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STFU: You do *NOT* get to simultaneously bitch about big government and then complain about how little they’re doing for you. Pick a side. If you tax-starve the government, they aren’t able to respond to things like the BP Oil Spill.

Our government is *STILL* getting over Bush’s 8 years of famine. The fact that the resources don’t exist to cope with a disaster of this magnitude shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Remember – the governments slow response had a lot to do with the fact that BP LIED ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A LEAK. Then when that lie was discovered, they commenced lying about the size of the leak.

I’ll put it into perspective.

If my kid comes in and tells me he spilled some water, I’m not going to run upstairs in a panic.

If it then turns out he emptied the pool into the living room, his ass is grounded until college.

BP is *STILL* lying about the status of the leak. On the news today I heard someone say that if BP didn’t know how much oil was flowing, it was only because they dliberately didn’t want to know. Willful blindness.

Anyone who thinks that allowing the “free market” to take over and for companies to be allowed to regulate themselves is on crack.

Companies *WILL NOT* regulate themselves. It’s not in their financial interests to do so, and the ONLY thing a company does is whatever is in it’s financial interest.

They’re *SO* fucking grounded.

One theory – The universe is a bubble, one bubble among many, like soapsuds. Not all of them have life, not all of them have the same rules we do. We can’t know. We have consciousness, which is to say, we are aware of ourselves. But that’s really about ALL we’re aware of. We have ideas about the universe, but we’re just as likely wrong as right.

We could be one of the successful universes, but it’s equally as likely that “life” is nothing but a fungal infection in the universe, screwing with the natural harmony that is the universe, which seems to go on despite our little infestation.

I read it somewhere that “Life is the universe becoming conscious of itself.” If that’s the case the universe itself is nothing but an organism in it’s infancy. Like a baby, at first it’s all sensations, then comes instinct, then conscious thought. Our real makeup is curiosity, survival, joy, happiness, pain, life, and death. All rolled into one.

We can never know, nor are we supposed to. Religion tries to offer answers, but Religion is nothing but a primitive mind trying to grasp something that it’s just not wired for. Like an amoebas grasp of quantum mechanics. We don’t know how it works because we’re quite simply not capable of it at this stage in our evolution. Science is no better, every theory is just that, a theory, which holds up until an empirical test proves otherwise, and so far, precious few physical theories withstand even decades, let alone millenia.

The world was flat, then we realized it was round. The sun orbited the earth until we noted that it was in fact vice versa. Gravity was an “attraction” until we realized that gravity was simply the movement of an object along the curve of space.

We were the center of the universe until we realized we actually inhabit a remote arm, in a remote galaxy, near the end of the known universe.

If we don’t kill ourselves first, we might get a glimmer of the hope of the beginnings of an idea of what the universe really is.

In another 60 million years. Maybe. If we ask nicely.

I won’t hold my breath.

WKRG.com News

It’s a running joke in our household that when taking a picture of my youngest, you’re more likely than not to catch him not touching the ground in any way, shape or form.

Happy Birthday Iain – who turned 5 last week.

Dear Dr. Paul:

You dislike federal spending. 

Your state receives $1.51 for every $1 in federal income taxes paid. 

By your own argument, you are for smaller government.  I would like to know which federal programs you will move to opt out of as the Jr. Senator from Kentucky.  Highway dollars? Welfare?  Will you force your hospitals to stop seeing Medicare patients?  How will you rectify this imbalance?

It’s obvious to me that if you want to reduce federal spending, the correct first course of action would be to STOP REQUESTING THE MONEY.

For the 2008-2010 budget years there were 233requests for “earmark” spending, totalling over 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS.

Which of those projects will you cancel?  Which military bases will you lobby to close down to help cut spending?   What will you do to enforce the fiscal discipline you expect of the rest of us in your own state?

Let me put this into perspective.  You are an opthamologist.  Estimates are your practice derives at least 50% of it’s income from Medicare.  How do you justify railing against socialized medicine when half of your income is derived from it?  Are you ready to take a 50% pay-cut?

