tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75755823221728533472024-02-19T11:21:17.991-05:00A Kup of RealityBrighten your day and broaden your horizons. Life through the eyes of a singer/songwriter, pharmacy technician, brother, proud American, libertarian thinker. This is your Kup of Reality.Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-46443617046464169562012-02-11T02:25:00.002-05:002012-02-11T03:08:46.549-05:00Anybody Thought of a Guard Rail? Threesome News<span ><span style="font-size: 100%; ">*Fanfare* Once again I bring to you an exciting new edition of "Joe Does The News". We start with a story of a Haverhill resident's 50 year long plight of playing human Frogger in his family's own home. </span><br /><br />1.)<a href="http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/car-crashes-through-haverhill-home-for-the-fifth-time/" style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Boston Resident Deals With Fifth Car Crash Into Home</a><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;">After which crash do you think the idea of putting up a wall around his house popped into this dude's head? 1st? 3rd? Maybe the next time? I don't really know. What I do know is that if a car crashed into my home once-I'd be seriously thinking about paying a visit to the local landscaping company for some boulders. I can only imagine how this guy is going to have to try and explain this to his insurance company. "Oh by the way a car </span>plowed<span style="font-size: 100%;"> through my living room...AGAIN."<br /></span><br />My verdict: Sell the house. Move into an apartment off the ground level preferably far away from airports. <br /><br />2.)<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/us-usa-campaign-paul-idUSTRE8191S120120210"> Ron Paul To Take Maine? </a><br /><br />My verdict: No but maybe. Probably not...maybe. Does it even matter? I need a drink. <br /><br />One thing that I can proudly say is that I was ahead of the curve when it came to calling Ron Paul out for what he really is. Early in the season people were rallying around Ron Paul seeming to forget how far out in Dennis Kucinich la-la-land he was in the 2008 Republican primary. Ron Paul has always been dingy on foreign policy. Consistent, but nonetheless dingy. So when it comes down to Maine, a considerably left-leaning big government state, supposedly embracing "libertarian" ideals-I've got to call shenanigans. They might embrace liberal non-interventionist "stick our heads in the dirt" Neville Chamberlain-esque Ron Paul. They're not going to be crazy about the do away with government programs, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Energy, and everything under the sun Ron Paul. </span><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span >Well his supporters will. They'd be crazy about Ron Paul if he considered a new career in porn. In fact they'd maul any one who would dare to say it wouldn't be the hottest porn ever to hit the interwebs. <br /><br />Mitt Romney is the key front-runner in the state and if anybody in the Republican field can appeal to the liberal wishy-washy "do as I say not as I do" New England states-it's Mittens. So I have a feeling Maine will go strongly in favor of everybody's favorite pro-flip flop establishment candidate. I could be wrong but either way it doesn't matter. Ron Paul won't be President. I'd hope he'd settle for treasurer. <br /><br />3.)<a href="http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Kid-Rock-blasts-column-on-Made-in-Detroit-clothing/-/1719418/8630276/-/jhthxez/-/index.html"> Kid Rock "Made in Detroit" Shirts are Wait for It...Not Made in Detroit</a><br /><br />Now look we all have our opinions on the city of Detroit. Here in the mitten state most of us have pride in our community. Some have a blind pride. Others like me have pride but know that the problems in Detroit can't be solved unless they're fixed in Detroit. Kid has done more for SE Michigan than Susan Tompor or anybody from our local news media will ever probably be able to do their whole lives. You hear that Clint Eastwood? Yeah shut up. <br /><br />Do I think the "Made in Detroit" shirts being made outside of the US is sketchy? No. I can't blame the Kid for doing something that our own US government made profitable via NAFTA. In fact not only did they make doing business outside of the US profitable; they made it detrimental to not cut costs by shipping jobs overseas. If anything has destroyed our manufacturing and production in this country--it's our own policies. <br /><br />What Susan Tompor and the other ambush journalists of our supposed "free press" failed to realize is that "Made in Detroit" does not mean the shirt was made in Detroit. It pays homage to the individualism and pride that one takes living as a Detroiter and to restore esteem in hometown pride. Kid has also stated that he hopes to open an installment here in Detroit and create jobs. The only assumption of the t-shirts currently being made in Detroit was on Tompor. Not on anybody else. Nobody was fooled but her. <br /><br />I wonder if Tompor was as outraged about the fact that the Clint Eastwood "It's not an Obama re-election ad but it appears to be one and sounds like one" Detroit Ad wasn't filmed in Detroit. <br /><br />Verdict: Kidddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd<br /><br /><br />-Joe<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-88064365065187664662012-02-11T00:20:00.008-05:002012-02-11T01:03:12.809-05:00Santorum Declares War On Gullible Idiots<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOA8Ui6Ai7B3-_gs9xErnGiihMqfFTX7zCOtoY3HFMbk-p8f-N4w3UDalrc4n0gOzTjSDNrQhrLnPHYTfSW5Zsp5vMunKJM9rrgJr7Hpsn7WRWKibfImzf9uijBX6f_tTwbQE78EE6A/s1600/Satire.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOA8Ui6Ai7B3-_gs9xErnGiihMqfFTX7zCOtoY3HFMbk-p8f-N4w3UDalrc4n0gOzTjSDNrQhrLnPHYTfSW5Zsp5vMunKJM9rrgJr7Hpsn7WRWKibfImzf9uijBX6f_tTwbQE78EE6A/s200/Satire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707747364616790866" /></a><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">So there's this thing going around Facebook and Twitter about Santorum apparently declaring war on "heavy metal". First off I laughed when I heard that because as much as I can hear somebody like Rick Santorum saying something like that - it reeked of satire. However since I am a member of the 1% and therefore smarter than the majority of the population of poor people I choose to oppress daily (you all know my affinity for setting homeless people ablaze on Sundays) I didn't bother to do what every other idiot on Twitter has done with posts such as... *See attached picture on right*</span></span><br /><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Seriously people? Do some research. First off in the event of him saying something this astronomically stupid wouldn't there be some video of it? Camera phone? Smart phone? Official media publication? Second off... </span></span><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUr28oBmRgDevR08eHwXysxDFJhaHz_1rIoUw9SarQar8t7vJuknykdbaO2mkcGS-2Be3LAMZiJvM7H_3f9Ft94XnfRjcl7M4oKiFB_otYak8hDuQgC3GSHEnAICw4OjIHVz6-QfYsQ/s320/Satire2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707750663790590274" style="text-align: center;color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 184px; " /></span></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">SATIRE. SATIRE. FREAKING SATIRE.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Satire: The use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly etc. