Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Don’t Blame the President
You agreed to settle for lesser products in exchange for lower overhead. You put it on plastic while your bank accounts remained empty. You decided to be a liar. You placed appearances above truth. You bought a house and car you couldn't afford and blamed your losses on the cost of higher education. You agreed to eat garbage and called it a value. You created, supported, and passed corrupt legislation to advance your selfish wants and needs. You let your family and marriage take a backseat to financial gain and self absorption. You made life into a television show and chose to believe the lies it fed you. You became impatient and hateful. You agreed to pay at the pump. You forgot the working poor. You submitted to the rich and powerful in exchange for anonymity. You diluted religion until it fit your needs. You made enemies you cannot defeat. You repeated the mistakes of Rome. None of this is the President’s fault. You have only yourself to blame and now you’re totally fucked.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Pet Peeves
not checked for typos yet
It’s snowed about a foot in the last day and I’m stuck inside with nothing to do. I killed some time by fixing my resume and cover letter for a job I’m applying for and then I browsed my friends’ profiles at myspace. That got boring, so now I’m listening to music and typing. I have a video game to play, but I did that already. I should be working on the book I’m writing; I should be doing a lot of things I guess. Today was a good snow day though. My snow tires work well. Now I can get going but I can’t stop, because I need brakes. There’s always something. I’ve been smoke free for just over 2 weeks and haven’t eaten meat for about the same time. Calculating the difference between the time I quit smoking and the time I stopped eating meat is getting really annoying, so from now on I’m going to say I did it at the same time; so, I’ve been smoke and meat free for two weeks. Anyway, I feel great. I’m finally able to really relax and it feels good. I don’t mean “finally” because I haven’t been able to relax since I quit. I haven’t really relaxed since I became a smoker (1995) because there is always the underlying internal clock that defines time by ability to smoke. It's actually very sad and I feel stupid for smoking as long as I did. I very very rarely feel stupid. I have few regrets, but smoking is definitely one of them. So far… I think I probably have about 5 regrets. If I continue at this rate and live to 100, that’s less than 20 for a whole lifetime. Most of my regrets turned out to be milestones or at least learning experiences, so in the end, I have even fewer major regrets… smoking may turn out to be on that list as well though. I thought it would be fun to make a list of pet peeves. Anyone who knows me at all knows I don’t like much of anything. On the other hand, I am passionate about the things I do like. I have a sort of all-or-nothing personality I suppose.
Just some of my pet peeves in no particular order
Cream cheese packaging: seriously, is it really necessary that it be so complicated?
“Gangster” rap: What the hell is wrong with you? It’s so stupid, all of it.
Spare tires: Why can’t they all just be full size? And why do I need an aerospace degree to figure out how to get at it?
Racism: from both sides, all sides, whatever. Get over it you losers.
Double-sided sticky tape: tape just wasn’t meant to be sticky on both sides and then it never sticks right anyway!
Prepaying for gas: Just put an “in” before “convenience store” and get it over with, you ass holes. I wasn’t the one who stole your precious gas. You should have enough money to cover it since you’ve been gouging me for years.
Rich people: fuck you and fuck your fucking problems
Junk mail: I’d like to think everyone throws it away without reading it, but someone must do it. Do the world a favor and read the glossy rifle ad and slip into a deep depression.
People who ride motorcycles without helmets: yeah, you look really cool. Tell me all about that personal preference thing… once you learn how to speak again. I worked with a patient who thought it was cool to ride without one. He could tell you why you shouldn’t, but wait… he died after suffering for months with traumatic brain damage which caused him to become paranoid and delusional.
Drunk drivers: you wont have to worry about jail time if you kill someone I love, because I’ll kill you
Advertisements: Especially television and radio. I don’t think any ad that has 30 seconds of fast-spoken disclaimers and warnings should be allowed. Who is buying all this shit? And with what money? Get a grip America. You may want to send your kids to school or even retire. Stop buying shit you don’t need. Advertisements are just pretty lies for shitty products with miserable services.
People who don’t listen: what makes you think it’s ok to talk so much? Shut up. Please!! Shut up.
Cocky bicyclists: Don’t think you can hog half the friggin’ lane and then NOT stop at the red light. You can’t have it both ways!! Either you’re pretending to be a car or you're not!! And take off that ridiculous lycra, you're not in the tour da france.
