war by itself, if hundreds of cities nationwide resolve against this we can send a clear signal to our leaders they are on notice. Finally, we need to vote against any politician not willing to act to end this war NOW. Talk time is over, we must act. This is a call to Revolution, not a non-binding resolution. Take note Democrats, non-binding resolutions are impotent actions that mean nothing. It is like telling the school bully not to take your lunch money or you'll make a stern face at him. End it, or you all get cleaned out with the wash.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Obligatory "I'm not dead" Post

I'm not dead, just uninspired. I have gone to post many times since the last post but every time I load this screen and start to type I feel like I'm being redundant. Further, I am not sure what may or may not interest my readers and possibly make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I know I have readers. My website statistics show people stumbling in here from all over the world, some staying for more than a couple of seconds. These readers are a bit shy of course as I have tried every way I can think of to get you to reply in some way and make this more dialog than monologue. A couple of you have taken the challenge but most just lurk quietly reading. If this blog contains anything the even remotely evokes an emotion in you, love, hate, or general indifference, reply to this post. Tell me what you would like to see. Ask and ye shall receive.