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Maybe one day Americans will grasp this concept or grasp a dictionary in their hands and bother to do something educational with their time. Until then I dedicate this post to all of you because I just am that damn #caring. </span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><br /></span></div><span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">-Joe<br /><br /><br />PS the part of Gwar playing for Mitt Romney had me seriously rolling. </span></div></span></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-84576119377984535052012-01-26T00:37:00.004-05:002012-01-26T00:48:07.146-05:00Nancy Pelosi Is On CrackHappy belated New Year blogosphere!<br /><br />It's been a while! I'm alive. Still. That may dismay many people who disagree with me but the point is I'm still out there and you can follow me on my twitter which is updated daily with my crazy thoughts and opinions in less than 140 characters. I'll try and post here as much as I can but we'll see how it goes. <br /><br />www.twitter.com/JoeKupski<br /><br />Feel free to follow me there.<br /><br />THIS however was too funny for me not to post here.<br /><br />I was sitting on my couch today doing some homework and something caught my eye. John King (the guy that got smoked by Newt Gingrich in that one SC republican debate) was interviewing former Speaker Nancy "I can't feel my face anymore" Pelosi for some reason or another. He asked her what she thought about a Newt Gingrich presidency. I could not help but notice how uncannily similar her reaction was to another infamous celebrity. See for yourself.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span><span style="font-size: 11px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span></div><span ><span style="font-size: 11px; white-space: pre;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8MJY3d8BNzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span><span style="font-size: 11px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span></div><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ytJpZguSy2U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><br />Like I said. Nancy Pelosi is on crack.<br /><br />-JoeJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-16830694174011285152011-11-14T23:47:00.002-05:002011-11-14T23:48:58.232-05:00Questions You Don't Have To Ask Tea PartiersI even got quoted. <div><br /></div><div><iframe title="MRC TV video player" width="640" height="360" src="http://www.mrctv.org/embed/107456" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>But seriously can you claim lice as dependents? </div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-498482993003635222011-10-22T23:20:00.006-04:002011-10-23T01:30:00.450-04:00Barack Ron Paul ObamaI have received a lot of heat over Twitter and emails regarding why I should support Ron Paul and what a Ron Paul Revolution will do for America in 2013. In fact I have received so much flack about this guy from like probably the three or four people that actually read this blog anyway and follow me that I feel I need to make an entry devoted purely to Ron Paul.<br /><br />I'm also kidding about the reader comment I actually have like 9 or 10.<br /><br />Ron Paul. Ron Paul. Ronny Paulie. Ronopoly. Big Ron. What can I say about him?<br /><br />Well for starters, I feel like he is absolutely a really bad idea for this country. Yep...I said it. Waiting now for the influx of hateful emails from passionate Ron Paul fans about how I'm standing in the way of true reform in this country. Send them. I can take the name calling. I'm a big boy. <div><br /></div><div>Got that out of your system? Good now let's look at facts.<br /><br />There are a lot of things that I agree with Ron Paul about. In fact I give him a lot of credit for bringing attention to government overreach and redundancies. I am with him on foreign aid and I am so with him on getting rid of the Federal Reserve, The Department of Energy, etc. The guy makes some damn good points.<br /><br />But. And this is one big but. Nicki Minaj would be be jealous.<br /><br />There are some things that Ron Paul says that are absolutely beyond crazy and not beyond crazy in the adorable aww "he's old and senile" kind of way. Ron Paul believes that the only chance of survival for the United States is by collecting all of our military forces from around the world, pulling all of our international intelligence connections, and bringing everything back within the borders of the United States. Then he believes that if we somehow cut the ever living crap out of the size of federal government--our government will somehow miraculously rebound. Pure and simple: he is an isolationist.<br /><br />Ladies and gentleman, if anybody says to you in the year 2011 that they believe that isolationism is a good way to operate as a country--run for the hills.<br /><br />Now make note that I am not talking about the US being self-sufficient but neither is the Ron Paul movement. I firmly believe that the United States government has created an environment which has made it profitable to somebody (not the United States citizens) for businesses to look elsewhere to do business. We have the highest business tax in the world. Case in point. Blame the government. I also believe that we fail to acknowledge that we have resources within our own borders that can sustain our energy needs until a new and efficient greener energy resource is available. We don't need the Arabs or the Russians for oil. Who do you think built the technology for them to get the oil in the first place? You've got it.<br /><br /><div>Ron Paul doesn't really get that. Ron Paul (and his rabid supporters even though I believe they're more on the kick of regurgitation than actual comprehension) believes that the majority of the hostility in the world is caused not by evil interests or people; but because at some point in world history the United States did something to provoke this hostility. He believes that the United States is the source of the problems in the world. Now I'm not saying that this is totally not any different than the current attitude of a current apologist leader of the free world, but it's still pretty funny that they both share a common opinion about their own country.<br /><br />By the way I am not making any of this up. Ron Paul has said these things. These plans I have mentioned are not folklore and can easily be pulled up by a simple Youtube search. Ron Paul believes this. He said it in 2008 during the Republican primaries. He has said it as recently as this year about 9-11 & Iran's thirst of nuclear development. According to Ron Paul we're to blame for every terrorist attack on America and Americans abroad. Don't forget what I just wrote. Keep this detail in mind. I'm going to touch back on it in a minute; as this is the framework to the big disastrous picture that is the Ron Paul Revolution.<br /><br /></div><div>Let's get back to his foreign policy for a minute. Ron Paul wants to bring everything back here. He believes that by getting America out of everybody else's business the world will again be at peace (which it hasn't been ever) and America will again be prosperous. Sure it's a great pipe dream. I know it sucks to live in reality too, doesn't it?