Of opinions, fact and people who read 'em

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Just like every other newspaper in the world, the paper I work for is roundly damned by the people who live in this community.

Robert Williams, publisher of The Blackshear Times, has this to say about newspaper and its critics: Loved by many, cussed by some, read by all.

Truth. Every newspaper I have ever worked for and every newspaper editor I have ever talked to reports the same thing. The local people claim to despise the paper, while praising papers in other communities.

Kinda like Congress except in reverse. YOUR congressman is doing a pretty good job but the rest of those bastards need to be replaced. Newspapers are a definite case of "the grass over yonder is greener."

In case you wonder, the newspaper I work maintained its reader base subscribers in the time I have been here, if you consider the population decline which has also hit my community. In other words, our population is down more than 2,000 since I came here. Sales have stayed nearly steady.

With this in mind, I recently made this post to FB:  

 

It was recently pointed out to me that some people do not read the newspaper I work for because they do not like "arrogant opinions."

Thank you. I can mark you off the list of people I need to offend.

It is extremely easy to offend someone by insulting them. I do not do this. It is far harder to offend someone by telling the truth and standing up for your own convictions.

If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.
My friends and followers, whom I treasure, had this to say:

Mike: Arrogant opinions? Would the phrase be defined as, "any opinion other than the one you have at that moment?"

 

To which I replied: Rather, "any information that is not exactly the same as the opinion you have at the moment."

 

Vicki: If they don't read because of an opinion, they are just missing out on everything else in there.

 

Maggie: Although I appreciate the full intent of your maxim, "If the truth hurts, yer living wrong," it hints at Absolutism. It is not possible for people to live "perfectly." For example: people who are essentially "green" quite likely do not have the wherewithal to live fully green and live in today's modernity. (Not saying it is not do-able; just saying it means a radical 'fully off the grid' move). 

 

Howard: "... still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest..." Paul Simon

 

Lori: I submit that if a person spends his life putting his opinion in a town paper every week, a blog, various social mediums and in printed books, chances are there's a smidgen of arrogance. Would there not have to be? The confidence it takes to do the before mentioned activities would often be met with backlash that would drive a person to cross to arrogance now and then. The problem is that most people confuse confidence with arrogance and see a great deal more of it than there is.

 

Maggie (again): And if we spend our lives concerned with offending others we don't accomplish as much as we might wish. 

 

Lori (again): The greatest consolation is that those who are offended by all they do not agree with appear to be the dang unhappiest people in general. The world in general will not get in step with their beliefs and this bothers them to no end.

 

Rebel: Thank god I am never guilty of arrogant opinions! Was that thunder?

 

Maggie (again): Yes. But it keeps them occupied.

So tell me what you want, what you really really want

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http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2013-11-how-locker-room-behavior-hurts-us-all


Normally this is the kinda thing I'd leave to Merle, but I'm tackling this one.

To start with the author starts out with a rant on football players, pro players at that. She then leaps into a completely different discussion, which is exactly the same thing I do in too many of my blogs.

To follow the path she's laid down:

1) This is PRO football. To pull a quote from her article, "This is a game of high testosterone, with men hammering their bodies on a daily basis. You are taught to be an aggressive person, and you typically do not make it to the NFL if you are a passive person. There are a few, but it’s very hard. Playing football is a man’s job, and if there’s any weak link, it gets weeded out. It’s the leaders’ job on the team to take care of it."

Unlike the article's author, I do not believe, for an instant, that what happened to the football player who quit was an attempt to weed him out. It was nothing more than what very strong men, amped on testosterone and so on do to each other. Weeding out happens on the field and is done by the coach, not the locker room.

What the player who quit heard is exactly what'd he'd hear on the field from opposing players. Yes. It is. It's called psychology.

I give you an excerpt from my all time favorite movie, M*A*S*H:

Cpl. Judson: Bastard, 88, called me a coon.
Spearchucker: Called you a what?
Cpl. Judson: Coon.
Spearchucker: OK, that's an old pro trick, to get you thrown out of the ball game.
Cpl. Judson: Well...
Spearchucker: Why don't you do the same thing to him?
Cpl. Judson: What, call him a coon?

The statements hurled at Jonathan Martin are exactly what I'd expect to hear in pro football.

Some may believe you can have a quality football team without this kind of activity. Sure. Just ask former UGA Head Coach Ray Goff about the light-handed approach to football and football players. Goff was fired. When my own late sainted grandmother said of Goff,  "He's just not mean enough" then you know something was off. Still don't believe me? Ask Steve Spurrier what it takes to be a successful football coach and player.

Suit up or shut up.

Some people will still say it doesn't have to be this way. How many of them played pro football? How many played football at all? In case you wonder, I played football in school, one year. I played what amounted to rugby a lot longer.

"It still doesn't have to be that way."

Play football and come back and talk to me.

Furthermore, show me ANY professional activity with the same team esprit de corps and the same amount of violence and I'll show you the exact same activities taking place.

Next point. The author's true colors come shining clear with this statement: "In a society largely controlled by property-owning, land-stealing, vote-wielding, and law-making white men, we’ve shaped our culture to revere brutal and subjugating behavior, especially when it comes from white guys." Whew. I wish she wouldn't hold back.

She then goes on to make some almost logical points. I'ma use this sentence by way of example: "Or politicians who visit strip joints on fundraising outings, use profanity and name-calling when dealing with female co-workers (including the First Lady), and even our own President who only invites men to chummy pick-up basketball games at the White House."

GASP! Women do go to strip clubs.

Point 1: Why don't women visit strip joints? Sure they do, but in less numbers than men. Why? Furthermore, what's wrong with going to a strip club? I'm sure she has answers, all of which are man-bashing. I wonder what she had to say about Georgia's major embarrassment, Cynthia McKinney.

