In the time I laid off of this blog, so much has happened. The stimulus package, the health care debacle. LOTS of stuff. However, what has happened, for me at least, has been something that has renewed my faith in the people of this great nation. I am proud of the folks who are finally standing up and voicing their opinions to the politicians.
A scant few of the politicians are even listening. They see the every-day folks get up and voice their protests and opinions or ask tough questions as nothing but white noise. They accuse the folks trying to hold them accountable of being paid protesters and the movement for accountability as being "astro turf" instead of grass roots.
I own a barbershop in a small Texas town. I get people of all walks of life coming in, because I am on a highway that runs between more populous areas. The folks that I talk to on a daily basis are telling me the same things and wanting to ask the same questions as the very people in the "town hall" meetings.
I know people who have never even voted in their lives and they are now getting out and going to tea parties. They have registered to vote, and they are going to be counted in 2010. The majority are still listening, still hanging back, but they are beginning to get involved.
I am proud of people for standing up for what is right and trying to hold their representatives accountable. The ultimate expression of that sentiment comes in a years time and at the polls. The people of this nation may have seemed to have a short term political memory in the past, but that has changed.
God bless America! God bless the freedom loving people who are fighting to preserve this nation! I love you guys!
SO much has happened!
The Blog is Back!
Okay, folks. I did not realize how many people were actually looking at this blog. People all over Tatum have been asking me what happened to it. When Coach D. asked me what happened to this blog, I figured I would put it back up, regardless of the threats I have received over my opinions regarding the Carrie Prejean story.
So, yeah! The Redneck is BACK!
Miss California + Carrie Prejean
Miss California: Carrie Prejean, (Courtesy of Foxnews.com)
Don't get me wrong, I think it was an honest answer, but there could be a better way to answer this question if one is prepared with a better answer.
When I am asked about same-sex marriage, I have a short answer first, which inevitably leads into an explanation: "Since same-sex marriages cannot, and do not harm the sanctity of traditional marriage, I don't worry much about it."
If pressed to explain, I will: "As a Christian, I have to believe what the Bible tells me or I cannot honestly call myself a Christian. It tells me that we all fall short of the glory of God. That's number one. The Bible also indicates that God does not honor sexual relationships between two men and/or two women. Therefore, if they cannot force God into a holy union, there is no way same-sex couples can harm or endanger the sanctity of marriage."
Then the inevitable question comes about: "Well, then, what do you think of same-sex marriage?" I have two answers to that depending on the tone of the conversation and the audience. The blunt answer is: "Jesus said '...let the dead bury their own dead,' so I say let the dead marry their own dead." The answer to keep someone interested in what I have to say, however, is a bit more complicated and I'll just go into that explanation without quotes.
I don't have a problem with men marrying men, and women marrying women, because it does not effect me or my faith. I know they cannot force God to recognize or honor something He has called an abomination. So as long as folks are not using the argument that marriage is a civil right to force churches and ministers to perform the marriages against their will under the threat of prosecution for a hate crime or any other penalty for that matter, then let them have their civil unions. I will fight tooth and nail to keep our government from violating the first amendment by forcing churches to perform same-sex marriages, which is what I think the whole same-sex marriage movement is about, the underlying purpose, if you will.
If it is a case of wanting to make a commitment to each other, that is admirable, and does no harm. I'm all for people who share a household and household expenses to also benefit from whatever relationship they have as a family unit, no matter how much I disagree with their lifestyle. Insurance, life insurance, etc should be available to all who share a home trough any benefit package. For that very reason, same-sex unions actually make sense.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating same-sex marriage. I don't agree with it, but it isn't for me to say what others do with their lives. They are not a danger to society or their neighbors simply by living in a way that does not concur with the Bible. Jesus said about such folks that they have their reward, but those who follow Him will be granted greater rewards in heaven.
So, I'm not going to even pretend to think I have a moral obligation to tell people who they should and shouldn't marry, especially if they reject my Lord and my beliefs. I used to be one of the knee-jerkers who would jump up and say stuff like, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," but who does that serve? Not God, I can say that right off and it only harms any chance one may have to turn a lost person toward taking a closer look at a relationship with God.
The amazing thing about this stance is it makes BOTH sides of the argument angry with me. Which means I may be onto something. It also means that they aren't wanting to resolve anything. They want to WIN the argument. In the end, they all lose.