<br /><br />While in theory it's a great idea; Ron Paul slashes his own wrist centering his campaign around this principle. Considering that there weren't bad people in the world and that everybody was actually capable of living and coexisting with each other without strapping bombs to their children and sending them into crowded market places-Ron Paul might actually be on to something. However, we don't live in Pleasantville and there are people in this world that are hellbent on seeing an end to Western Society at all costs. They will die for it and the greatest honor to their cause is to die taking us with them. So let's do what Ron Paul wants to do and pull our military out of...everywhere. <br /><br />This kind of wolf does not go away by simply running into the house, slamming the door, and pretending it doesn't exist. If we go through with Ron Paul's plan we will accomplish change, don't get me wrong. It's just the change isn't going to be too positive. <br /><br />For starts, with President Paul we will be militarily ineffective and intelligently void as our intelligence agencies and military will not have been allowed to operate effectively. As Ron Paul has said the military budget is not off the cutting room table so you can expect massive cuts to be made. We will again be making decisions off the same ill-enabled intelligence that told us that Osama was in Afghanistan (which was a war Ron Paul voted in support of) and that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. On another note our ally Israel (I would argue the strongest ally we have on the planet) will be left to fend for itself in a region that is devoted to the destruction of both it and every Jew on the face of the planet. We will again be responsible for ignoring a genocide.<br /><br />So we've pulled our military from all over the world and brought them home. We're not involved in anyone else's business at an international level. We are solely focused on issues at home. So naturally you'd think that somebody who was aware that we have enemies in the world would push for a major overhaul of the immigration policies of the United States. Not Ron Paul. Ron Paul believes that illegal immigrants should not be given an "unfair treatment" under our federal law system. Wait? Hold on? What does "unfair treatment" mean? Nobody really knows. In fact I'm pretty sure Ron Paul doesn't either. However he did say that he feels that the government should not be getting in the way of the Catholic Church fulfilling it's charitable duty of housing illegal immigrants crossing the border. After all it's charity. I mean they're not breaking the...oh wait aren't they breaking the law? Wouldn't that after all be aiding and abetting? So let me get this straight if I can?</div><div><br /></div><div>Dr. Paul is supposedly a subscriber to Constitutionalism. As a subscriber to strict Constitutionalism one could argue that the sole and only responsibility of the federal government was to protect the people of the United States of America. So at this point President Paul has cut our military funding, pulled our military and intelligence out of every country in the world, and now made it clear that while we can build a fence on the border we shouldn't be unfairly singling out illegal immigrants or punishing those who aid them on their journey in the United States. In lay mans terms, Dr. Paul has not only failed at his duty as an American to uphold the law at all costs; he has failed his oath as the leader of the United States of America to protect the citizens of his country against all threats of domestic and foreign source. After all ignoring foreign conflict only got us dragged into World War II. Pearl Harbor anybody?<br /><br />So you have the framework as we have Paul ending the "imperial military complex" which is pretty much the only thing that has kept this world from self-destructing in the last century. We have Ron Paul being tough and fuzzy on immigration. What else is there that possibly can be a red flag for potential voters to not vote for this guy? How about his supporters. His rabid out of touch supporters.<br /><br />I don't want to be the guy that draws this parallel but isn't it amazing that the majority of Paul's most rabid supporters tend to be of the same demographic that makes up the whole 99% movement? The "I have really no idea why I'm here but somebody light me up a joint and lets party" 20-30 something year living in a basement somewhere type. This isn't entirely a coincidence because if you remember from the most recent debate Ron Paul said this about the 99% movement.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCrDdFE868">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCrDdFE868</a><br /><br />Now Ron Paul is right to an extent however he continues to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He will stand there and complain about how the government shouldn't be getting involved and the market should be left to work itself out. Yet on the other hand he says:<br /><br />"We have to blame the business cycles and the economic policies that led to this disaster".<br /><br />Wait what? How is it that we're supposed to not change the way businesses operate in this country yet we need to blame the business cycle? What business cycles are we referring to? Does Paul know what he's talking about? I don't really know because you can never get a read on where he's coming from. Pure statistical facts. You get rambling talking points but you get no hard concrete statistical facts to back up anything he says. Sound familiar? Yeah it should. Obama. 99%. Occupiers. We can't blame the victims? Who are the victims? Somebody that goes out and puts down $15,000 on a $500,000 house they can't afford and yet it's the banks fault? People that don't want to pay college loans back that they signed a contract to obtain suddenly not wanting to anymore? Where's Ron Paul attacking the college universities for raising their tuition rates? I see a lot of straw men here and yet very little criticism. The reason you can't get in a debate with these people about issues because you get this from the Ron Paul camp.<br /><br />"Well Iran is going to bother us. We have like a bunch of nukes and they don't. They're not going to mess with us!"<br /><br />Well they just actually tried to kill a Saudi Ambassador on American soil. That really doesn't show them being too scared of us.<br /><br />"Bro, you're an idiot. Ron Paul is fighting for your rights whether you want them or not!"<br /><br />Is he really? My rights? My rights to what?<br /><br />"People are so afraid of the TRUTH!! THE TRUTH!! S**T IS F***CKD YO!! RON PAUL 12!!" (That is actually copy and pasted apparently the F word has an extra letter in it) <br /><br />"You're stuck bro. Ron Paul is doing what needs to be done! I bet you couldn't do better!"<br /><br />Well "bro". I totally could. I could fix this country in ten minutes. So I give you my plan for fixing the United States of America if I were totally President.<br /><br /><br />- Restructure the tax system that requires that all citizens of the United States of America pay some form of flat income tax regardless of their wealth bracket. Let's set it at 30%. If you are unable to make the payment, you pay what you can and owe the government the remainder with interest until it is paid off.<br /><br />- English will be set as the official language of business and government in the United States. Don't like it. Too bad. If other countries can have official languages based off of their founding and tradition, so can America. We split of Great Britain. Our language is English. <br /><br /></div><div>- If a country wants our military support they can pay for it. No more nation building without this country seeing green. No more checks to clean up the country after we're done leveling it and if the country has resources we need--we take them. <br /><br />- Foreign aid would be reformed to be distributed on a per country basis. If we can come up with something as stupid as a "Super-Committee" we can definitely find time to choose which countries we support and which we don't. No more blanket aid.