Point 2 and 3: Make up your FREEKING MIND! Men use profanity and name-calling when dealing with each other! It's WHAT WE DO! If you want to be treated equally, GET USED TO THE IDEA Of BEING CALLED NAMES! It's been going on for millennia. If you don't want equal treatment, then do not bitch about being treated unequally. Of course the president only invites men to the basketball court. Can you imagine what would be said if he popped a woman in the boob on the court? Egad. The press busts (heehee) a guy in the chest and the guy grins and gets payback a bit later.

Make up your mind. Men, real men and responsible men, will treat women the way women ask to be treated. As soon as the women figure it out. Which is no doubt going to be called a sexist remark. G'head. I'm not the one who says "Nothing" when someone asks me, "What's wrong?"

GAAAAAAAAAAH!

Next quote: "Men, in every profession, should be expected to operate off of more than emotions and instincts. They should be expected to be professionals." Professionals. Ms. White is a college journalism instructor who wrote "But I’m over this “boys will be boys” shit." That appears at the lead sentence in the very paragraph in which she demands men be professional.

Play football. Then talk to me. And then when yer at it, apply the same code of standard to yerself Khadijah Costley White. Yassee the very things she accuses men of doing, she does in her profanity-sprinkled tirade lambasting the XY chromosome crowd.

Parity does not live in Ms. White's column.

'Nother quote: "America’s history is built on the destruction and exploitation of others." Lemme let a grand idiot, Axl Rose reply:

"Welcome to the jungle, we got fun 'n' games
We got everything you want, honey we know the names
We are the people that you find, whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey we got your disease."

Here's where she and I do agree. Neither of likes a society ruled by powerful amoral types. "I believe that you can win a football game without being racist, sexist, and homophobic." She and I also agree. But you can't win football games without having enough attitude to be a winner on the field. Ask any pro football coach who has won the Super Bowl.

But we have a fundamental disagreement that cannot be resolved. She is definitely female, probably of recent African descent and a liberal. I am a male composed of so many nationalities any time war is declared on the planet. I beat myself up in a nationalistic fervor and a libertarian realist. She cannot know what it is like to be a male, nor can I know what it is like to be a female.

Unlike Ms. White, I ain't making excuses. I'm stating facts.

Unlike Ms. White, I also know what it takes to be a football player.

And probably exactly like I have done with Ms. White's article, this one will be vastly misunderstood. But WTH, I'm only professional journalist making a living at it for 28 years now. Betcha Ms. White couldn't.

Asking an open-ended question, getting some interesting answers

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I recently posted this question on FB:  If you had an employee who continually made promises and failed to deliver, what would you do?

I had nothing specific in mind. Sort of throw the grenade and see what happens. It generated 4 likes. Eh. It also generated a number of answers from folks, some of which are quite thought provoking. Answers in order with commentary from me as I see fit.

J: Is this a trick question? Warn once with suitable instruction on how to fix the situation, official reprimand if no progress made and, then, removal (firing).


 

I am reminded here of something Don Imus said. To paraphrase, he said he gives so many people a second chance over and over again because he was given a second chance over and over again.



R: It's rhetorical and he's being clever. If I had an employee who was trying to deliver but kept being badgered by assholes, I would understand and get rid of the assholes.


R frames this as a political question. I can see that. If you take it to the president, then yeah some of his promises have been blocked by others. Plenty of his promises he's had the power to keep and didn't. I trust Politifact because all sides use it when it supports their view and blast it when it opposes their view.

R and I are, much to the surprise of people who see our political debates on FB, in agreement far more often than we disagree. However, we do have fundamental differences. 



R (again): Your message is the one the KKKoch Brothers are pushing, by the way.


I have only a vague idea of what she means here.
 I also replied twice, once accusing R of a subject change and once thanking her for calling me clever.
MAB: I for one will take "clever" over "educated beyond my intelligence" anyday!!!!



J: Depends on the company - in some, it all depends on how good he is at dodging the blame.


Toooooo true. I recommend reading The Peter Principle.


M: Wait, do you work where I do? I have a co-worker I wanted to fire the third month she was here. It's been three years, I have multiple complaints filed with HR and she is still "coddled"


M works in NJ. Nuf said.



D: I get 3 performance reviews to solve the problem. Then I can be fired. Of course, there was that first year in which I could be fired for no reason. And the probational 3 year period which was any reasonable reason. Now it literally takes an act of Congress or 1 1/2 years, whichever comes first. I think everybody deserves a chance to change behavior and work performance. But how many chances should you be given? I think 1 1/2 years is a little too lenient myself. (but it does have peace of mind).


D (again): I heard of a couple of guys that actually threatened their bosses with guns (different locations/different bosses) and still didn't get fired.


J (different one): If we are talking about I think we are talking about, I think this is kind of like the things my Dad is always talking about with some of the people who have contracts with his company. He says that there are a bunch of people who don't perform all of the things they are obligated to do under their contract, but that the contracts the previous owner of the company negotiated with them were so poorly defined that he can't break the contracts without a whole lot of troubles so he just has to wait till the contracts end and then hope for better negotiations once the new contracts start. That is kind of what is happening now in the Government.

MacT as she is also known, has this ability to cut right to the heart of things. She nailed this one pretty good from several different angles.



B: Run for public office. LOL


Willis: Around here we generally promote that sort to some sort of public office where they can do no more harm.


Unfortunately when said people get "promoted" like this in the US, they do more harm.



P: For an employee, promises don't matter. Contracts do. Agreements do.

If an employee fails to deliver doughnuts he promised, I'd give him grief about it when he promised again, and let him know he's just hurting his credibility, but doughnuts are not part of his job (unless they are.)

If he fails to deliver on the functions of his job, he gets progressive warnings and then dismissal, promises or none.



P: (different one) Nominate them for president of the company?