I would join the Republican Party if...
I would join the republican party if they would stop being such a bunch of panty-wastes.
I like Michael Steele. He seems like a decent guy. He would have been a much better candidate for president than McCain. Lest anyone forget, McCain nearly joined the Democrat party in 2001. Then he is the candidate for president in 2008? Something is wrong with the Republican party, and I don't think Steele can fix it. It isn't that I think he is incompetent, I just think he is too much of a politician now to recognize what needs to be done. That's not his fault, the political machine got its hooks in him and he, like most others just became another cog.
And I see MORE wrong. The rest leadership in the GOP is weak. They have no voice. They are out of touch with main-stream America. The tea parties (organized mostly by independent and third-party folks) proved this. And we will continue to speak out. Our collective voice will not be unheard.
One of the mistakes that the GOP has made is to have a knee-jerk reaction to so many issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. There is a way to deal with those issues without alienating folks who feel like nobody represents them at the moment. There are people who are against both, but like to think that individual liberty is more important than imposing morality. Besides, we have bigger problems to deal with, and those two issues are symptoms of the bigger problems.
No, we cannot legislate morality, but people can take a stand. Right now the minority is at the wheel. They control education, they control entertainment, and they control the news. It is the fact that they are unbending, event though they claim to be tolerant and accepting, but that is propaganda to farther their own agenda. They are unbending, and unwavering in their own "values" if you can call them that.
Unfortunately, those who value the family, traditional marriage, and religion have done nothing but kowtow and compromise when confronted. Those who stand up are called intolerant, hateful, and fascist among other things.
So what do people do when the see this? They simply say, "Nothing I can do about it." even though they hate it. Why? Have we become a nation of cowards?
The blood of our forefathers would be boiling at the state we are in as a nation. That same blood runs through the veins of many who have already thrown up their hands. What has happened to us?
I can tell you point blank. There are no more leaders. Period.
It starts with school. The children with imagination, initiative, and spirit are now labeled with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactive Disorder. What used to be valued traits in boys is now called a DISORDER! Most education at the elementary level is geared toward GIRLS, not boys. So how on earth does anyone expect a boy to sit still and pay attention? If he isn't browbeaten or drugged, he's considered a problem. So our future leaders are destroyed by the process of making everyone the "same." Initiative is no longer rewarded, it is punished. Thinking outside the box is considered wrong even if the child gets the desired results in a class. In essence everything that makes a leader is quelled early on in school.
So the first thing we need to do is to have a rallying call to all the men and boys who have been pushed down, muzzled, essentially castrated emotionally to stand up and be counted. NO MORE! We need leaders, and if I just hit a nerve with anyone who reads this. Good! Now man up and be a leader! Don't be like the guys who talk a good talk but when it comes time to walk the walk they make excuses like, "I'm more effective as a radio/television host." or "I don't want the pay cut." Rush, Glenn, Sean, Bill. You know who you are. MAN UP!
I would join the Republican Party if the men and women in it or who are joining decided to be leaders. I want to see statesmen/stateswomen at the helm of a party before I ever join it. I want to see folks willing to take a stand. Yes I want to see people admit when they are wrong as well, and not see it as a weakness to admit a mistake. A real leader learns from mistakes and is wizened by them.
So here is the thing. Fix the Republican Party, and I'll join. At least the GOP has a foot in the door even if the other foot is in the grave, but it is a start.
I have a suggestion for people like Steele and others who lead the GOP. Stop playing the game. Be real. Remember the passion that got you where you are? Where is it now?
Booker T. has got me thinking about our current leadership.
NO! Not Booker T. the wrestler. Booker T. Washington. I may be a dumb redneck, but Booker T. Washington is one of my heroes. He was not a professional wrestler, he was not a basketball star or a football star. He was educated and educated others.
I've been reading some perspectives and quotes by Booker T. Washington, and frankly, I would have to say that based on his own words, Washington would be greatly disappointed in the leadership of this country today; black, white or other, Democrat or Republican.
Lets just get a look at some of his quotes:
“Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly
of them, when instead they should try to get their people to
think more highly of themselves.
It’s wonderful when the people believe in their leader.