<br /><br />- The UN would be defunded completely. If they don't want to support our country or our alliance with Israel they can do it without our subsidies.<br /><br />- Immigration protocol will be enforced and immigrants will be given probationary visas on the basis of their skills and potential to contribute to the American economy. Guest worker programs will be applied for from the immigrants country.<br /><br />- The business tax will be lowered and corporate welfare will be abolished as tax incentives will be only distributed to company's who are primarily invested in employing Americans at fair wages and under fair labor standards.<br /><br />- Energy production will be maximized safely and responsibly in all source fields -- coal, nuclear, biofuel, oil, natural gas, hydroelectric, solar -- and development in new renewable sources of green energy will be primary goal.</div><div><br /></div><div>- The United States will implement policy of not dealing financially with countries that harbor enemies of the United States or threaten her interests abroad. Companies that choose to do business will not be granted the protection by our government abroad or permission to do so.<br /><br />- Obama Care and all related programs implemented under the Obama administration will be eliminated.<br /><br />- Departments & Agencies of the Federal Government will be audited and requested to prove their efficiency and worth to the American taxpayer. If they cannot they will be defunded and eliminated.<br /><br />- All toilet paper will be free as no man should ever enter a public restroom and find themselves in a stall with no paper.<br /><br />Okay well the last one was a joke but the solutions to our problems in this country are simple and blunt. It's just people don't want to hear them and neither does the Ron Paul camp. Believe it or not under the guise of Ron Paul's libertarian anti-government leanings lie the very foundation of the 99% movement. A group of entitled misfits, brats, and anarchists eager to stir up trouble and screw with people that have had no involvement in the misfortunes and problems of the movement at all. Like Herman Cain said during the debate: "These people want the bankers to come down and cut them a check." That's all it's about. It's not about a movement and it's not about the country. It's about a bunch of people who don't want to be responsible passing their costs on to somebody else and if Ron Paul is embracing these people in his movement and Obama is embracing these people in his movement; what does that tell you about the movements of both individuals.<br /><br />Thank God for the toilet paper industry I will probably never be President and thank God for America neither will Ron Paul. <br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-56336700743630646392011-10-18T00:06:00.006-04:002011-10-18T00:55:31.126-04:00Occupy My Annoyance<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TKuydZFAJ4Nq5nzLsyT-vrCxo3HXVQrfsyrPaCRWvc5inE1fbnkW4efjB_SVWwcnU0eX2Lr4ASI6lqpepygeB7vxYUDWj3SU5laMbXI7hjro4K56ePYSkTmGtycF79V7RRKA6-WG5g/s1600/53precent.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TKuydZFAJ4Nq5nzLsyT-vrCxo3HXVQrfsyrPaCRWvc5inE1fbnkW4efjB_SVWwcnU0eX2Lr4ASI6lqpepygeB7vxYUDWj3SU5laMbXI7hjro4K56ePYSkTmGtycF79V7RRKA6-WG5g/s320/53precent.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664678921291940514" /></a>Because I'm sick of everybody else whining about their debt and problems I want my five minutes to whine about the whiners. Why is it that people in this country feel the need to complain about the earnings of people they don't even know? Do these people realize that the big bad 1% is made up of 10% of people who were born into it and 90% of people that made their own way there? Maybe a few of those in the 90% were lottery or casino winners but the vast majority, at some time in their lives, started out middle class or with very little and risked their way to the top. THEY TOOK RISKS. However they're guilty of fraud and corruption and according to the MSM we should sit quietly and be subjected to people fresh out of college whining about how they have debt and it's somebody else's responsibility to pay for it. <br /><br />All I've heard from OSW supporters and partakers on Twitter and Facebook is that they're organizing to expose the fraud and corruption of the 1%. Not a single one of them can give me an example of what fraud has been committed in support of these charges they're hurling against a portion of the United States population--but we should know that they're guilty of fraud and corruption. Charged, tried, and awaiting sentencing.<br /><br />Another thing. What are these degrees that these people have because something tells me that if the unemployment rating went down to 1%; these people would still be out in the street complaining about how they can't find a job. Let me give you an example.<br /><br />If you graduate college with a degree in musicology (and I'm a professional musician keep in mind), what do you think is going to happen? Did any of you rational, intelligent protestors bother to look up employment projections or occupational outlook reports before you went and got loans for these fields? Or were those too lame for you hipsters to read? I'm sorry maybe we should've recorded them on vinyl or printed them on hemp. Would that have grabbed your attention? You feel me? <br /><br />It's like going to a university in Arizona to become a marine biologist and complaining that you have to relocate for your job. Hello?!<br /><br />Third off where do these 99% (which is a total exaggeration of their population density but I'd bet these clowns probably nearly all fall under the category of people who pay no federal income tax) protesters get off complaining about their student loans. They went and got these loans and signed a contract for this loan that laid out under its conditions that when they graduated they'd have to start paying back the loan. If they got a loan they signed a contract. A CONTRACT. They borrowed somebody else's money. Now they complain it's not fair they have to pay it back? I'm sorry but who the hell are you? Why are you not protesting these colleges and universities for their outrageous tuition costs? They're the ones to blame. <br /><br />Many of these protesters if they truly are as broke as they say they are probably have subsidies covering a lot of their costs. Many have EBT cards. Many have food stamps. Some probably even have government insurance and health plans. However, I have a feeling the vast majority have Mommy & Daddy footing the bill from some upper middle class neighborhood. In fact I'm pretty sure some probably don't even realize that their own parents are close to being or already a part of the big bad 1% they're lobbying against.<br /><br /><div>So where does this put me? Who the hell am I to criticize them?<br /><br />Let me clarify a few things. I have had my share of tragedy like everybody else on this planet. I'm living through this economic hardship like the rest of America. I'm not rich and I'm not broke. I'm an everyday American who works for what he has and is proud of the work he does to make it on his own. I don't blame other people for my situation and I think it's about time people start taking a page from Americans like me. When times get hard you roll up your sleeves and cover your own butt. You can always moan about it later. In my case I prefer to go quietly and laugh about it over a beer I purchased with MY OWN MONEY. <br /><br /><ul><li>I worked three jobs (making $7, $9, $10 an hour) with my first one starting at age 16.