H: They wouldn't drive the delivery truck anymore.



T: Not much of a corollary, BB, cause in the case of politicians, it takes consensus to get them gone. If I run a company and one of my hires isn't working out, they just get shown the door. Yep, they'll get a few chances and a couple warnings, but as boss, I'd have to do what's best for my company, and I wouldn't have to get anyone's agreement on it.



R (different one): If he or she works for the government, promote them to get them out of your department.


D (different one): I would go to see a movie... but that is just me.


Just when you thought it was safe to quit thinking...

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Item: SCOTUS is weighing in, again, on prayer. This time the High School is looking at prayer before council meetings. I  note, as has every other story on this subject, the Supreme Court daily sessions are opened with an invocation to God.

Nina Totenburg reports. She also points out some stuff a lot of people (me included) didn't know about when prayer is part of a public government gathering. One thing which prior SCOTUS decisions pretty much do is kick atheists pretty hard. If prayer, where allowed, offends atheists, tough.

Is this fair? Yep. There is nothing in the Constitution which protects anyone from being offended. The right to offend is greater than the right to not be offended. Rowan Atkinson.

Your rights are no greater nor less than my rights, that includes the right to free speech.

As an ordained minister in two denominations, I am frequently called on to give prayer before various elected board meetings in my county. Other ministers are also called upon. We're gonna keep doing this regardless of what SCOTUS decides.

It's my understanding that if SCOTUS rules against such prayer and we keep doing it, we'll be considered in contempt of the Supreme Court. I have no problem with that. I have held the High Court in contempt for quite a while now.

What would happen if a Satanist, Moslem, Buddhist, Flying Spaghetti Monsterist, Atheist etc wishes to pray? Lay on MacDuff. More power to 'em.

•••

Secessionist movements are gaining ground. I am not kidding. While this measure tanked, I can see it being tried in other places. I can also see it, eventually, winning. Just to be clear, such a movement would require approval of that state's legislature and Congress.

Here's the problem. It's an economic divide. Look at every state where this kind of discussion takes place. California, Florida, Georgia, Colorado. The part of the state wanting to break away is the rural part of the state. The most common given reasons are:

• Lack of representation

• Unresponsive to the needs of the rural areas

• Concentration of services in urban region

How true are these? 1) Not. Representation is divided among population. 2) See No. 1. 3) See No. 1.

Further compounding this problem is the distribute of tax dollars. If you look at the rural areas of these states, they get MORE tax money spent on programs, services and resources per capita than the urban areas.

If the rural areas do split off and become separate states, they will be forced to rely on their own resources. It's gonna hurt. A lot.

•••

Twitter, a company that has not made a profit since its founding, is going public. Apparently the Dot Com bust taught people nothing.

•••

The federal health care mandate, so touted and supported by people who believe in government-led redistribution of wealth, is sending people to for-profit companies to buy coverage. Insurance companies are, by and large, owned by rich people.

The federal mandate is going to make rich people richer.

The irony is magnificent.

•••

More states have joined the same-chromosomal-status-may-wed bandwagon. What has YET to be decided anywhere is the fundamental question. Is marriage a function of the state or is marriage a function of religion. SCOTUS has pointed toward it being a state function?

Those who point to the Separation of Church and State (Yo Mary), have a problem reconciling this, I image. A marriage license is the only state-issued permit I know of which may be authorized by someone who has not received government-sponsored or government-endorsed training.

•••

Jesse "You're A Racist" Jackson is saying Georgia's Stand Your Ground law is racist. He points to how he says the law has been unevenly applied in court. Ah. Call the law racist and forget it's juries, lawyers and judges who implement the law.

•••

Cognitive dissonance continues to climb. From this week's Wiregrass Farmer, an editorial:

Should someone who kills children be arrested? Prosecuted? Should someone who kills innocent adults likewise be arrested and jailed?

If someone threw a bomb into your house or your neighborhood, what would you do?
Should the person responsible for killing children, adults and dropping bombs in neighborhoods be allowed to lead a country?

"According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the CIA has conducted 378 strikes in the program’s 10-year history. Of those, 326 are classified as “Obama strikes.” The total number of people killed by drones is estimated at 2,528 to 3,648. Civilian casualties are estimated at 416 to 948, with 168 to 200 of those being children. As many as another 1,545 are estimated to have been injured in those strikes. "

Still have the same answers to the above questions?

•••

He has no beard...

In a continuing effort to keep up with the United States, Canada finally has a mayor caught on tape smoking crack. Canucks across the Great White North cheered massively as the stupidity gap between the two nations closed imperceptibly.

Upon noticing that Rob Ford and NJ Governor Chris Christie are each approximately the size of Rhode Island, Canucks cheered a bit louder, happy that poutine is responsible for closing yet another gap.

•••

In a continuing effort to avoid making decisions, citizens continue to hand the power of thought over to the government. Make no mistake. This is about the power of thought.

Rather than make a decision to shop places which pay their employees a good salary, Americans demand to shop at places which pay employees poorly. Then, they blame it on the companies and demand government intervene.

•••

Having legalized marijuana, Washington has seen the number of people hauled off to hospitals for a THC blood check zoom upward. The only people surprised about this are the ones hauled off to have blood drawn. Washington is expected to see a boost to taxes as weed now is legal and can be taxed.

Cats and dogs are fraternizing in the streets. Baptists are marrying Catholics and potholes are not being filled as the breakdown of the social order continues to accelerate. Canada is considering shipping in emergency supplies of Ron Ford.

•••

The joys of Socialized medicine. Georgia, where I live, has not agreed to participate in the federal health insurance insanity. As such the federal government is taking over a predicted expansion in Medicaid rolls. When the fed quits this and Medicaid payments plummet, more doctors are going to quit taking Medicaid. Many already don't take it because the payments aren't enough.