It’s more wonderful when the leader believes in their people!
You can’t hold a man down without
staying down with him."
“Character is power.”
“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” (Does this apply to jobs at McDonald's?)
“Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.”
“Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top.”
- Booker T. Washington
The man understood that the building blocks of society had a foundation of common labor. Without that foundation, the rest does not function well. Our current leaders don't seem to understand this. They have what I call "Top-down" thinking. Only those at the top, the elite, the upper echelon, are those who matter, and the scraps fall wherever they fall.
The elitist idea that intellectual property comes above and before labor and manufacturing will be the ruin of this nation, if that hasn't already happened. I just hope that Obama will heed some of the wisdom of a hero we share in common. Though it is easy for an elitist to forget where he comes from, no matter how humble his beginnings. Unfortunately, he is married to a social climber, and the evidence shows that he is one himself, and experience has shown me that social climbers rarely show true compassion for those who are below their perceived station. That doesn't bode well for most of us.
Bail out the banks but put the screws to the Vets
Well, our fearless leader has done it again. He's alienated veterans now. Obama plans to charge vets for care involving injuries during service.
I'm with the head of the American Legion on this one. I'm angry.
So, just to get things in perspective... ...we bail out the banks who messed up on their own with BILLIONS of dollars. However, to save $540 million (probably a generous estimate) they want to charge vets for care.
Have I woken up in an episode of The Twilight Zone?
I am such a failure! MAN!
I found out today that I am a TOTAL AND COMPLETE FAILURE!
I messed up! I'm a dolt, a maroon, a boob! I didn't go to Yale, Harvard, or Princeton! GAH! Why did I NOT go to one of those schools?
If I had done so, I could be milking taxpayers in D.C. with my Ivy League brothers and sisters.
I hear Cornell is acceptable, as is Brown, but I didn't think of either of those schools. Of course I never looked into studying abroad at Oxford either. Man I'm an idiot!
Well, I guess it is three strikes against me. I'm just another of the unwashed masses. Strike 1. I'm from the South. DOH! That's a big one! Strike 2. I work as a barber. GAH! That's bad. I definitely don't know anything about economics. Strike 3. I attended a private Christian university that ranks higher that some of the "better" schools. Man, I'm such a heel.
Hey? Has anyone called Bill Gates and told him he's a failure? He didn't even finish college, you know. How about some of the fathers of industry who never went to college? Could they be the reason our economy is failing now? Could it be that they weren't lawyers? After all, lawyers who get elected to office are much smarter and better than the rest of us, ESPECIALLY if they went to the right school. Just ask our current president and our Congress.
I'm sure glad we have such fine, smart, sophisticated people taking care of us, because I don't know what I would do without them.
38% in the first 50 days
That is how far the DOW has dropped in the first 50 days of our esteemed president's term in office.
I don't think that Manchurian Candidate could do a better job of subverting this nation in such a short time.
We have congress passing bills that nobody has been able to read before voting on them.
We have a government out of control. They no longer work for us. They no longer care about the people of this nation. They want control over everything. They want to control, not fix health care. They want to control, not fix the economy. They want to control, not monitor the internet. They want to control, not protect religion.
We have a government that is now WORSE than the King of England when our founding fathers rebelled against him. Go figure.
We have a press who have got to be one of two things: 1. The most ignorant bunch of morons to walk the face of this planet. or 2. So hung up on ratings that they would play their fiddle while this country burned as long as they made LOTS of money because of it.
Yes, the DOW has dropped 38%, but that is not our economy, but merely a reflection of what is happening in the intellectual property circles. My business has suffered little, because I give a service that is in demand even in the worst of times. I'm not alone, however. Small business still makes up the majority of this nation's economy. The DOW isn't the end all. It isn't even the majority.
Unemployment is also a GOOD thing. It creates something else: NEED. What is born out of need? Invention, faith, and determination. This generation is going to be tested.
I was speaking with a man in his late 60's yesterday and he told me that his generation was tested, and they passed with flying colors in one way, but failed in another. He told me that fascism by the Nazi's, an Italian nut, and Japanese Imperialism was defeated by his generation, but communism was mishandled. The man is an immigrant from Russia. His own parents, and he is not proud of this, were a part of bringing communism into this nation. His mother worked for the state department, and his father was a Yale professor. He claims that BOTH of them were commissioned by the Soviet government to infiltrate our schools and government.