Censorship: People have the right to be really really stupid and to try to spread their really really stupid thoughts and ideas. If God gave us freewill, I don’t think it’s fair for the Government (or sexually repressed housewives with nothing better to do) to take it away. The shame should not be on the sender, but on the people who are receiving it. There would be no supply if there wasn’t a demand. Hypocrites.
Teenage drivers: You suck; you might think you don’t, but I bet you think a lot of things don’t you? Superficial, rubber necking, egotistical, morons. You and your loser generation are the only ones who think you’re cool. I will run you off the fucking road.
DVDs: I can’t remember a time when had to stop a VHS movie and interrupt the movie because of a flaw in the VHS cassette. DVDs are a corporate ploy so people will have to rebuy more frequently. Letterbox: WHY? I don’t give a shit if the movie is in its original aspect ratio!! I can barely see it now anyway. Why do some movies offer full screen and some don’t. Is it really that difficult?
Cell phones: Just stop. It’s getting ridiculous. It’s just an extension of your obnoxious personality.
Cars: Your car payment is how much? And NOBODY cares except you. Isn’t that cool?
Generation “Loser”: Prove me wrong kids. For the future of this country and the world, prove me wrong.
American values: It would almost be funny if it weren’t so sickening. Drugged up clowns with no deeper thought than their pockets, which they borrowed (with interest), from the unstoppable machine of broken finance, built in a sand pit of lies and images of ideals that don’t even exist!! Too ashamed or tricked to admit it’s too late. It’s too fucked up to fix; not that anyone will bother to fix it anyway, because they’re too busy perfecting their own private lies. The solution: blame it on the war, blame it on Bush, blame it on something that can’t be proven so there will always be a chance it’s not our fault we committed suicide.
Easy-open cans: was it really that much work to use a can opener?
Automated customer service: What a joke. I’d like to speak to a human, and can you at least speak my language please?
Current industry: You took my job and money away and now you expect me to find a way to buy your products and invest in your stock? That system is fatally flawed. I’m left to serve in an informational capacity. When times get rough, the products that really matter are the ones that actually exist!! How’s that for some information?!
Guns for protection: You’re not Rambo. If your gun is locked up properly, it will not do any good against intruders anyway. There are plenty non-lethal protection devices. Each year, over 200 kids (under age 18) are killed unintentionally by guns. If you own a gun for protection, you might as well walk into your local school and blow away someone’s son or daughter, because that’s what you’re doing.
People who start calling me by name before they really know me: It doesn’t make you seem more personable, it’s just creepy.
Lack of perspective: Where do you get off thinking you’ve got it so bad? I’m sick of all the moaning. We all bitch and complain sometimes, which is completely understandable, but some people have such a limited perspective, which doesn’t seem to extend any further than their mirror. I’ve meet some people who have something to bitch about and they weren’t you. And what makes you think you’re better? Your what? Untouchable? Invincable? It could be you. It could be you tomorrow, so suspend your judgment long enough to find out.
Legislated values: First of all, this problem steams from the fact that the only people stupid and boring enough to care about creating ridiculous legislation are uptight, pompous, windbags with nothing better to do. Daddy actually worked to make the money; you just know how to play with it. And play they do. I was floored the other day when I read a proposal to ban smoking in private vehicles when kids are in the car. I shouldn’t have to type this next part, but I stopped assuming people were smart a long time ago: smoking in the car with kids is not smart or good, or healthy, or any of that. One could argue that it is morally wrong to expose your kids to the harmful toxins in secondhand smoke and I would agree. HOWEVER; we can not allow the government and law enforcement to become the guardians of private moral and ethical issues. Public health is one thing. The public domain is created and controlled by laws and politics. People’s private lives must remain their own. The freedom we enjoy in America allows for stupidity, mistakes, and downright wrongdoing. You have the right to do the wrong thing and choose to ruin your kid’s lungs. Maybe that kid will go on to become a smoker or maybe he’ll go on to become a strong anti-smoking advocate. Either way, we must protect our right to create our own future. It should not be molded by authority figures. This isn’t Russia. People can not be forced into morality. Cart. Horse. Get it right America.