My final questions to you are these:

Will you stop asking for money for your own state knowing that that represents an expansion of the federal government?

Will you support Social Security / Medicare? 

If the vote were to come before you to abolish either or both, how would you vote?

We’re watching.

Ok,

On January 13, 2010, the IDIOTS in the virginia legislature passed the following amendment to the Code of Virginia as follows:

§ 38.2-3430.1:1. Health insurance coverage not required.

No resident of this Commonwealth, regardless of whether he has or is eligible for health insurance coverage under any policy or program provided by or through his employer, or a plan sponsored by the Commonwealth or the federal government, shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.

Now I’m confused.  The bill states specifically that this applies to health insurance, but the language is vague enough (as is any text authored by idiots) so that it could just as easily apply to auto-insurance, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, etc.

So I think I’m going to put it to the test.  Monday morning I’m going to drop all coverage on my truck (since it’s paid off, there isn’t the supplemental problem of pissing off a bank.) and i will go out and get a ticket.  That might take a while, there’s never a cop around when you need one.

When I get the “no proof of insurance” ticket I will officially be an injured party and will commence fighting it on the grounds that SB417 prohibits peanalties and that “No resident of this Commonwealth shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.” and see how far I can take it.

My argument of course is that to apply this to healthcare and not other forms of insurance violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution, by applying to one industry and not another.

It will be a fun expiriment…  (Though possibly expensive – should I open up the floor for donations?)

Virginia auto-insurers are gonna go bankrupt.  Funny part is, Geico is based in Stafford, Virginia.

So from what all three of my readers knows, i’ve had a bit of a workplace issue.

I walked in this morning and quit my job.

It wasn’t really planned, and I was fairly certain it wasn’t a smart thing to do per-se, the whole “Hey idiot, you don’t have another job lined up yet” bit of the argument didn’t show up until later.

But I did it.  I walked into the boss’ office and told him that I’ll tell <contracting company> to start sending him resumes for my replacement immediately.

So we talked for a bit, and it didn’t take long for me to start venting.  he asked me if I really wanted to leave, I told him no, but I didn’t see any other choice seeing as <newteamlead> wouldn’t let me do my fucking job, instead relegating me to crap work that my intern could do on a day-to-day basis.

He asked me to hold off making any phone calls, and that he would fix it.

And then I stepped through the looking glass into wonderland…  Suddenly the idiot who has spent the last 6 months being the bane of my existence, suddenly is my best friend, and I’m being asked my opinion on technical matters, 7 figure purchase orders, and the like.  (the stuff I’m actually paid to do)

So who knows – maybe this problem is fixed…for now.

I’m not holding my breath though.

But I work in government, so there are several in mine.

But one in particular makes me rethink my position on workplace violence on a daily basis.  You know the type that makes you daydream of dangling someone by a foot off the tallest building around, knowing that your upper body strength sucks and that it would only be a matter of minutes before they end up chunky-salsa at the feet (on the feet?) of a thousand DC tourists.

<sigh>  But I am at heart a non-violent person, so I’ll dedicate myself to destroying this person from within.  Starting with his ego, then if he doesn’t leave me alone to do the work that you, the taxpayer, pay me to do, I might move on to his career and pension.

See – this person was recently made my team-lead.  Well not *MY* team lead as I’m a consultant, but a team-lead for the group I’m consulting for.  And since then my life has been one manufactured panic after another.  Mostly because he knows *SHIT* about the group he’s the leader of, he got the position by pure virtue for senority.

Note for union people out there.  Senority is the WORST way to promote people, because it totally ignores the fact that some people are COMPLETE FUCKING MORONS.  (Yes, this is a union shop, yes he is a union member, and yes, this is exactly where unions FAIL because the fact that they have no restrictions as to who they allow INTO the union, means unions will always become a haven for the ill-tempered, incompetent, and/or lazy.)

This guy thinks because he’s worked 25 years in the same place it gives him the right to be a total prick.  It doesn’t.  All working 25 years in the same place shows is that you have a marked inability to deal with new situations, that you are incapable of learning/growing, and that you hide your particular brand of incompetence under the dual protections of federal employment and your union.