His father and mother used to try to teach him about their mission, which was a long term mission and depended upon relationships and new friends. They were trained in psychology, human behavior, and sociology for the very purpose of changing this nation. From the mouth of their own son... they were spies. They also weren't alone.
We weren't just warned. It wasn't just idle chatter when Soviet leaders would tell us that they would defeat us from within. They set their plan into action long before children were hiding under desks in fear of missile attacks from Cuba. It was executed so well that even after the fall of the Soviet Union, the plan of its leaders has come to fruition. Infiltrate entertainment, infiltrate education, and you eventually gain control of the government.
We didn't win the cold war folks. We lost, and this latest round of stomping all over the constitution is proof of that.
"Bailout"
Wow! Our new president has really topped himself now.
Let me give this scenario again. Say you own a business, and you have to get a business loan or your business will fail. You have a board of trustees and that board determines your salary. So, when you get the loan, not only do they expect you to pay interest, but they tell you that you can no longer have the same salary you had before. They tell you that you have to make the same amount of money as someone who runs one of your offices instead of the whole company. Would that be right?
So, here we have the government lending out money (that isn't theirs and that they don't have), and the government will charge INTEREST on the money lent, but that isn't enough. They then tell you that you have to cap the salary for your execs.
What? When did the U.S.A. become the U.S.S.R.?
Folks, the people in charge right now ARE NOT CONCERNED ABOUT THE COMPANIES FAILING. They see their golden opportunity to push the socialist agenda that they have been dolling out piecemeal for over 60 years.
It has been said by more than one Soviet/Russian leader that Western Capitalism cannot be defeated with conventional wars, but could be routed through the system of education and with careful rhetoric in the public arena. My friends, their plan has come to fruition. Just a few seeds has turned into the ultimate product for them: A president, first lady, and a congress engrossed in socialist idealism.
I would say to be afraid, but I'm beyond fear. I'm ready for change. Our new president may be right that he is an agent of change, but maybe not the change he plans on.
An article that I published in the Trammel Trace Tribune .
The Trammel Trace Tribune published this article a while back for me. My last blog brought it to mind. And here we go:
I have been watching the news and listening to my customers lately, and seeing how folks are becoming more desperate for a solution to many problems. The list is long and rather depressing. For a while, it was gas prices that vexed us and though the prices have gone down, most wonder how long that will last. Now we are being told we could be on the cusp of a huge recession or even a depression, a frightening concept to say the least. The DOW hovers somewhere in the 8K margins, and banks are collapsing worldwide. However, something started to turn over and over in this hard noggin of mine before this latest "crisis" began to raise its own ugly head. I am no economist, and my only claim is as a sort-of old-fashioned barber in a little Texas town, but I am a thinker. I ponder a great many things, but whether the things I ponder are worthwhile or not, is something I will leave up to others to decide. One of my most recent ponderings had to do with the crunch over fuel and grocery prices. I hear a lot of people grumble over having to drive 20 miles for certain needs, and while listening, I could sympathize with a great many of their grumblings. A lot of folks go to Longview, or Marshall, Carthage, or even Shreveport to buy many things and use many services that folks in those towns take for granted
I began to run through an inventory in my mind of the things that I go to Longview for and realized a great many of the things I drive into "town" for are at places like Wal-Mart, Target, Sam's, or other major corporate chains. That thought process led into a new one on how we have come to rely more and more on such chains for many needs. Don't get me wrong. I am not an anti-corporation person. I believe in capitalism and a free market, but how free is our market, really, if we are only finding fewer sources for our needs as each year passes?
Years ago, people didn't go to town almost daily for needs as many do today. There weren't a lot of restaurants, and folks got enough groceries to last them as long as a month or more before having to go back into town for something else, and even if they lived in town, they did not waste time on constant trips to the stores. In communities like Tatum, there are unused and run down buildings that used to carry the types of goods we now drive into larger towns for, because one of those aforementioned chains is there. The small businesses that traded and sold goods to folks were the backbone of the American economy when it was at its strongest, before credit created a false sense of success.