<br /><br /></li><li>My Dad got laid off during the mass layoffs at GM (pre-government bailout GM) and had made enough over his career working 50 hour weeks as senior designer that I didn't qualify for a substantial amount of student aid. FAFSA pretty much laughed in my face. It however didn't take into the account the other expenses like you know health insurance and what not.<br /><br /></li><li>I got a degree from a college I paid my way through except for one semester which was paid by a scholarship I had qualifieid for from a test. This PROMISE scholarship was revoked by a governor who supports OCCUPY WALL STREET. Ironic right?<br /><br /></li><li>Time I spent protesting about it, blaming rich people, and crapping on cop cars = Zero. I was busy working.<br /><br /></li><li>At 19 I was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease known as Ankylosing Spondylitis. I also happened to lose my insurance right around this time because new government GM felt the need to make some changes to non-union retiree benefits. The promise of being under my parents insurance until I was 26 was amended. The government apparently doesn't believe in written contracts. By the time I got back on insurance I had already spent a small fortune paying for treatments, injections, and monthly medications. At 20 years old rather than paying fully for it in cash; I could now pay for insurance. Yippee.<br /><br /></li><li>Time I spent protesting about it, blaming rich people, and crapping on cop cars = Zero.<br /><br /></li><li>Currently I'm working towards getting my Masters in Health Service Administration at a private college that I worked multiple jobs on location and at home to afford to pay for it. Hopefully this will be a job that will get me somewhere near the 1% and you know if it doesn't I won't care because I don't have to be rich to be happy. I still find the time to see my family & friends and you could've prospered from a bet that this past Sweetest Day (Hallmark Holiday) my girlfriend and I had a hell of a fancy dinner. I still find the time to play music and record music and the money to donate to charitable causes like the USO and St. Jude. </li><li><br /></li><li>I'm currently 15K in debt for school but I'll pay it back somehow when I graduate just like I've paid for everything else life has thrown my way. </li></ul><br />America still rules and I'm still thankful for it to have me. Being part of the greatest experiment in freedom on this planet; I have it so much better than so many in this world do. Guess what? So do the Occupiers who think that their lives are so messed up.<br /><br />I am part of the 53% or the 47% or whatever percentage of people the statistics want to point out to be self sufficient and doing fine on our own.<br /><br />So stop whining, occupy a job, and work to pick your own ass off the ground because picking my own has been enough for me. Now it's time for YOU to pay your fair share to society. I've done my part and will do my part until I close my eyes. So leave me alone.<br /><br />And for the sake of all things clean--take a freaking shower!<br /><br />P.S. I'm annoyed about bank fees too but overall I still like my bank. Most importantly, I still can take a crap in a toilet too. </div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-29062692868792687032011-10-12T03:29:00.001-04:002011-10-13T03:20:41.399-04:00That's Rad Dude<div>Regardless whether you submerge yourself in every detail of the political arena (like most of us try to avoid) or just occasionally pass by a television with a random news channel blaring; you’ve probably heard a pundit or two talk about radical (fill in the blank). The radical left. The radical right. Free radicals. Those waves were so radical. You’ve heard it and you know it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nobody wants to be deemed a radical anything, especially radicals themselves. Yet for some reason (in hope to appeal to the more far out niches of the ideology chart during campaign season) candidates love to associate themselves with radical figures. Take into account the FRC Values Voter Summit which goes on yearly for some reason in Washington. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now politically speaking when it comes to most issues I’m pretty conservative because I believe that government tends to screw up everything it touches. Working in the health industry I can definitely speak with confidence that government regulation tends to harm the patient more than it helps them. Case in point this passage of the disaster a la Obamacare. However it truly infuriates me that our political system loves to give credence to people that I like to affectionately call the “Pat Robertson Mafia”. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now I’m not talking about evangelists or born-again’s or whatever the religious voters are calling themselves these days. I’m talking about the people that sit and quote actual word for word scripture (completely out of context) as justification for their opposition or support of a candidate. I’m talking the people that are so bat shit crazy that I’m positive they sleep hanging upside down. The Westboro’s and their distant incest-spawned cousins that aren’t already members fall into these hanging people. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’m not a man of statistics because I really don’t care that much about these people to bother to look up how much of the actual voting population they make up-but I’d say that roughly they’re like 5%. I say 5% because I know for a fact that 14%-18% of the electorate considers itself the “Christian Right”. So let’s say 5% sleeps upside down. </div><div><br /></div><div>Considering that these idiots are a strong 5% I have to ask myself the following question: WHY IN THE HELL ARE THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY TO APPEAL TO THESE WACKOS? </div><div><br /></div><div>Obama right now is barely holding onto the 66% of the Democratic electorate that still supports him. He’s not going to get any Republicans to throw a balloon party for him come November 2012 so why is it that the Republicans even took the time to hang around a voter summit that’s only going to bring them negative publicity? It’s not like the news media is going to sugarcoat any coverage of events involving the GOP anyways. So why attend an event that is a magnet for radicals? I mean seriously face palm to the n’th. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the event’s sponsors is Bryan Fischer who is a director at the American Family Association. Now why should you know this name? Because this is the same dude that said that the gays were responsible for the Holocaust and that Hitler was himself a “homosexual prostitute” while also spewing other nutty conspiracy theories about how every criminal and terrorist action on the planet is somehow brought on by “sexual deviance”. He’s also the same dude that said that Mitt Romney being a Mormon meant that he was not “protected under the first amendment.” Yes the guy is that nucking futs. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet all the Republican candidates made a bee line to be at this event . Some of them handled it well as an opportunity I guess to get their face in front of a camera as a “strong moral conservative” (which did nothing for their poll numbers) and others kind of just made asses of themselves (to the majority of the populace that isn’t a GOP loyalist) . Then the news media got involved and dug up the dirt which at an event like this wasn’t hard to find. A statement was made about how Mitt Romney’s church was a cult and there was plenty of anti-gay rhetoric to shoot down a rainbow. I especially loved the part of how “gay marriage was the single biggest threat to national security” made by none other than Bryan Fischer. Anybody seeing a pattern here? I am. </div><div><br /></div><div>We may now raise the terror level to “glitter.” In fact while we're at it I want what drugs this guy is on because if gay people we're truly the most threatening force to our national security these days; I could get some damn sleep for once. In fact maybe I'd even sleep upside down too and be able to find an interior decorator that actually knows what the hell they're doing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fast forward to the most recent debate where Michelle Bachmann criticizes Herman Cain’s economic plan and says that his 9-9-9 plan should be flipped as the 6-6-6 plan. Now being the rational thinking American that I am who has a perpetually increasing disgust for bullshit the second she said that my eyes rolled back in their socket and I start seizing on the couch. At that point it didn’t matter what analogy Bachmann was trying to make or elude to because I was already annoyed and disgusted and if I was already turned off I’m sure plenty of less political Americans than I were as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>So there I was looking at the screen and thinking to myself again, “Are you crazy?!” Then it hit me. Bachmann, Fischer, the AFA, the FRC; they’re no different then the Van Jones, Reverend Wrights, the Pivens of the world. It’s just radicals on both sides. So maybe the Values Summit was actually a good thing for the country because it exposed to the American people exactly what was going on and who some of these people are. Hopefully this time around the American voters will take a different path than what they did in 2008. Hopefully voters will not ignore the radical ties that candidates have and question with boldness the direction these candidates plan on taking when in office. We ignored the warning signs that came with Obama and now look where we are. Just because we’ve drifted this far to the left does not mean that taking a rocket to the far right will help this country. </div><div><br /></div><div>Radicals are radicals. They will go to radical means to reach radical goals and radical goals will not bode well for this country as a whole. </div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-25992401387022486042011-10-11T05:24:00.002-04:002011-10-11T05:28:03.876-04:00What In God's Name?<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI</a><br /><br />More on these wackos with a later post.Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-49631526131336483332011-10-06T22:34:00.004-04:002011-10-06T22:42:01.162-04:00If You Drive In Michigan Bring Food & An RV<div>You know for a state with such a shortage of funds we seem to have no shortage of orange barrels and construction projects. In fact never have I been to state that has had so many construction projects with so little actual improvement. Michigan’s roads have consistently graced lists like Overdrive Magazine’s Highway Report Card for years. In 2009 we were #3 in the country for overall road crappiness. In 2010 we were #2. We’re achieving. Wonder where 2011 will place us? </div><div><br /></div><div>Like thousands of other Michigan drivers I put up with it month after month, season after season, year after year, and simply pound my steering wheel and mutter in frustration. We make jokes about how Michigan has two seasons: Winter & Construction. We laugh at signs like “Road Work Ahead” and “Men Working” because nine times out of the ten there is nobody there (unless its rush hour or Holiday pay) except a long line of brake lights reflecting off orange cones beaming from cars driven by other probably ornery drivers. We as Michiganians have to laugh and make light of our predicament because if one really thought about the amount of taxpayer money that is spent on road construction and the overall results from that construction in this state; they’d be choking on a gun muzzle. So really who is to blame for shoddy roads?</div><div><br /></div><div>The state likes to say it’s the snow. After all, Michigan is the only state of the union which gets snow and I am a unicorn. It’s not the construction crews fault. They’re trying to make a buck like everybody else and when you really look at the work they have to do you’ve got to respect the occupation. The blame lies with this state’s crown jewel of intellectual stagnancy: Lansing. You see up in Lansing there is a big old chamber containing a legislative body that blame likes to hang around with daily. Lansing is very blame friendly and rightfully so because they don’t have a freaking clue how to solve a problem. Like in most functioning (dysfunctional) government bodies, the working mantra tends to swing between the liberal favorite “How much money should we spend before we feel better about this problem?” to the conservative standard “How much should we cut taxes before we feel better about this problem?”. Note how the problem is never eradicated but covered up with a warm and fuzzy feeling blanket. This is called partisanship. Every once in a while both sides of the aisle get together and come up with a bipartisan policy that also does nothing to address or solve the problem. This is called the State of Michigan. </div><div><br /></div><div>Every few years we go to our local polling places hoping that maybe somebody new will solve our problems but knowing deep down that they won’t. After all it’s easier to win an election by convincing the voting populace how much you’re needed rather than how much you’ve actually accomplished. People don’t like success stories. That’s why we blame the wealthy top 1% for every economic problem this country has. Americans like scapegoats. Americans also like theoretical utopias and they really love straw men. That’s why our leaders make statements like “Government creates jobs.” and “Hey, I don’t live in Cuba but Castro ain’t that bad a guy…” and “We should model our health care system after Cuba because it‘s quicker…” and “Hey China, I understand your one-child policy and I’m not second-guessing it“. I digress. </div><div><br /></div><div>So basically our state government likes to throw around a bunch of big scary numbers about federal aid and state aid that scare the living crap out of Michiganians. They hear tall-tales about how cuts to MDOT’s budget will result in the road caving in and their Volvos falling into bizarre space and time continuum wormholes that will transport them to a completely parallel universe absent of all Starbucks (Idaho). Have no fear! I hear Idaho is quite nice in the summertime and the problem with our roads is not in funding but in application. We don’t build our roads with materials that can adequately sustain our winters (because our state likes to cut corners and our inspectors are all on the take) and we don’t enforce load restrictions on highways and local roads to keep overweight trucks and overweight drivers from carving up the roadways. If Michigan really wanted to get serious about fixing roads--they’d look at alternative building techniques and more importantly a complete reform of our road system from an administrative level. Yes I’m saying we need toll roads.