I have been in my industry for more than a decade, and have NEVER had less than six months of work queued up in front of me.  Be my guest, unemployment doesn’t fucking scare me.

So I have to go in tomorrow and discuss my attitude *AGAIN* tomorrow, and this time I think I’m just going to tell them that if they don’t want me around any more, I’m gonna walk.

Although…stopping at the Inspector General’s office on my way out might not be a bad move.

** Disclaimer – any threats of violence, real or implied, are not to be taken seriously.  Get real, I’m not stupid enough to blog about it if I actually *WERE* planning something.

Well, the time has come.  Yet another in a series of manufactured holidays intended to encourage us to go out and spend money we don’t have on stuff we don’t need.  Luckily women have it much easier than men most of the time when it comes to gift shopping.  Tools or small personal electronics and you can’t go wrong, right?

Well since father’s is rapidly approaching I thought it was post-worthy.

I’m a dad.  Three times actually.  And I think it’s safe to assume that despite all my failings I’m a better father than my father EVER was.  I celebrate my fatherhood every time my kids damn near break their necks running upstairs to greet me when I get home from work.  I celebrate my fatherhood with every one of my 14 year old son’s straight-A report cards.  I celebrate my fatherhood when after a full day I relax on the couch with my younger two son’s perched on top of me watching cartoons.  And yes, I celebrate fatherhood every time I turn down work to spend time with my kids.

This post is not for me.

“You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car – hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they’ll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father.” -Tod (played by a much younger Keanu Reeves in the movie “Parenthood”)

This was exactly my dad, carried to ten decimal places.  Not because he was a particularly mean person, but he thought that his responsibility as a father was to bring home a paycheck, and that his responsibility ended there.

He was Archie Bunker from “All in the Family”  Racist, Sexist, Arrogant, sitting in his easy-chair and smoking his cigars and driving his Lincoln Town-Car.  The type to drop me off at Little League practice but that in my entire life has never once seen me swing a baseball bat, let alone helped me to learn to hit.

My father ignored me, and he couldn’t figure out why I acted out (to get attention) and when I was older and I did he would give me $20 to go to the movies so he could take a nap in his easy-chair.  (Lesson learned: being annoying pays-off – took a LONG time to break that habit.)  He’d watch sports on TV but never bothered to see me play. (Lesson learned – people on the TV are more important than people in front of him)

This post is not for me.

I am looking for neither pity nor sympathy.  It was my life, I got through it, and became a better parent than my dad could ever have dreamed of being.  There is the argument that I wouldn’t be who I am today without him (There are positives and negatives in that statement) but it’s bullshit.  I am who I am today despite him.

This post is for the “Fathers” out there.

Don’t be a “Father.”  Instead try being a “DAD”  Your first job is to be a husband and Parent, *NOT* to make money.  I could have cared less as a kid if my dad drove a ratty old Toyota instead of his new (every other year) Lincoln, as long as he used it to drive to Little League and gave a shit enough to hang around and root for me.

Don’t be a “Spouse” be a “HUSBAND” – marriage/family is a partnership.  Not a “you  have your job and I have mine” partnership, but a “both of us do what needs to be done regardless of how fucking tired we are” kind of partnership.

My parents spent the last 20 years of their lives miserable, living in separate bedrooms because my mom HATED him but he had kept her so dependent on him she didn’t know how to exist outside of the sham that was their marriage.  (She was also the one that made the call to pull the plug on him when he was dying, I’m never certain if there was more than his failing health to that decision, and I never asked – though I wouldn’t think less of her if there was.)

When you come home from work and your kid runs down the hall to give you a hug, FIND THE ENERGY to pick him/her up and play with them for a while.  You’ll have enough time to be tired later.  These are the moments they’re going to remember for the rest of their lives.