What will happen to the po' folks? Emergency room care. More importantly, what will happen to already overstressed and underfunded hospitals? They'll close the ER. Then what? What about communities with no hospital, like mine? The 6 Ps apply.

Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.

For the nerds and geeks amongst us

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This one is for those of us who read Swords & Sorcery (fantasy) novels.

I recently wondered where the "prophecy" in so many of these books came from. So, I decided to find out. Here's what I learned:


The quill scritched across the parchment leaving a trail of ink in its path.

“I don’t see why you have to write it down.”

“Yeah, well I don’t really, but it helps me to better organize my thoughts, yanno?”

“I mean, it’s not like you’re not omniscient or anything like that. You’d think perfect recall would be enough.”

“True, true, but I also like doing it. It makes me feel more, eh, connected somehow. I know they’re gonna write it down too. So when I write it down, well, nevermind.”

“Connected? Ew. Just knowing they exist is bad enough. Why on us do you want to get closer to them, I do not know. I still say it was a mistake in the first place. Get rid of it.”

“It amuses me. You have yours, I have mine.”

The quill scratched. Several pages were already haphazardly piled on the corner of the desk. The feather never reached out to touch the well, but the level dropped imperceptibly with each line laid down.

A smirk scorched across the room.

“How’s this sound?
‘The light shall fall
‘Darkness will rise
‘But within the wall
‘Rests the key to conquest.’”

“Yes. Quite brilliant. Such a prophecy that will last throughout the ages and inspire great deeds of valor, heroes will sacrifice themselves and villains will have villainous plots, all trying to find out exactly what ‘the wall’ is.”

A sheet of clean parchment curled, blackened, turned to ashes and vanished.

“I have to keep it simple. Every time I send the message to them, they screw it up. They misunderstand, don’t hear me correctly, write it down wrong, think it needs ‘editing’ and in general make it a void lot more obfuscatory than it ever needed to be. Why in the null they have to bugger it up so much…”

The quill continued to leave its fast-drying footprint. A few lines before the end of the sheet, it stopped. It went back in the inkwell. The stack of parchments and the last sheet wavered and vanished.

“And another one done. Now, let’s see how long they take to unravel this one.”

A gentle smile, accompanied by a lightly shaking head, and two settled to watch the most recent prophecy of the eternal battle in side one v. side two be played out in one tiny corner of the multiverse.

"You take far to much enjoyment from this."

"It's what I do."

Abominable Care made sim - No. It can't be simple

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I warn you now, I am wrong. So are you because I can find a plethora of experts who can prove you and I are wrong. I can also find other experts to prove they are wrong.

So, just to see what it would be, logged into a few different sites where you can supposedly get what Abominablecare will cost you.

Depending on the site you visit and whom you believe, my annual insurance cost is $0 to $400+ per month. This depends on the insurance company, the website, how many live sacrifices I made at the last full moon, the bribes I have accepted, the plan I choose, the metallic level of coverage (lead is not an option nor is aluminum) whether or not the website admin had sex last night and a great number of other completely irrelevant factors.

If you can get in, here's the Georgia version of the ACA.

Here's what one site promises:

According to all the sites I have found, I am also eligible for a "subsidy" of about $1500, as best I remember. This is how my cost of $0 to $450 a month is computed.

I am also required, under law, to get insurance or I am fined.

So. With this information, here's my take on this plan:

I am required under the law to take money I have not earned from people I do not know and will never meet.

If I do not take this money, then this same law penalizes me.

This is forced robbery. Either I take from people whether they are willing to give or not or that same item is taken from me against my will.

Forced robbery.

I am also told this "subsidy" is in the form of a tax credit.

Ah.

If I understand this, which I don't, this means I still have to pay the monthly premiums, which I cannot afford. Then, once a year, I get to deduct the cost of the insurance from my income. This lowers the amount of taxes I have to pay.

It is not a 1:1.

For every dollar I pay, if I did, in health insurance, I wind up getting less than 30 cents back in my refund.

The alternative is to get back less in my tax refund. With the fine at 1 percent of my taxable income, the drop in my refund is insignificant to what I have to pay in premiums.

If this math is correct it is far cheaper for me to not get insurance.

Except, I am of course wrong as a lot of people have already told me. Each has a different explanation of why I am wrong, all the others are wrong and why they are correct.

Chasing the Joneses Part II

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As promised, Part II. I warn you, this reads like it was a cross between an economist and a sociologist. Except possibly more obfuscatory. In case you wonder, if you cross the two, you get a political scientist.

TED talk, which aired a piece mentioning a Mexican is the richest man in the word, said Gandhi, the Indian leader who is massively misunderstood by most, suggested there are two economic choices in the world. Well, Niall Ferguson said it, but it was broadcast as part of the TED Talk.

1) Accept disparity and wealth gaps.

2) Institutionalize poverty.

Neither is a pleasant concept to me.

OPTION 1

What worries me more is a different nightmare scenario, is a universe in which a few geniuses invent Google and its ilk and the rest of us are employed giving them massages. Chrystia Freeland. See TED Talk above

Oy.

Karl Marx did examine human nature and the rejection of Option 1. He got things twisted like Ayn Rand. Both substituted their own person view of how humanity should be for how humanity actually is. Neither were willing to admit a basic tenet of human nature which can  be summed up in two acronyms - NIMBY and CAVE. (CAVE is Citizens Against Virtually Everything).

They also ignore matter of simple physics which translates directly across to humanity - Nature abhors a vacuum. Witness Somalia for the human social-economic-political version of this physics statement.

And, yes, they also ignore something else. Human beings are fundamentally lazy. Scream, yell, holler, complain and call me an idiot all you want to. But the fact remains if you were given everything you needed to be satisfied, you’d do nothing. Argue all you want, but below I’m gonna prove my point. Yes, there are the rare exceptions, but exceptions are just that.