Local goods and services for smaller towns like Tatum have dwindled for good reason. Inflation, cost of operation, insurance, taxes, and other more subtle factors can cripple a small business today. However, some economists claim that a consumption tax, and elimination of income tax could solve a great deal of the problems that hobble small business in America. I wouldn’t mind having to charge a tax on haircuts to keep from having to mess with the I.R.S. every year, and most I talk to would love to eliminate their income taxes and would gladly pay a bit more for goods and services rather than deal with that bloated government entity.
Lately, with our current credit "crisis" and with banks falling apart, an economy based on hard work, solid tangible assets, and trade that is generated more on a local level instead of nationally may just be a major part of the solution.
Another major part of the solution would be for folks to realize that everyone cannot live like Donald Trump, and the Jones family next door may just be able to afford their stuff without financing it. So why choke ourselves out with debt to try to keep up with them? Whatever happened to living within our means and being responsible consumers?
To live within our means and to be responsible consumers means a bit of an inconvenience. People will have to make sacrifices. We won't all be able to have a 62" plasma screen television, satellite programming with DVR, and a brand new car every few years. This also means, (sigh), maybe fewer haircuts throughout the year. Some of us may have to find work actually working instead of playing with numbers and credit all day, and only the C.E.O.s who create success will make the big bucks.
Yes, that means some jobs will be lost, but who are we trying to fool? We have built an economy on a paper shelf and it won't hold any more weight. Instead of basing our economy on solid, tangible assets like precious metals, food, and goods, we have created a paper nightmare that is just beginning. Our only way to make it may just be to get back to basics. It means that folks writing up loans and mortgages, working with credit, and men and women making consumable electronics that are simple conveniences rather than necessities may just have to rethink their career choices.
What would come of going back to the basics aside from losing a fancy lifestyle many live and few can afford? We can have more time with our families, more time with our neighbors, and even the “greenies” will get the satisfaction of less consumption.
We have become a society deeply obsessed with obscure and unnecessary conveniences and entertainments, and we are willing to pay whatever price is asked for the right distractions, and if we can’t afford it, we finance it.
Maybe, just maybe, we are in the middle of a wake-up call. Instead of finding ways to get out of work and make money doing it, and instead of living outside our means it may be time to start putting our noses to the grindstone and being productive, churning out inventors, craftsmen, and tradesmen again, because I have a feeling, we are going to be in desperate need of such men and women real soon.
A Practical Fix for the Economy
I may be a stupid redneck, but I do have some knowledge about economics. Working in the banking business for a time in my life certainly gave me some perspective, but it did not leave me an expert. Something I feel that I do have plenty of, and it could be a sign of my own folly that I feel this way, is horse sense. Yeah. Good, old fashioned common sense.
When I was studying all of the information I could get my hands on about the mortgage industry, I had an epiphany (hehe a fancy word for a redneck). I had been paying attention over the years, as I hope anyone reading this has, and noticed how jobs were slowly leaving this country. The main types of jobs that have left and continue to leave this nation were/are manufacturing jobs.
The basis for a strong economy in any nation is manufacturing. When a nation no longer produces products for domestic consumption or export, the economy will collapse. Just look at what happened in Russia when everything was based on weapons manufacturing. The economic infrastructure of the U.S.S.R. was garbage.
We are facing the same thing in this country, a collapse of our economic infrastructure. I don't buy into all of the convoluted explanations that the press is duped into believing. They are idiots, don't buy into their crap.
Anyway, in the same way that the Soviet infrastructure was tied heavily into their weapons manufacturing (which nobody bought and the weapons just piled up), we have created a stockpile of something ourselves. We have created a stockpile of credit based on non-existent money along with an economy that has slowly shifted to a reliance on intellectual property.
So we have essentially painted ourselves into a corner. Intellectual property eventually becomes obsolete or outdated, and it tends to be easily reproduced or improved upon outside of our own economy. In the meantime, double taxation on manufacturers, labor unions, etc, along with free trade have pushed our manufacturers out of this country. So we are left with a weak backing by manufacturing as opposed to what it was only 30 years ago in comparison.
So we add to all this our current education system. It is a system that is bent on making everyone the same. Those who stand out can be rewarded as long as they don't stand out too far. The kids who are inventive, active, and high-spirited, are drugged into submission, their minds and spirits are dulled, and the inventors, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow are tamed into being another cog in the machine, thus causing the major edge that the U.S. has always had over the rest of the world to be dulled.