Remember that your son’s are looking to you to see what being a man is all about.  Your daughters are looking to you to see what kind of man they want to look for when they grow up.   DO NOT fuck that up.  (My sister has been married I think seven times, always to the same type of guy)

Remember that if you don’t pay attention to your kids now, there *WILL* come a time when they won’t give a rats ass about you. (Out of six kids, two actually showed up at my father’s funeral, only because they happened to live in the same state I believe – I didn’t go and I really don’t care one bit that I didn’t.)

And yes, while being a provider/breadwinner for your family is a good thing, it’s not the ONLY thing.   Being the provider for a family means NOTHING if you’re not there for them when and how it counts. (Emotionally as well as physically)

And if you’re idea of a good father’s day is for the wife to take the kids out and leave you alone in the house all day, well fuck you.  Do your family a favor, take out a life-insurance policy and jump off a bridge, because you’re no parent.  You can’t celebrate being a father by spending the day NOT BEING A FATHER.

That is all.

Overwhelmingly, republican leaning states receive more federal dollars than they spend.  I’m waiting on more recent data, but the numbers from this 2005 report (Source: Taxfoundation.org) say it all.  (FYI – taxfoundation.org is largely described as a fairly right-leaning think-tank, for what it’s worth.)

First this bit:  You are undermining the government of the country you purport to love so much.  Apparently your desire is to force the overthrow of the United States and have it replaced with, what, something like Somalia?  They lead the world in not having a national government.  (They also lead the world in people eating other people, but hey, it’s a trade off, right?)

**UPDATED TO REFLECT 2004 Presidental Election Swing after complaints that 2005 and 2008 are too far distant.  (Truthfully, this makes more sense)**

As you can tell, overwhelmingly, (with very few exceptions), the republican leaning states like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. are the states most dependent on Federal tax dollars. This is HILARIOUS considering they are the ones more ardently against the government spending, while the more predominantly democratic states consume less and less. (There are obvious Exceptions, Texas utilizes Oil revenue to pad their budget, Florida has thousands and thousands of “Fictitious” residents (Military choose Florida due to the low state income tax, regardless of the fact that they don’t live there), and Nevada, having gambling revenue, relies much less than normal. Though honestly I’m not sure what the deal is with Colorado, the only thing they produce is crappy beer.)

So why are all of these states, with populations who disapprove of federal spending, demanding it?? Wouldn’t the right thing be to opt out of the federal programs, not ask for help when a highway needs to be built, or a government contract needs to be awarded, or , oh, say an OIL SPILL or HURRICANE or some other natural disaster rolls through? Why are Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, after lambasting “BIG GOVERNMENT” relying on that big government to bail their hapless, helpless asses out of a bind?

Amazing that Senator Vitter (R-AL), Governor Jindall (R-LA) and the likes SUDDENLY have their hands out begging for federal aid when they need it, but they’re the first in line to blast the very same programs they are applying to for help.

I’m still looking for the source, and will post it here when I find it. But basically when you give a tax cut to the wealthy/large businesses, something like *MAYBE* 50% of that money gets back into the economy. The rest goes to increasing the company/individual’s bottom line, to make their shareholders happy. Really now – is someone who makes a million dollars a year going to change his spending habits if he gets an extra $10k back at the end of the year? No. It’s business as usual.

Conversley, when you give a tax cut to someone making $60k a year, they’re going to take every single penny of that extra money straight to WalMart, or their Car Dealer, Best Buy, or to the local Mall, and spend it. That increases CONSUMPTION, which brings the economy up as a whole. Walmart sells more, order more product from manufacturers, etc. etc. etc. Manufacturers then put more workers to work, who take THAT money and spend it, etc, etc, etc.

Large businesses DO NOT like that idea, because they actually have to work for their money, where they would MUCH rather have the politicians that they’ve bought and paid-for just hand them their profits on the backs of the people who actually work for a living.

I am a business owner. I can honestly say that financially and from a business standpoint that I’m doing better how than I was with the Right in office, and I will believe my checking account balance before anyone’s propaganda any day of the week and twice on sunday.

Ok – i’ve got my asbestos jockey-shorts on, flame away.