It’s snowed about a foot in the last day and I’m stuck inside with nothing to do. I killed some time by fixing my resume and cover letter for a job I’m applying for and then I browsed my friends’ profiles at myspace. That got boring, so now I’m listening to music and typing. I have a video game to play, but I did that already. I should be working on the book I’m writing; I should be doing a lot of things I guess. Today was a good snow day though. My snow tires work well. Now I can get going but I can’t stop, because I need brakes. There’s always something. I’ve been smoke free for just over 2 weeks and haven’t eaten meat for about the same time. Calculating the difference between the time I quit smoking and the time I stopped eating meat is getting really annoying, so from now on I’m going to say I did it at the same time; so, I’ve been smoke and meat free for two weeks. Anyway, I feel great. I’m finally able to really relax and it feels good. I don’t mean “finally” because I haven’t been able to relax since I quit. I haven’t really relaxed since I became a smoker (1995) because there is always the underlying internal clock that defines time by ability to smoke. It's actually very sad and I feel stupid for smoking as long as I did. I very very rarely feel stupid. I have few regrets, but smoking is definitely one of them. So far… I think I probably have about 5 regrets. If I continue at this rate and live to 100, that’s less than 20 for a whole lifetime. Most of my regrets turned out to be milestones or at least learning experiences, so in the end, I have even fewer major regrets… smoking may turn out to be on that list as well though. I thought it would be fun to make a list of pet peeves. Anyone who knows me at all knows I don’t like much of anything. On the other hand, I am passionate about the things I do like. I have a sort of all-or-nothing personality I suppose.
Just some of my pet peeves in no particular order
Cream cheese packaging: seriously, is it really necessary that it be so complicated?
“Gangster” rap: What the hell is wrong with you? It’s so stupid, all of it.
Spare tires: Why can’t they all just be full size? And why do I need an aerospace degree to figure out how to get at it?
Racism: from both sides, all sides, whatever. Get over it you losers.
Double-sided sticky tape: tape just wasn’t meant to be sticky on both sides and then it never sticks right anyway!
Prepaying for gas: Just put an “in” before “convenience store” and get it over with, you ass holes. I wasn’t the one who stole your precious gas. You should have enough money to cover it since you’ve been gouging me for years.
Rich people: fuck you and fuck your fucking problems
Junk mail: I’d like to think everyone throws it away without reading it, but someone must do it. Do the world a favor and read the glossy rifle ad and slip into a deep depression.
People who ride motorcycles without helmets: yeah, you look really cool. Tell me all about that personal preference thing… once you learn how to speak again. I worked with a patient who thought it was cool to ride without one. He could tell you why you shouldn’t, but wait… he died after suffering for months with traumatic brain damage which caused him to become paranoid and delusional.
Drunk drivers: you wont have to worry about jail time if you kill someone I love, because I’ll kill you
Advertisements: Especially television and radio. I don’t think any ad that has 30 seconds of fast-spoken disclaimers and warnings should be allowed. Who is buying all this shit? And with what money? Get a grip America. You may want to send your kids to school or even retire. Stop buying shit you don’t need. Advertisements are just pretty lies for shitty products with miserable services.
People who don’t listen: what makes you think it’s ok to talk so much? Shut up. Please!! Shut up.
Cocky bicyclists: Don’t think you can hog half the friggin’ lane and then NOT stop at the red light. You can’t have it both ways!! Either you’re pretending to be a car or you're not!! And take off that ridiculous lycra, you're not in the tour da france.
Censorship: People have the right to be really really stupid and to try to spread their really really stupid thoughts and ideas. If God gave us freewill, I don’t think it’s fair for the Government (or sexually repressed housewives with nothing better to do) to take it away. The shame should not be on the sender, but on the people who are receiving it. There would be no supply if there wasn’t a demand. Hypocrites.
Teenage drivers: You suck; you might think you don’t, but I bet you think a lot of things don’t you? Superficial, rubber necking, egotistical, morons. You and your loser generation are the only ones who think you’re cool. I will run you off the fucking road.
DVDs: I can’t remember a time when had to stop a VHS movie and interrupt the movie because of a flaw in the VHS cassette. DVDs are a corporate ploy so people will have to rebuy more frequently. Letterbox: WHY? I don’t give a shit if the movie is in its original aspect ratio!! I can barely see it now anyway. Why do some movies offer full screen and some don’t. Is it really that difficult?
Cell phones: Just stop. It’s getting ridiculous. It’s just an extension of your obnoxious personality.
