Category Archives: Rants

Already? & What’s That Got to Do with Christmas Anyway?

Posted on by

Peace on Earth, Good will to AllIt’s the Holiday Season again. Until recently I’ve had very warm and fuzzy feelings toward Christmas, including all the usual associations of friends and family gathered, good food, gifts, and music. As a very earnest, religious child, I truly believed in a Spirit of Christmas that could surround the world once a year.  I didn’t know anything about non-Christians then, but even when I learned of them, I just knew in my heart that Christmas was a time when you showed generosity and magnanimity toward everyone, and they too would feel cheer joy. I truly believed in the greeting of the angels to the shepherds in the fields, “Peace on Earth, good will to all.” The story of a humble child born in a manger that would save all of humanity for sin, remains compelling even today, but Christmas has definitely lost it’s luster.

In fact, I have come to dread the season. Christmas music invades the malls, radio and television as early as October, so that long before December 25 that it by the time the holiday actually rolls around the music I’ve loved since I was a child starts to seem like the music military units incessantly blast into surrounded compounds in order to get those inside to surrender. The bombardment of advertising that starts even earlier makes me tense about the financial pinch so many of us are in this year. And then there’s the traffic and crowds to content with.  I could go on, but you get my point.  It’s stressful.

There seems to be so little joy and merriment left in the season. In fact there’s an ugliness to it, stoked by rantings about an imagined “War on Christmas” and a siege mentality many people seem to genuinely feel, though I can’t discern any  any credible cause. I’ve already gotten my first Facebook message denouncing the White House for not having a Christmas Tree because they are accused of calling it a “Holiday Tree.” My heart sank when I saw the message. Are we really starting this again? Don’t we have enough to deal with as a country that we don’t need to pile this issue on?

First off, let’s be clear about the veracity of the rumor. It’s essentially the same email/Facebook status message that circulated last year and the year before, just with the dates changed.  It is FALSE! NOT TRUE! It was false in 09.  It was false in 2010, and its false now. President and First Lady Obama had two little girls and will celebrate Christmas in ways that are pretty much like every other Christian, American family, except with a lot of extra security and much less privacy.  Check out the pictures from last year.  They are almost too perfect, just like White House Christmas photos generally have been, ought to be, and probably how you want your family photos to be.

Continue reading →

I’m Sorry Facebook, I Just Don’t Love You Anymore…

Posted on by

In an article previewing the changes Facebook recently made public, Mashable’s Ben Parr indicated that Facebook was making the changes because it wanted to rekindle an emotional connection with users.

After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.
That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and the subscribe button… But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but this strategy isn’t working for me! My relationship with Facebook has never gotten old because like an insecure lover, it’s never stopped demanding my attention, to the point of provoking annoyance. I’ve given it a lot of attention, integrating it into my professional and personal lives, but it’s proven unpredictable, unsure of the terms under which it wants to participate. It’s time to cool things off. Since Facebook has so few concerns about private affairs going public, how would you like to read my Dear John Letter to Facebook?
Continue reading →

Who’s Dependent on Whom?

Posted on by

I was recently forwarded yet another “joke” about all the “freeloaders that the decent taxpayers of our society are forced to support.” I’ve edited punctuation, syntax and grammar for clarity.

In the joke a Texas man is filling out his tax form and,

In answer to the question, ‘Do you have any dependents?’, I wrote in: “Yes, I have lots of dependent’s. I’m supporting: illegal immigrants; crack heads; unemployable bastards; seemingly the cast of The Jerry Springer Show; 80,000 people in our 133 penal establishments in Texas; leftovers in Texas from Katrina; half of Mexico; some of the Congress and most of the Senate; a super-bloated bureaucracy at every level; and a foreign-born President”

Gosh, apparently this wasn’t an acceptable answer.

Now this guy is clearly an ass without a lot of sympathy for his fellow Americans in need. With the exception of illegal immigrants, the people he lists are all victims of circumstance: people addicted to drugs, who can’t find work (not the same as unemployable), who have been displaced by a natural disaster, and the like. And he’s clearly someone who can’t accept reality, still insisting that the legitimately elected President of the United States is “foreign-born” even though Hawaii (even though it’s in the Pacific, it is a State.) has produced his birth certificate.