OPTION 2

As best I can see with my intense myopia, this is now the case in the United States. We have achieved multiple generations living off the public dole. If this is not institutionalized poverty, I ask how you define it.

And here is what has set the United States apart from the rest of the world and the history of civilization. We reward those who have never done anything except exist, never will do anything except exist and will not do anything except exist at the expense of others who have never met these “existence only” entities. Further, we use violence to extort support from the others for the “existence only” entities. Call ‘em EOE (which fits in far more ways than one).

PROVING THE POINT

I bring to you a shining example of this mentality.

Ages 2 and 3. Left home alone. Took two of ‘em to take the other person home. And she's worried about food stamps.

I give you another. Angel Adams. Google this woman and see the enormous number of legit news stories which crop up about here.

These people are not aberrations. These people are not isolated incidents. These people are not skewing the bell curve. These people are increasingly typical.

They are the EOE and they are growing.

EN MASSE

When I say EOE I mean large masses of EOE, not isolated incidents like a monarchy or dictatorship. Anthropological studies of societies which do not have wealth as a concept show those people under study do precisely enough to make sure they have enough. No more, no less.

Some other nations have since followed suite, but we led the way.

If Marx was still around and witnessed the EOE, I wonder if he would revise his social-economic theories. Just for the record, true communism as espoused by Marx has never existed on a national scale. For that matter, true capitalism on a national scale has also never existed, but I suspect Somalia comes closer than any other country.

OVERHEARD

Lemme slap some quotes on you

"The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)

This one has been twisted a bit over time and then attributed to Benjamin Franklin. He never said it that we know of. But here’s the twisted version - When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
- Norman Thomas (US Socialist Presidential Candidate)

"There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow.   Our destruction,
should it come at all, will be from the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government."
- Daniel Webster

There go the Joneses

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A piece on NPR about the growing wealth gap (the world's richest man is a Mexican) in the world and this article got me to thinking about something my Aunt Ginger said many years ago.

She said, and I paraphrase, "We are doing just as well as our parents before us and before us and before us. We think we're not doing as well because we believe we must have more."

I like pie.

Truth.


If the truth hurts, yer living wrong. Lemme bring the pain.

Look around you. For that matter, if you are looking straight ahead as you have to be to read this you are using a serious load of things you can live without. Computer. Electricity. Internet. Software. Depending on how far you want to run this train, you can go through shipping, manufacturing, sales, etc etc etc.

Since you are reading this, I am going to state you have far more house than you actually need. House being defined as your domicile, digs, crib, etc.

Continuing this "'cause yer reading this" narrative, you have TV, cable or satellite, cell phones, probably a suite of other electronic gadgetry, none of which existed 100 years ago. Some of it came into existence during your lifetime. Internet access is now being touted across the globe as a "basic human right" apparently on the same level as potable water, adequate food, freedom from persecution.

You can has right to laugh at me?

Ah. We now have an inalienable right to amusing cat videos, bad porn and the ability to get into a lose-your-rationality argument with people all over the globe whom we've never met, never will meet and don't want to meet about things that don't really matter.

There's a WTF moment for me.

In your house, you have a lot of food that requires extensive and unnecessary artificial preservation efforts - chilled or frozen to be exact. The fridge and freezer. The canned and dry goods you have are less than what must be temperature controlled.

Take a real look at yourself. What can you genuinely do without?

I have challenged several people who tell me "I don't have enough money" to let me adjust their budgets. I guarantee them I can cut their expenses by 25 percent.

So far, no one has taken me up on the offer. Why? They know I'm right. You know I'm right.

You can cut your expenses dramatically. You choose not to.

This "standard of living" which you insist on having is not what you need to live. It's what you want to live.

The truth is you can do with a lot less. The truth is you'd rather live the lie than embrace the truth. Hey. You're not unique. The rest of the world is right there with you. Even Mark Boyle, as noted in the beginning, is truly not living without money and still has more than he really needs.

Tomorrow, provided I get a moment, I'm gonna take a look at two extremely economic concepts that relate to this subject. If not tomorrow, then when I get a moment.

Well, afternoon ma'am.

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If you have arachnophobia, quit reading now. If the thought of spiders does not bother you, lay on MacDuff.

The memories are very very very vague now, but when I was somewhere between 3 and 5 I had a hallucination of spiders, big'uns, on my bed. Scared me to no end.

Spiders no longer terrify me. Rather, they impress me immensely. I do respect the dangerous ones and will destroy them if they are around places kids are apt to be. On opening day, I took a stick and swirled it around the inside of my deer blind to remove any spiders and their webs. It was not malicious on my part. I just didn't want them, especially possibly dangerous ones.

So. I sit in my stand and watch what I call wolf spiders climb around. They are not wolf spiders, but I call 'em that. Every now and then, I pop the blind fabric just enough to make the spider leap away. They can jump amazing distances.

Similar to the one at my stand

I've watched 'em ambush and attempt to ambush insects. I once watched a spider spinning down a single line from the roof of a blind get ambushed by a green anole. The lizard lept across the blind, snagging the spider mid-leap. How quickly the predator becomes the prey.

This year I headed into the woods to refill my feeder and a pair of spiders, beautiful creatures, had spun their hunting webs across the path I needed. As I was pulling a wagon, by hand, with 200 pounds of corn and other stuff, finding a route around was not going to happen.

"Sorry about this ladies," I said, breaking down one of the limbs they'd spun to. I did it carefully and slowly as to not kill them.

Ladies, yes. Male spiders do not spin that kind of web. They are also smaller and far less colorful. Males spend their time wandering around looking for a female to mate with.

Truly I was a bit unhappy at disturbing the two spiders. They are major insect predators. They delight in skeeters.

Imagine then my delight when I returned the next day to find the largest of the ladies had rebuilt a web across the path.