Cars: Your car payment is how much? And NOBODY cares except you. Isn’t that cool?
Generation “Loser”: Prove me wrong kids. For the future of this country and the world, prove me wrong.
American values: It would almost be funny if it weren’t so sickening. Drugged up clowns with no deeper thought than their pockets, which they borrowed (with interest), from the unstoppable machine of broken finance, built in a sand pit of lies and images of ideals that don’t even exist!! Too ashamed or tricked to admit it’s too late. It’s too fucked up to fix; not that anyone will bother to fix it anyway, because they’re too busy perfecting their own private lies. The solution: blame it on the war, blame it on Bush, blame it on something that can’t be proven so there will always be a chance it’s not our fault we committed suicide.
Easy-open cans: was it really that much work to use a can opener?
Automated customer service: What a joke. I’d like to speak to a human, and can you at least speak my language please?
Current industry: You took my job and money away and now you expect me to find a way to buy your products and invest in your stock? That system is fatally flawed. I’m left to serve in an informational capacity. When times get rough, the products that really matter are the ones that actually exist!! How’s that for some information?!
Guns for protection: You’re not Rambo. If your gun is locked up properly, it will not do any good against intruders anyway. There are plenty non-lethal protection devices. Each year, over 200 kids (under age 18) are killed unintentionally by guns. If you own a gun for protection, you might as well walk into your local school and blow away someone’s son or daughter, because that’s what you’re doing.
People who start calling me by name before they really know me: It doesn’t make you seem more personable, it’s just creepy.
Lack of perspective: Where do you get off thinking you’ve got it so bad? I’m sick of all the moaning. We all bitch and complain sometimes, which is completely understandable, but some people have such a limited perspective, which doesn’t seem to extend any further than their mirror. I’ve meet some people who have something to bitch about and they weren’t you. And what makes you think you’re better? Your what? Untouchable? Invincable? It could be you. It could be you tomorrow, so suspend your judgment long enough to find out.
Legislated values: First of all, this problem steams from the fact that the only people stupid and boring enough to care about creating ridiculous legislation are uptight, pompous, windbags with nothing better to do. Daddy actually worked to make the money; you just know how to play with it. And play they do. I was floored the other day when I read a proposal to ban smoking in private vehicles when kids are in the car. I shouldn’t have to type this next part, but I stopped assuming people were smart a long time ago: smoking in the car with kids is not smart or good, or healthy, or any of that. One could argue that it is morally wrong to expose your kids to the harmful toxins in secondhand smoke and I would agree. HOWEVER; we can not allow the government and law enforcement to become the guardians of private moral and ethical issues. Public health is one thing. The public domain is created and controlled by laws and politics. People’s private lives must remain their own. The freedom we enjoy in America allows for stupidity, mistakes, and downright wrongdoing. You have the right to do the wrong thing and choose to ruin your kid’s lungs. Maybe that kid will go on to become a smoker or maybe he’ll go on to become a strong anti-smoking advocate. Either way, we must protect our right to create our own future. It should not be molded by authority figures. This isn’t Russia. People can not be forced into morality. Cart. Horse. Get it right America.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Pay at the pump
September 9, 2007
For the past year or so, I’ve been buying my gas at the only remaining gas station in town which doesn’t require pre-payment or pay at the pump. Now, because of drive-offs, they too have switched to pre-payment or pay at the pump. I was pissed. I took a half hour drive after work to the neighboring town, to the only gas station that trusts people to pay after pumping. For starters, I’m being totally raped by the gas station, oil companies, and everyone else in the world who undeservingly demands my hard-earned money. Almost everything I buy turns out to be a complete piece of shit. I can't be the only one who’s noticing this. And what recourse do I have? None! I’m fucked and that’s it, period. My solution to this is to simply stop being a consumer and only buy things I really need. Anyway, back to the pump. Paying at the pump encourages people to use credit cards. The average American already has over $8,000 in credit card debt. I don’t think we need any more encouragement. Credit cards are being marketed and supported as a necessity, much like your stupid cell phone you have glued to your ear while you almost crash into me while driving that car you owe an outrageous amount of money on- but I digress. Let’s say I use my debit card instead of my credit card, which I do, I don’t want to run my card twice! I’ll have to run it at the pump and then go inside and run it again. I don’t get charged more from my bank or anything like that, but it’s just stupid! Why make my bank statements and checkbook