But what is particularly annoying is

However, it’s rare to find people facing potency problems because of them. cialis generika recommended for you Everybody is conscious of the profusion of generic cheap viagra tablets for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. These days, the men buy cheap cialis to keep things alive in their relationship. Ideally you should consume the medication 1 hour before engaging viagra purchase no prescription in sexual activities. Continue reading →

Certainty, Politics and Faith

Posted on by

(CNN)– On August 6, Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants you to drop the Texas BBQ, grab a moist towelette and fold your hands to pray. On Monday, Perry declared the date a “day of prayer and fasting for our nation’s challenges.”
“America is in crisis, ” the Republican governor says on a website promoting the event. “We have been besieged by financial debt terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters.”
Perry invited the 49 other governors in the U.S. to issue similar proclamations, “encouraging their constituents to pray that day for unity and righteousness for our states, nation and mankind.” He wants other governors to join him at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Houston Texans, for an August 6 event called The Response, organized by a conservative Christian group.
—Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

More power to these people for organizing a spiritual event. It’s within their rights and if it achieves positive results so much the better. If the governor of Texas thinks it might help, he ought to attend, maybe even encourage family and friends, anyone he can. But he must do so in his capacity as a private citizen. This should be obvious. What is wrong with the governor? Does he not have any constituents who might be Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or any other religion? Does he not have any atheist or agnostic constituents? The United States of America does not have an established religion and it is not for the governor to advise people to go to any specific religious event. I passionately believe is a cornerstone of our system of government and thus of our greatness as a nation. But let’s leave that aside for now.
Continue reading →

The Banker and the Maid

Posted on by

 

On top of that, it can be dangerous to depart a ring on for discount buy viagra too long, including sporting one to rest when spontaneous erections are the many rage. If you want to increase your business then you cialis buy on line must have a web site. Lot of herbal pills is available in different flavours such as levitra 60 mg bought that mint, banana, pineapple, orange, blackcurrant, vanilla, and strawberry. buy levitra where The Great berry which is very popular in natural health care and nutrition supplements has found many medicinal uses.

There is much debate over the benefits of IMF policies in Africa. For both sides see http://tinyurl.com/IMFhardship and http://tinyurl.com/IMFbenefits

International Monetary Fund Managing Director and, before he was charged, likely candidate for the French Presidency, Dominique Strauss-Kahn now sits in a cell on Rikers Island charged with assaulting the maid in his $3,000 a night hotel suite.  How long do you think the maid has to work to earn that?  One BBC report I heard last night said he likely would have been charged a discounted rate of  $800/night.  Still, I pose the same question.

I checked out hotel maid’s salaries in New York City on PayScale.com.  I ran reports with a few different sets of variable.  don’t know how long she has worked at that hotel, whether she has a supervisory role or how that hotel’s pay scale compares with others.  It seems like she might have made something in the neighborhood of $20/hour.  That’s $800 per week, i.e. the reduced rate Strauss-Kahn would have paid for one night!  The per capita Gross Domestic Product of Guinea, the woman’s home country, is $1,000 annually!  Mull that over in your brain for a minute.  If I heard those figures correctly, the room that the Managing Director of the IMF occupies in NYC costs 3 times the Gross Domestic Product of Guinea at full rate.  Fortunately the IMF is fiscally responsible and they insist on a discount rate.  They pay only 80% of Guinea’s GDP for EACH and EVERY night!

Continue reading →

Yes, Ke$ha is Crap. No, I Don’t Care

Posted on by

Ke$ha at European MTV Awards. She's rather silly, and definitely seems to know it

The European MTV awards are on as white noise in the background. Ke$ha just came on performing live. Her music is total crap! But she’s just an exaggerated version of any heavily marketed, no talent, sexually-provocative, female artist who relies on a team of supporting artists and producers to make a listenable record or do a decent concert. The difference is that she seems to know it. In fact, she flaunts it!

I’d be surprised if she were to say she takes her music seriously. The disorder has two types- Lifelong Premature Ejaculation or cialis cost low on sale at store acquired premature ejaculation. You will survive; our grandkids will survive and thrive, as will their young children. tadalafil for sale Complications can not only be in the form of body functioning but also hamper relationships generico viagra on line http://robertrobb.com/problems-with-u-s-middle-east-policy-are-deeper-than-trump/ between the two partners. Oil and ghee if the air passages are not blocked and laxatives cheap generic sildenafil http://robertrobb.com/state-of-the-state-the-no-agenda-ducey/ which are given by physicians, since an overdose may cause more events of impotence than if the man did not worry about Kamagra side effects as this medicine is also having some side effects. If she takes her career seriously at all, she probably thinks of herself as a performance artist. But I think she is just laughing all the way to the bank! I’m not defending her, but I’m not condemning her, either. I just think she pretty innocuous in the larger landscape of what is American music today. Plenty of people do like her music, but I’ve yet to hear anyone claim she is important as a musician or particularly talented. Other, equally crappy artists, on the other hand, do get praised as such, and that is what is really sad.