Albert Einstein in today's society would never have been able to do what he did when he was alive. George Washington? He would have been too religious for politics and would have been considered an enemy of the environment for chopping down cherry trees.
Well, I think you get my point. Innovation, manufacturing, pioneer spirit. All things that are looked down upon and pushed aside for the sake of intellectual property. The Romans did the same thing. Where are they today?
Here is my fix:
The companies that are failing. Let them fail. There is no such thing as being too big to fail. Of course that DOES put people out of work, but here is the thing, people being out of work, being desperate, is what creates necessity, and necessity is the mother of invention. A lot of people are wasting away working crap jobs and making the money to get by. They can't shine, they don't know that they can. The worst economic times in this country have sometimes produced some of the best, most innovative products the world has seen.
Change our education system. Not every child is the same. They can't be made into automatons with standardized tests and some idiotic notion of what leaving no child behind is. If we truly want to leave fewer children behind, then we MUST allow competition in our schools, but not in a way that most people think of when they hear that.
Starting at the sixth or seventh grade level, aptitude tests should be given to children to learn their talents, and not just in academics. Not all children will go to college, so what is the point of preparing ALL of the children for college? It is an idiotic concept and I have no idea how we fell into such a trap. Years ago, a boy could leave school and follow a trade if he chose to. It led to more productivity as a nation, for sure.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want children to leave school, but what about the majority of the kids who really don't use a college education after they have one? Why push kids through something that is a waste of years of their time? Why not give them alternatives in school. Let them choose something different. Let them take tests at a junior high school level so that they can make a choice to go down a different path besides academics?
I can answer that easily. Two main reasons come to mind. Number one, the less paranoid reason, is that education is a big business now. Some of the wealthiest organizations in this country are places of higher learning, and they still get government funding. A LOT of money is made in education.
The more paranoid answer is that the indoctrination process takes college. The liberal aspect of education is in the majority, but they don't control all of the public schools in all of the towns across the nation. They do have a strangle-hold on higher education. The purpose of higher education isn't always about career choices and educating tomorrow's work force, it is as much about indoctrination as anything else. In a university setting, you can get the kids without a daily influence by the parents.
So, let the countries fail, fix education, and FINALLY, open up this nation to better manufacturing opportunities. This is probably the most important. To have better manufacturing opportunities we have to:
1. Fix the tax code to stop double taxation of manufacturers.
2. Fair tariff practices. If we are exporting goods into a country and they charge us a tariff, we need to charge them too.
3. Bust the unions. NO, don't eliminate the unions, but bust them up and remove the national politics from the equation. Put the union members back in control of the unions.
4. Fix the patent process
5. Have more tradesmen. That means more trade education for our youth. This is one of the most important factors because without it, we have nobody to employ.
Hey, look at it this way, computer programmers and bankers are going to need somewhere to work soon. Lets bring the manufacturing back.
Media Morons
Okay, I watched a bit of Glen Beck's spot on Fox and Friends this morning. I have to say, that he has got to be so frustrated when he goes on that show. I know that I have been told that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Well, the folks that say that don't watch the news.
Moving on to my point...
I have been watching the media go into a frenzy over the economy. Watching them try to appear financially astute is laughable. These are people who cannot get it through their heads that the same people who have our government in debt for trillions of dollars are NOT the best people to solve problems in the private sector. They don't seem to understand that it is government involvement in our financial institutions that has caused the mess. They all seem to be looking to the government to fix our problems.
Hello! Wake up people! I would not let any of those idiots in Washington balance my checkbook. Why are you morons in the media pushing for our government to fix a problem that their ignorance helped to create in the first place?
Now, they think they have to scrutinize every penny spent by the banks to try to drum up business. The morons bash Bank of America for drumming up a TON of business at the Super Bowl. All we hear about is what they spent on the event, but they stand to TRIPLE, yes triple in earnings from the event the amount they spent going into the Super Bowl. That is not what we get to hear about. The media just harps on about how much Bank of America spent on the event.