more complicated? Why do I have to be inconvenienced? My other option is to go in and pre pay. I have to walk in, guess how much my car will hold, and either put too little in or end up going back in the store and waiting in line AGAIN to get my change. All because some people are driving off without paying. I can’t say I blame’em. Have you seen the price of gas?! They probably can’t afford it. I can barely afford it! In 1997 gas was around a dollar a gallon. Since then it has tripled. The toll booth where I work used to be 30 cents and now it’s 60. Heating costs are through the roof, houses are practically unattainable for most people, and debt is out of control, individually and globally. Has your pay doubled or tripled lately? Mine certainly hasn’t! We are being suffocated by the very structure we created. The rich continue to get richer and the poor… well ya know. America has only been around for a short time. China has had hiccups that have lasted longer than our entire history to date. If things don’t change now, America will fail. It’s textbook civilization failure. We are Rome. Hundreds of years from now, the entire United States experience could turn out to be just a footnote in time. Some highly intelligent Somali kid will read this in his history book and laugh at our stupidity and arrogance. So what can I do? In the end, all I can do is write things like this, because all gas stations will become pre pay, all items will be marked up, and most Americans don’t care enough to do anything about it and even if they do, they are practically powerless. It’s a fragile existence we’ve dreamed up. I’m sorry to say, The American Dream seems more like the American myth to me. How long should I allow myself to be exploited and abused by a system, a government, and a society that doesn’t care, before I put up some sort of resistance, even if only a futile resistance? We must become proactive if we are to survive.
For the past year or so, I’ve been buying my gas at the only remaining gas station in town which doesn’t require pre-payment or pay at the pump. Now, because of drive-offs, they too have switched to pre-payment or pay at the pump. I was pissed. I took a half hour drive after work to the neighboring town, to the only gas station that trusts people to pay after pumping. For starters, I’m being totally raped by the gas station, oil companies, and everyone else in the world who undeservingly demands my hard-earned money. Almost everything I buy turns out to be a complete piece of shit. I can't be the only one who’s noticing this. And what recourse do I have? None! I’m fucked and that’s it, period. My solution to this is to simply stop being a consumer and only buy things I really need. Anyway, back to the pump. Paying at the pump encourages people to use credit cards. The average American already has over $8,000 in credit card debt. I don’t think we need any more encouragement. Credit cards are being marketed and supported as a necessity, much like your stupid cell phone you have glued to your ear while you almost crash into me while driving that car you owe an outrageous amount of money on- but I digress. Let’s say I use my debit card instead of my credit card, which I do, I don’t want to run my card twice! I’ll have to run it at the pump and then go inside and run it again. I don’t get charged more from my bank or anything like that, but it’s just stupid! Why make my bank statements and checkbook more complicated? Why do I have to be inconvenienced? My other option is to go in and pre pay. I have to walk in, guess how much my car will hold, and either put too little in or end up going back in the store and waiting in line AGAIN to get my change. All because some people are driving off without paying. I can’t say I blame’em. Have you seen the price of gas?! They probably can’t afford it. I can barely afford it! In 1997 gas was around a dollar a gallon. Since then it has tripled. The toll booth where I work used to be 30 cents and now it’s 60. Heating costs are through the roof, houses are practically unattainable for most people, and debt is out of control, individually and globally. Has your pay doubled or tripled lately? Mine certainly hasn’t! We are being suffocated by the very structure we created. The rich continue to get richer and the poor… well ya know. America has only been around for a short time. China has had hiccups that have lasted longer than our entire history to date. If things don’t change now, America will fail. It’s textbook civilization failure. We are Rome. Hundreds of years from now, the entire United States experience could turn out to be just a footnote in time. Some highly intelligent Somali kid will read this in his history book and laugh at our stupidity and arrogance. So what can I do? In the end, all I can do is write things like this, because all gas stations will become pre pay, all items will be marked up, and most Americans don’t care enough to do anything about it and even if they do, they are practically powerless. It’s a fragile existence we’ve dreamed up. I’m sorry to say, The American Dream seems more like the American myth to me. How long should I allow myself to be exploited and abused by a system, a government, and a society that doesn’t care, before I put up some sort of resistance, even if only a futile resistance? We must become proactive if we are to survive.
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