Athletics and Budget Cuts

Posted on by

Visit the site

I saw an interesting report about the costs of college sports on the PBS program Need to Know tonight. According to the report, the football coach at the University of Alabama earns 6 million a year, more than twice the salary of the nation’s highest paid college president. The Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of Connecticut is the highest paid employee in the state. These are both public universities, by the way.

That, alone, is shocking. It is often argued that the sports teams bring in revenue in ticket sales and merchandise licensing, but people buy plenty of merchandise from colleges that don’t play in the big tournaments. It’s also argued the sports teams bring in exposure, but Harvard and Yale don’t field NCAA teams and they seem to have little trouble attracting students. Ultimately, if a potential student has a choice between a really prestigious school that places graduates in great jobs and and a college well known for athletics, I dare say, most would pick the college that offers the better job prospects.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Continue reading →

Budget Cuts and the National Community

Posted on by

Discover history at our National Parks

When I was growing up we traveled often as a family for vacations and weekends. We had a camper and took it to all kinds of interesting places, frequently our nation’s national parks and historic monuments. I remember fascinated by the history I learned visiting the birthplace of George Washington, the Yorktown Battlefield and National Cemetery, the battlefields of Gettysburg, the birthplace of Booker T. Washington, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial and so many others. Frequent visits to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Smoky Mountains awakened my fascination with the natural wonders of the world, and the visitor centers, trails or markers were as good as any classroom. I was an inquisitive boy, so I took home the free brochures maps and field guides from these places to study more, and begged my parents, more often than not successfully, to buy me the books in the gift shops that I could read at home.

I learned a lot about our nation’s history and the natural world this way, it seems like as much as I did in school. I don’t remember being taught about Booker T. Washington before college. That’s not to say I wasn’t, but I don’t remember it like I do the visit to his birthplace. We must have learned about Thomas Jefferson, but I don’t remember that, either and my virtual obsession with him sprang out of a family visit to Monticello. While visiting the Smoky Mountains I was first exposed the the tragedy of the Native Americans and the horrors of incidents like the Trail of Tears. Most of these parks had not entry fee, paid for entirely with tax dollars. That meant that we could and would, explore something on on a whim. If it was a rainy day and we had planned to do something outside, we could tour a historic mansion, instead. In addition to the National Parks and Historic Places, there was a whole other network of state parks and sites operated by non-profits that were also free.

More recently an increasing percentage of these sites have imposed an entry fee. People want low taxes, budgets are small, and government at all levels from local to national is practicing austerity. Fee for service became a model for a lot of what government does in the 1980s, and it has been that way since. It makes sense on a certain level. Why should those of who never have any intention of visiting one of these sites pay for their upkeep and for providing services there? In fact, these properties are part of our national heritage. We, as a people, have decided that these places are an important part of our history and they need to be preserved. They are monuments that need to be visible to our fellow citizens and the world to remind us of our common heritage and who we are as a people. The White House has offered to cut $105 million from the budget of the National Park Service, and the Republican’s want more.

Continue reading →

A Bird in Winter

Posted on by

Up to 21 inches expected, from Boston.com

I have never so much wanted weather forecasters to be wrong.  Forecasts are for as much as 18″ of snow between what started this morning and tomorrow!  This, added to the more than 60 inches we’ve already had this winter, are significantly above average, according to Boston.com:

Bay State residents have at least 60.3 reasons to be sick of the snow. After last week’s storm, a total of 60.3 inches of snow for the season had been recorded at Logan International Airport, including 38.3 in January alone.

The season total so far is more than the season average of 41.8 and the total last year of 35.7. The record is 102.8 inches, in 1995-1996. January 2011 has been Boston’s third-snowiest January and the sixth snowiest month ever, just behind March 1993.

Continue reading →

TV News and Reporting from Egypt

Posted on by

Dear Media,

Please stop marveling at how anything is happening in Egypt even though the internet is shut down and people can’t get on Twitter or Facebook.  You do realize that there were popular revolts before social media, don’t you?  In the latter half of the 20th century we had the Prague Spring in 1968, the Soweto uprising in 1976, the Paris riots in 1968, and even Tiananmen Square in 89. How do you think people coordinated the labor demonstrations of the 30s, the anti-colonial revolts of the developing world in the decades following World War II.  What about the French Revolution in 1789?  OMG?  How did they get anything done.  They didn’t even have land lines!

Continue reading →