In the mean time, a tax dodger who could NEVER be an I.R.S. agent is now IN CHARGE OF THE I.R.S.!!! The idiots in the media are more concerned about a Super Bowl party (in which the guests paid the majority of the expenses out of their own pockets) simply because it involved banking executives. We are about to see another tax dodger and a man who lobbied with health care companies put in charge of national health care. But what is the media more concerned about? They are more worried about Citibank holding true on a retirement package for the former C.E.O. being able to use one of the banks private jets. In all this, they gripe about "tax payer dollars" being used to give fringe benefits to execs.
Let me put this into perspective. Say you got a low interest government secured loan.. I don't know, maybe a student loan. Your tuition and books only took up about half of it. So, you go out and buy a nice dvd player for your car and install some little televisions in the headrests. What would you say to someone who came along and bitched at you for using that money in an "inappropriate" way? Exactly! You'd tell em to kiss your ass! So, if that is okay for you, how come when a bank gets a government secured LOAN, that they can't do what they want with it AS LONG AS THEY PAY IT BACK?
There is no difference, as long as the loans are paid back, nobody has a right to tell you or the banks what to do with the money that is lent. HOWEVER, it can be said that no more loans will be given to people who are irresponsible with the money.
Let me give another example of how ignorant the media is. Think back to the elections. How much did we actually hear about Supreme Court appontments? We heard about all sorts of things that are outside of the president's power, and outside of the president's responsibilities, but how much time was spent on one of the most important things a president can do? Almost none!
What we heard was, "How many jobs can you produce?" or "How can you fix health care?" and "How will you fix the economy?" What? Were we appointing a king, or were we electing a president? The president cannot DO any of those things without congress. Hell, fixing the economy is something the government needs to stay the hell out of.
What we didn't hear were questions about the empty judicial seats that keep adding up. What we didn't hear were questions about how they would use the power of their office to stop the fillibustering of judicial appointments that require no debate, maybe a few questions and a yes or no vote.
I have heard Glen Beck say a few times that the club mentality in Washington has GOT to be busted up. The only way we can do that is to get the media on board. Here is the problem. The majority of the folks in media today are so much like the politicians that they want to be a part of the club too. They are mostly a bunch of social climbers. They are all about themselves, and they all want power, or money, or posterity, or fame, or all of the above. Blinded by their ambitions and thrist for power or money, both politicians and memebers of the media have brought this country to its knees.
What has happened to our news media?
Never, in my lifetime, have I seen such blatant pandering to a presidential candidate or a president by the press. Reporters, people who are supposed to be professionals, are talking about being weak-kneed or tingly when they hear Obama speak. Could it be that they are not listening to what the man says, but only how he says it?
I don't know what is going on with this guy, but whatever spell is cast on these reporters... I don't get it. Maybe it is because I'm the type of guy who is not effected by advertising. The commercials that make people cry just leave me wondering what the commercial had to do with what they were advertising. I'm not the kind of guy who is moved by luxury car commercials. I don't buy into senseless symbolism.
Frankly, Obama's speech pattern, which is carefully coached and designed to draw and keep attention, mostly annoys me. I know the intent of the way he speaks. I know why he pauses in the middle of key sentences. Since I know WHY he speaks the way he does, it just annoys me.
"Why does it annoy you?" you may ask. Well, it is because he talks a great deal without saying much. President Obama paints with a wide paintbrush. So wide, in fact, that anything at all can be read into what he has said.
I'm with the old lady in the Wendy's commercial from the 80's. I want to know, "Where's the beef?"
Where is the substance?
Even Obama's first executive order is vague. Sure, he wants to shut down Guantanimo, but HOW? What are we going to do with the people that are there? No other countries want them, not even their home countries. We don't need them in our prisons. What good is our criminal justice system going to do against such people?
The new "stimulus" plan from our new leader is also vague.
I guess there are two ways to be cryptic. You can make a lot of speeches that make people feel good, but never really reveal anything of substance. Or you can clam up, and only tell the people what you want them to know.
What we have now, is W. 2.0. The new, improved version will address this nation a lot more than Presiden Bush did, and in all the rhetoric will say as little if not less than G.W. Bush...
Don't forget, this president is one of the same senators who wanted to keep grass roots organizations from knowing what was going on in Congress. This is one of the same guys who was a senator that wanted to make sure that people lost one of the last places to find out what actually happens in washington.
We now have a president and a congress who are of a like mind. To them, the people no longer have a right to know.