"Well, afternoon, ma'am. My, aren't you beautiful," I said to her, thinking what a shame it was gonna be that I had to ruin her work again.

A very cool crab spider.

Except I didn't. One of the support lines was strung to a tree limb high above my head. With a minimal amount of ducking, I could ease under that line where it attached to the main web. I did so. Coming back, I got a look at her equally amazing underside.

I again exchanging pleasantries with her. Whether she replied or not, I do not know. Regardless, she stayed where she was and I sat in a deer stand admiring her cousins climbing around me.

Coming out of the woods at night I see many many many many many tiny green dots on the ground. One day I stopped and got down to see what it was. Tiny spiders. Hundreds, nay thousands of them. Several per square foot.

This bothered me because I knew I was killing some every time I walked in the woods. Cannot be helped, there are so many of them.

Well. That was stupid. Sort of.

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So I got re-bent this morning going over a major news event in my community. Not a good way to start a Monday morning. Got over that.

Somewhat justified anger in that one.

Then, after lunch I got mad again about something that hasn't happened, probably never will happen and if I remember my state laws correctly, can't happen! Sheesh. Talk about over-reacting...

Anyway, here's the setup. I signed Jesse up for another hunting trip with an outfit that is supposed to take handicapped kids hunting, pay for everything and etc. If I sound less than enthusiastic, it's because I am.

Of all the people who've promised to take Jesse hunting, two have delivered. One group I'm personally associated with and Chris & Jock in Washington State. So far we're batting less than 30 percent on hunting trips.

So this afternoon I also signed up our farm for handicapped kids hunting. The only requirements are the kids can shoot whatever they want, provide it's not a pet or a human. Willing to make an exception for some humans.

I got to thinking about this and hunting and what might happen if a kid kills something out of season and the game warden comes along.

That's where I got mad. A series of possibilities resulting in me getting mad.

My ire was directed at the hypothetical game warden in this case. There's no way I'd let him take the kid's animal or write the child a ticket. He'd have to ticket me and then come court day, I'd explode in righteous indignation.

I calmed down and reflected, it'd have to be a seriously cold-hearted game warden to ticket a handicapped child on a hunt of a lifetime. Then as I remember, Georgia law allows people with a terminal illness to hunt deer any time they want to. Which is the way it should be.

So. Calm now and sharing my foolishness with you.

You're gonna eat THAT?

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 Warning. This blog will disturb some people A LOT.

Well, yeah.

Before you decide to rail at me, lemme point this out. That, in this case, is something the United States President approved for human consumption. While I'm here lemme also remind you this same POTUS dined on something far more familiar to the average US resident.

The French, famous for eating snails, collaborating with the enemy and having snooty attitudes eat it. OK, forget the French. The fact is, beyond the scene in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" there's a history of eating this in the US too.

My order.

Yeah. Horse jerky. When I saw the package this morning on the counter at the office, I was seriously excited. Still am. One more critter to mark off my "To Be Eaten" list, a list which no longer includes beluga whale and ants, IOW, I've eaten those. Never mind the accidental and incident consumption of the occasional insect. Seriously. If you live in the Deep South, sooner or later you're going to swallow a gnat.

In case you are about to hurl the remains of meals you've eaten for the past few weeks, lemme also point out you probably have no issue eating moldy milk. Some people may not like cheese or are lactose intolerant, but by and large it's not disgusting. Except it is.

My friend Danwen, a local, gave it to me straight:

“I can’t eat cheese. It’s not the flavor; it’s psychological.”
 
Curdled, moldy milk just doesn’t appeal to many Chinese.

Yep. Eyeballs. For the Explorer's Club

Ah so. In South America, giant guinea pigs are raised for meat. Dogs and cats continue to be raised for meat in many places in the world. Back when I watched TV, I'd see Andrew Zimmern eat all kinds of things. The Explorers Club holds an annual dinner with critters from around the world, tarantulas, mealworms, crickets, scorpions and more. Pity I'll never be invited to that dinner.

Cultural taboos about eating things are often just that, cultural.

As I tell people, "If it ain't gonna hurt you and it's good, eat it."

Willie Turner told me he was at the fire department one day smoking some goat. A gent came along and inquired. Willie served him up a plate of the meat and the man said it was delicious. He asked what it was. Willie told him. The man went and lost his meal in the bushes.

Yanno, our brain will make us do things that are not good for us.

Would you eat leather? Ok then, would you eat pork rinds? Cracklins? Tell me what is the difference between naturally treated leather and a slice of rind-on country bacon.

Would you eat an unhatched fowl embryo cooked on a sheet of oil-coated steel? Would you eat a serving of chicken eggs? The difference?

Perception matters. Like in this one.

Sweet Thai Rat

Not really. This is just Martin having fun with shapes. The "Sweet Thai Rat" meat is minced then blended with herbs, balsamic vinegar, red wine with a dash of Soy sauce and cracked black pepper, its then coated in our homemade sweet thai dipping sauce before being air dried to create and unusual and fairly plague free snack, we are 70% sure of this. If you look hard enough you see disclaimers that the meat is beef.

Some years ago I got into a brief discussion with an animal rights activist who gave me a hard time for eating deer. I told him I picked up road kill deer and ate that. I asked if there was anything morally objectional  to that. He replied, "No, if you don't have a problem with being a disgusting cannibal" or something similar. My memory has faded. In other words, his true colors came out and his true objection to was meat consumption. I'm cool with that, but not with his disingenuous way of hatin' on me cause I hunt.

Really though, what's your nutritional objection to eating horse if you eat meat?

When I offered to share my horse jerky with the office crew, I was met with mild rejections. Linda said “You are a carnivore.” Indeed. Will be sharing my horse jerky today with people brave enough to try it.