Nice job, America. You've elected another well trained beurocrat.
And you were duped into it. Not by the politicians, but by the media. They were hell bent on doing everything they could to make sure they were part of history. The bias, this time, wasn't about left or right, democrat or republican. The press, as a whole, was literally salivating over the ratings that they would gain out of "making history."
You want to know who the greatest enemy to this nation is? It is not a foreign body, nor terrorists. It is the press. Do you know why President Bush's ratings were so low? It was not anything done by the president on its own. It was the fact that the press, as a whole, aided the enemy in winning the propaganda war.
The media is no longer just reporting the news. They are DRIVING it. The worst part is that they KNOW what they are doing, and will drive this country to ruin as long as they get a good story out of it. They know that the collective mind of the public at large is not real sharp any more. They use that, and they smugly tell us exactly what they want us to know, nothing more, and nothing less, to control our economy, politics, sex drives, and what we buy.
Pay attention people! They are no longer the News. They are a marketing force beyond anything the world has ever seen. And the real victims are the American People.
If you have ever wondered how so many wild-eyed, opinionated, hyper-emotional people ever got on the news, the reason is ratings and profits. Sensationalism and hype are the best marketing tools. Besides, the old guys who just want to give the news are stiff, and boring. They don't want to make history, they don't want to make news. They only want to chronicle and report it. Psh!
Objectivity? Bleh! That's boring, and you can't market "boring."
True perspectives from a Stupid Redneck
Today's inauguration is historic. It is absolutely awesome that we have a black president. It took me about as long to get over that fact as it did to type it. Though I am thrilled to see history made and a perceived "glass ceiling" shattered, I have a LOT of questions.
Don't get me wrong. I prayed hard for president Bush, and for President Clinton. I would have prayed for other presidents, but I did not become a Christian until Clinton, and I will pray just as hard and just as long for President Obama.
Yes, folks, it is President Obama. You can say, "He's not MY president!" and puff out your chest, suck in your chin, etc., but the fact remains that he IS YOUR president, as long as you are a U.S. Citizen. So get over it. Fight hard for your candidate in just under 4 years.
Now, I want to get to these questions I have. I will start with the most immediate:
1. How does this current president justify TRIPPLE the amount spent on this celebration as compared to the last inauguration? This is also in the midst of great debate over the current financial crisis this country is in. How is it that this current president garners nothing but praise, yet the pundits and the reporters who are now praising Obama were pretending to be hard-core journalists while nailing Bush for spending GASP $40,000,000 on an inauguration. The audacity! The cost of Obama's? $150,000,000 and counting.
2. How is Obama going to "fix" our economy? I don't think I am wrong, but could someone point out the place in our Constitution where the economy is the responsibility of the president? If a president could fix an economy, wouldn't he be a ruler, or a dictator, and not a president? Think about this for a minute. Is Obama going to go to your boss and tell him/her that you need a raise? Is he going to personally oversee all of the Fortune 500 companies? Is he going to make sure the stock market runs properly, efficiently, and without corruption? Does he doe ALL of that? NO! So how, in the name of all that is good, can the U.S. President be responsible for the economy? Bullocks!
3. Where on earth are we going to get 800 BILLION DOLLARS, from a broke government? You idiots in washington cannot even handle what the people trust you with, and now you want to start running big banks and car companies? Get a clue, you bozos! Obama! I know you will never read this, but for the love of GOD! If you are truly about change, don't you think you can reign in those idiotic beurocrats?
4. What are you going to do, President Obama, when the people of this nation are knocking on your door and asking you where the change is that you are talking about? Will you hide? Will you lash out? What will you do, Mr. President? You think 2 million plus at your inauguration was a sight? Wait till you see what marches on you when we have all had enough.
5. While you are at it, maybe we could get our congress to repeal a couple of amendments. Lets start with the 17'th Amendment. When the two representatives for the senate were appointed by state senators, we didn't have people who made lifelong careers out of being senators in Washington. That is too much power for one man to have over a lifetime. TOO MUCH!
Also, Lets go back to Presidential AND Vice Presidential elections. You know, the guy with the most votes is president, then the guy with the second most votes is Vice President. More change we can believe in...
Anyway. I'm getting busy here at work. So I'll catch up with ya'll later.