I plan to order some kangaroo jerky soon. I've looked for elephant meat which could be shipped to the US, but so far no luck. I have found a source for other meats I'd like to try. But at the prices for some of those meats, I'll just have to wonder what it's like.

In case you missed the link at the top and wish to order some horse jerky of your own, cowleysfinefood.com. Tell Martin that Ben sent ya.

In case you wonder, my jerky is slightly smoky, sweet and has the merest hint of chili pepper. Very good. Reminds me of my coon jerky.

Where's Einstein when I need him? Oh yeah, dead.

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There are times when I truly wish I had much better grasp of mathematics than I do. In case you're not wondering, Dad was a Georgia Tech structural engineering graduate and one of the 5 smartest people I've ever met. I met Dr. Edward Teller if that tells you anything.

There's a point in here, but I need to say a few things first. Feel free to skip to the header below.

And so when I was but a junior in high school, the PHS Class of '85 (GO EAGLES!) was given a series of aptitude tests. I scored out at a 6th grade level in math.

Dad was beyond aghast. Mom, who developed an ulcer learning calculus without Dad's help to spite him, 'cause he said she'd never learn it, was much more understanding.

Mom and I have a development condition called Dyscalculia. Mine is a lot worse than hers and fortunately, my children did not inherit this. Mine is so bad I have problems dialing phone numbers, really. Ask the crew at the office. Most of the time they have to punch in the fax numbers for me.

RESUME READING HERE

So when I get my monthly edition of Popular Science, I sit down to read with much anticipation, delight and more than a little trepidation. This month's edition was one of those where I was really apprehensive. The main feature store is on Dark.

SCIENCE!

Not as in the absence of light, but Dark Matter, Dark Energy and as one of the scientist types hypothesized, Dark Life.

The problem with Einstein's model of the universe and everyone else's is that when they explain all the matter which can be seen and accounted for, it's not enough. Yeah, brain sprainer. There's just not enough to account for the universe continuing to expand, rotation of the various galaxies and so forth.

Brief rant. So, what did science do? This is what is hilarious to me. They made up something to make the equations fit. I note when the non scientific community "makes up something" to explain anything, they are ridiculed. Science does it and it becomes sacred. Rant off.

The Pop Sci article tries to bring down the idea of dark matter into terms the readers of the magazine can understand. In other words, they dumb it down.

This bothers me. As something is always lost in translation, any time you try and reduce a very complicated subject to a less complex level, something is lost. As I read this article on the Dark Side (interpret however you wish, you're just as correct as the "scientists"), I wondered constantly what we readers were missing. How much was left out? How much was distorted? What couldn't be reduced to English?

Throwing yet ANOTHER mental monkey wrench into this story is the statement toward the end.

If you add all the Dark which scientists, leaning on faith say exists (do not ridicule them!) with all the Light (matter and energy we can see), it only accounts for about a third of the sum total of Everything.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Well, OK. So what this means is Science (note capital S) is going to have to make up EVEN MORE stuff. I will continue to read dumbed down versions and wonder what's missing.

Hey! A thought just struck me. I can be like a scientist too! I'll just make up stuff to explain what I don't understand and whatever is left out of their explanations. It works for them, it'll work for me and I get to be a scientist!

Yanno, I'm now thinking this science stuff rocks and despite my inability to read a string of numbers longer than four digits. I too can be scientist. Correction, I am a scientist. Now I just need to put a bunch of gibberish down and join the secret scientific cabal so the rest will secretly approve of my work why publicly supporting it and tearing it apart.

With age comes many things

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It may be a deeply bred sense of responsibility. It may be age. I'm chalking this one up to middle age.

To 'splain:

www.BakerBrosPR.com

This is the writing company I own with my brother. We write. Pick a topic and we've probably written about it. Not kidding either.

What we've written over the years goes up to master's level dissertations. Not done that or any kind of more advanced writing yet, but we did get a request to do a Master's paper. When the guy was quoted the price he declined. I suspect he had to push his eyeballs back into place too.

We have a pretty big client based in Europe. Assignments coming across the pond have a specific word length for the articles. In an effort to hit that mark, I went searching one day for a word counter online.

I found Word Counter. 'Mazing how that just happened to have the very words I was looking for.

So I have been using this for a while. It counts words, characters and even gives you a keyword saturation count. For the work we sometimes do, this saturation is critical. So, I'm using this site and over the weekend I noticed there's a tip jar on the site.

Hrm. Now years ago, I'd have seen this tip jar, chuckled and went on about my business.

This stuck with me all weekend. So when I fired up PayPal on Sunday evening, I first put a fiver in the line. I looked at it for a while. I changed it to a $10.

The service is worth the $10 I sent to 'em.

I also use my freelance money to kick a bit toward Georgia Public Radio and Irock109. In years past, I would not have. I'da reasoned it's a free service and I'll ride that horse til it's dead. Now? I feel an obligation to support, as limited as it is, this kind of service.

I appreciate what they do, I know it costs money and I believe if I use it, I should pay. As much as it bothers me to admit it, this kind of economy I participate in is exactly what Ayn Rand promoted.

I am so middle-aged. I just hope I'm a better student of the human condition than Rand ever was.

A most excellent question!

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I just posted this to my FB book and am very much looking forward to some replies.

Meantime, some of my thoughts.

If I am walking down the street and someone comes up and demands money to spend on things I don't approve of and threatens me with physical violence if I do not give him this money, is this legal?

If I am walking down the street and the same man comes up to me, makes the same demand and the same threats and has an IRS badge, is this legal?

As above, but the man now has an IRS badge and a warrant for my arrest for not giving him the money. Is this legal?

What, really, is the difference? The end result is the same; my money has been taken from me against my will upon threat of violence and used for ends I do not support.

The difference, apparently, is robbery becomes legal when institutionalized by government. For that matter, a whole lot of what government does is legal ONLY because it's a fiat from government. How's that for tautology. If you or I try to do the same thing, it is illegal.

What gives you the right to take what I have? Careful how you answer because it can be used against you and will when I come to take your stuff.

"Less fortunate" you say? A man goes out and works all day long while someone else sits on a front porch all day long and the porch sitter is "less fortunate?" OK, that was an easy one.

A man works all day and through no fault of his own suddenly can't work any more. Why should people who do not know him be forced to support him? Why is he more important than a starving child in Africa? Why should I be threatened with violence if I choose to not support him?

The only way to answer these questions is through a moral code. Which begs another question: What makes your moral code superior to mine? Why should your morals be codified into the law and mine rejected? Caveat - my moral code says intentional violence against others cannot be permitted. Taking my money against my will on threat of violence is intentional violence.

"It's the right thing to do" as you may say is a moral statement. I can reply, "It is not the right thing to do" and my words are just as valid as yours.

Some people (Hi Renee) like to point to Jesus and His commands. Mention was made that Jesus tossed the money changers out of the temple. Not entirely sure how that fits into this discussion, but that was said and I pass it along.

Jesus never said government should feed the masses. Jesus said His followers should engage in charity. As for the money changers, He knocked their money to the dirt. He didn't take any of it. Jesus never took from anyone who was not first willing to give. (See how I tied that right back in?)

Choice is what I, you, we and the guy who just ducked around the corner so you won't see him when you turn around. Unfortunately, having the option of inflicting violence on someone who won't go along with you is also a choice. Is that fair? Just? If so, who gets to make that rule and what happens if someone comes along and has enough power to change that rule?

So where is the fairness and social justice due me when I am threatened with violence if I refuse to give?

The stupidity of term limits

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Major rant incoming.

Every time I hear someone say "We need term limits" I reply "We have term limits. They're called elections."

This immediately results in the person saying we don't have term limits, politicians buy elections and so on and so on.

Really?

A few questions.

• Do you really want government telling you whom you can and cannot vote for? We're at war with countries right now which have this kind of system.

• If you say politicians buy the elections, then why are you selling your vote?

• If you object to long term politicians, why do you vote for them?

• Do you know who ran for office, all of 'em, in the last election?

• What do you know about the "third party" candidates?

• Are you smart enough to make up your own mind or do you need more government oversight?

Now that I have offended people, lemme ask the real question: Are you stupid enough to really believe term limits are effective?

NIMBY LIMITS

Yes, term limits keeps the president limited to two terms. How many of you would vote for Ronald Reagan (were he still alive and capable) for president again? How many of you would vote for Bill Clinton again?

Yeah. Thought so. Poll after poll after poll, and more importantly actual elections, shows incumbents are supported and get back into office. "Politicians are the problem, but MY politician ain't part of the problem." So says you in election after election.

You don't really want term limits. What you want is the ability to limit all the other voters choices. You want NIMBY limits. In other words, control what other people do and leave you the hell alone.

 

VOTES FOR SALE

You probably complain there's too much money in politics, too much in the campaigns and only the rich and well-connected to the rich people can get into office.

Ummmm, 'scuse me but for whom did you vote in the last election?

WELL CONNECTED

Or, the Science of Cognitive Dissonance

Pork barrel spending is how politicians stay in the news when no controversy is brewing. They tout their accomplishments in "bringing home the bacon" from the seat of government. "They don't understand why we need this, must have this. It's getting our just returns BACK from the taxes we pay."

Yeah, it takes seniority to get the big bucks flowing back to a district. Neophytes and freshmen don't have that kinda pull. Gotta send him back to keep that river of cash flowing and it's damned well time to cut government grants and handouts to those idiots who can't manage their own money.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

 How much do you know, that you can back up with facts, about the candidates for the most recent election. The farther removed you are from the election, the less you know. You may know a great deal about the people running for City Council or School Board. How about state legislature? Congress? President?

Tell me how much you know, which is fact-based, based on his voting record, based on statements he has made which can be verified about any candidate for federal office. How about Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who ran for president. For that matter, gimme the same on ANY candidate for president other than Mitt Romney or the current liar in chief. Now tell me the same about ANY candidate for president who was not on the Reboobican primary ticket.

I knew you couldn't.

"Those guys can't get elected."

THAT is not the biggest cop-out I have ever heard, but it's in the top 5. No, "those guys" can't get elected in an electorate which insists on being spoon fed information and believes attack ads on TV while refusing to do even a tiny amount of research. I've long been told "you get what you pay for."

The facts are out there. The information is out there. You don't want to assimilate it. You do not want to learn about the people who make the decisions that will affect your life. This is not ignorance. This is sheer unadulterated STUPIDITY.

NANNY NEEDED

HELP WANTED: Must be able to think for those who refuse to do so themselves. Must be willing to accept large amounts of cash from donors. Must be willing to endure ridicule, abuse and scorn while doing exactly what you were hired to do. Must be willing to demonize certain people in public while having supper and drinks with them when the media isn't watching. Must be willing to complain, moan, whine and point the finger at colleagues while refusing to take any blame. Must be willing to reapply for the job periodically, with a 90 percent chance of being rehired.

We offer a modest salary, sometimes not enough to keep everything running which you must have to hold the office, generous retirement, plenty of perks on the side which you'll need, but we reserve the right to raise hell about this. We're not going to think this through, you see.

To apply, run for office.

TERM LIMITS

You don't want term limits. You want rights limits. You want to be excused from thinking for yourself.  You want to be able to complain about things you refuse to understand. You want to complain about not having rights while handing those rights away. You complain about big government while demanding more government. You don't trust government while handing more and more of yourself to government every day. And you want term limits? You want this selfsame government which you so despise to tell you that you can't vote for someone?

What you really want is an abdication of responsibility.