</div><div><br /></div><div>We can waste valuable time in the legislature (even though maybe that’s a good thing) debating about how much the taxpayers of Michigan should pay for a new bridge to Canada or a new wind farm somewhere or for corporate welfare to businesses on the MI GOP’s donor roll but nobody has to time to hear about a tolling system? Why is it that Michigan taxpayers are supposed to be fully responsible for the wear and tear being caused by out of state truckloads? It’s bad enough that Michigan taxpayers are paying to bribe businesses that have no interests or loyalty to this country (let alone our local communities) to stay here and do business but now we’re paying for tourists and visitors too? I’m sure the Ohioans heading up to see our prized forests and woodlands in full display with their autumn beauty can afford to throw a buck or two in for road repair considering that like 30% of their state’s economy is based off ticketing Michigan drivers. I have no idea whether that’s a true statistic or not. Something tells me the number is actually quite higher. All I have to say is that if you want us to stop speeding in your state at least make your state a little less boring to drive through. Think “hills.” </div><div><br /></div><div>In fact the difference in road quality is instantly noticeable crossing the state line into Ohio as they use toll roads for road revenue. However most Michiganders wouldn’t know this as they’re still stuck in traffic waiting for the construction guy to flip his stop sign around. I’m also told that it reportedly does not snow in Ohio. A local meteorologist (also a unicorn) told me this. </div><div> </div><div>Even the planning that occurs for these construction projects is plagued in complete ineptness. For example in my hometown the major freeway that connects us to I-75 has been under a widening project that began in early 2009 to relieve congestion for the 90,000 daily drivers that are lucky enough to commute in and out. The project was slated to take no longer than 18-months. Nearly three years later, the highway is already crumbling, the crews are nowhere near done, and the highway is still congested because the only thing that lies past the exits is more construction. In lay mans terms, you can’t get anywhere in the Motor City or the Metro area without taking an RV and a week’s supply of food. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’m not an expert on construction or pre-construction planning (and from what I’ve seen neither is MDOT) but it seems to me that when one undergoes a major construction project (I.E. closing down a major freeway linking one city to another city) one should plan an alternative route for the flow of traffic. Modern linguists call this a “detour.” I know it’s quite a complex concept but I hope that MDOT one day truly embraces it because this whole concept of closing one road and re-routing drivers to an adjacent equally screwed up road is not going to cut it. As somebody who works roughly 7 miles away from home and on a normal sunny day can make it to their destination in ten to 15 minutes--I truly appreciate being able to travel somewhat directly to work without having to go 20 miles south to drive 13 miles back northwest. </div><div><br /></div><div>The bottom line is that our roads are bad because our state government is inept. No matter how you want to slice the bread it always comes back to Lansing. If you want to believe that Michigan’s winters are just so uncharacteristically harsh compared to other states in this region and further north--go ahead believing so. But the next time you hear about how this winter is going to really wreck havoc on our roads; ask yourself how it is that Michigan, in the year 2011, continues to be the only state north of the Mason-Dixon line that crumbles from salt and the people in charge of our infrastructure get to still keep their jobs?</div><div><br /></div><div>DISCLAIMER: I kid about Idaho as I‘ve been informed that the state is completely uninhabited except for potatoes. However if MDOT were to fall into a Michigan sinkhole and be transported there-- I guarantee the country would have a shortage of potatoes because nobody would be able to find a freaking detour! </div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-70349851209522756372011-03-20T14:17:00.002-04:002011-03-20T14:18:41.307-04:00Dodging A Bullet<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Over the last month (it seems like a lifetime) I have been fighting cold after cold. Finally this week I broke down and got myself and appointment with my family physician. When I say I broke down, I mean I physically was at the point that I could not sleep in any other position but one involving sitting at a complete 90 degree angle. I couldn’t breathe bending over or even slightly slouching and my voice was basically similar in tonal quality to that of escaping air from a hose. It also doesn’t help that I’ve been trying to put a band together and I was hoping that Spring Break would give me plenty of time to do just that. I’ve accomplished near to zilch over the break except going through excessive amounts of Kleenex (I am now #12 on the list of leading destroyers of the rainforest) and coughing out multiple organs. I thought about selling them on the Black Market or maybe Ebay but I figured that having a liver might be more important than making some extra cash—though I could use a new amplifier. So I found a surgeon at a Hampton Inn who was able to reinsert my liver and give me free butt implants. That’s a story for another day. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I feel that the story needs some further explaining so I’ll take you back to the beginning. The beginning was in February--like the weekend right before my 21<sup>st</sup> birthday. I got a little bit of a cold. It wasn’t anything Earth shattering but it was definitely a little discomforting. I was okay by the time my birthday came around and then the first week of March I freaking got nailed. For like two days I had a high fever and just was miserable as all hell. Then I was fine but something wasn’t right. I would get winded really easily and was just fatigued but I went on ignoring it. Spring Break was coming up and there was stuff to do before it peaked it’s inebriated head around the corner of my calendar. Last Friday I experienced what may have been the straw that broke this blogging camel’s back. I had a patient sneeze in my face. I blogged about I here in my last entry but I merely thought that it was just a good cold that I got. I was very wrong. My condition did not improve and out of the three days I was scheduled to work this week—I worked a Tuesday and was told my boss to get into a doctor ASAP. She said that “my eyes were not looking right”. I kind of blew it off since I had dealt with some killer bugs before and didn’t really let it get in my way of earning a paycheck or going through with my normal routine. I made myself back to the bathroom and happened to just take a peek at myself in the mirror on the way out and was pretty horrified at just how bad I looked. It was like Charlie Sheen bad. So finally I broke down and called my Dad and told him to call my doc for an appointment. I told my boss I had to take Thursday off and she had somebody cover it for me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Wednesday was bad. Like I don’t even want to talk about how bad it was. Thursday morning came around and needless to say I got no sleep at all. I took a shower, got dressed, and had my Dad drive me to my doctor’s office in Sterling Heights. First off, what is it with a doctor’s office waiting room that attracts weirdos? I realize that it was St. Patrick’s Day and a good 60 to 70 percent of the population was tipping them back at sunrise but still 0_o. The wait wasn’t very long—which was good because I felt like crap and was in no mood to be sitting in the middle of Barnum & Bailey’s Big Tent. The nurse called my name and weighed me on the scale (and then shouted my weight out at a level that I think the neighboring cities could hear) and led me to my little cubbyhole room to wait for the doctor. Now as much disdain as I carry for what seems to be a vast majority of the doctors I have run across I really do like my doctor. I’m lucky to have had a family physician who is a pretty down-to-earth guy and a walking encyclopedia. Imagine those two things together? Hmmm…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >He took an X-ray and came back in the room and informed me that I had one nasty case of Pneumonia. In his words, “How in the hell are you still standing?” So from that and an early statement about how I sounded like I was “rattling like a toolbox” when he listened to my lungs—I got the message it was pretty bad. I either could go to the hospital or go home on some nasty antibiotics. I chose the nasty antibiotics and it is now Sunday and I’m mobile and staying positive but still feeling sick. I’m also on medical leave from work for a week courtesy of my doctor chewing my butt out about waiting to see him and getting exposed to sick people while being really sick myself. It has been the most boring week I have ever had. HANDS DOWN. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-weight: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Moral of the story is that if you are feeling sick stay home. If you are feeling really sick for an extended amount of time (like sick to the point that you know something isn’t right) do not ignore it and get into a clinic or your doctor. I got lucky here that I didn’t develop Pleurisy. I mean I came VERY CLOSE. Don’t make my mistake. It has now been 28 days and I am just starting to feel a little better. IT. IS. NOT</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >. FUN</span>.</span></p>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-91590100354633623292011-03-19T18:47:00.003-04:002011-03-19T19:37:11.128-04:00Here We Go Again<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><b><center><table cellpadding="3" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="30%"><tt><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><b><center><table cellpadding="3" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="30%"><tt><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><b><center><table cellpadding="3" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="30%"><tt><b><span class="Apple-style-span">MARCH 19, 2011<br />OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...</span></b></tt></td></tr></tbody></table></center></b></span></span></b></tt></td></tr></tbody></table></center></b></span></span><br /><b>Sound familiar? Here's a memory jog.</b><br /><br /><center><table cellpadding="3" width="100%" style="font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><tbody><tr><td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="30%"><tt><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>MARCH 19, 2003<br />BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger...<br /><br /></b></span></tt></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">This is going to be bad. Anybody that tells you otherwise is lying. We are getting ourselves blindly involved in a conflict that has no benefit to our involvement. We cannot afford another war when we are still submerged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every time you see a missile being launched into Tripoli from one of our ships that is $1 million dollars of US taxpayer money being thrown away. So far they've launched 120 of them. Do the math. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">Secondly we are overthrowing Gaddafi, who while a dictator and an arguably insane man has no interest in bothering us. The man has a residence in freaking New Jersey and up to this point has been pretty diplomatic and friendly to the current administration. This guy is also secular. So I really don't have much of a problem with Obama's hesitancy to get involved here. After we take Gaddafi and his secular dictatorship down what do you think is going to take power? </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">Can I get "Radical Religious Regimes in History" for $400?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"> The United States should not be in the business of starting wars. We should be in the business of finishing them and/or avoiding them. The UN could handle this situation on its own yet here we are making the same mistake we did several years ago. If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it and in the current economic state of this country--repercussions will be astronomical. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">There are two possibilities. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">(1.) The Pentagon is telling the truth and this truly will be a quick multi-phase war effort for the United States. This means that we will be in and out within a matter of days (weeks at the longest)and have absolutely nothing to worry about. If this is indeed the case we can all rest assured that at the present time the American people have already put a $100 million down-payment on replacing the Gaddafi dictatorship with a more radical religious regime. This regime will for sure be planning on attacking us or aiding in terrorist plots against our embassies and/or people. We'll also be paying at least $200 a barrel for oil. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">(2.) The Pentagon is lying through their teeth and have absolutely no idea how long we're going to be stuck in Libya. I'm leaning with this possibility as every statement reeks nostalgia of the Bush administration circa 2003. Without our occupation and consistent military involvement that country will erupt into civil war and inevitably be dominated by one Islamic sect or another. There's no other option. You can't change thousands of years of primal sectarian hatred with democracy. It doesn't work. Democracy and Islamic rule are totally incompatible. Water and oil. Oh yeah and we'll also be paying at least $200 a barrel for oil. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-left; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">So here I am watching CNN and pounding my head into the table repeatedly. Maybe I should just go out and buy myself a conical hat while I can still afford to and get a head start on Chinese. At this rate the United States will be done in a couple years at most. </span></span></div></center></tt></td></tr></tbody></table></center></b></span>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-61152942977145421662011-03-13T18:52:00.002-04:002011-03-13T18:56:51.734-04:00Rant Rant Rant Rant Sneeze<div>It’s Sunday which is supposed to be a day of rest. In my case it’s a day of bedrest because I AM SICK FOR THE FIFTH TIME THIS WINTER!! This winter has sucked on levels that are quite high…large…err I don’t know what to word to use because I CAN’T FRICKEN THINK!! Sigh…</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways yesterday I woke up with no voice. Thinking it was merely laryngitis I went on with my day which was quite lazy because I figured that there would be no point to overstrain myself or go out anywhere without a voice. I had my voice back around midnight had some orange juice and went to bed only to wake up today around 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon feeling like I had just been dropped on my head by a UFO. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today the cold has gone full bloom--which is convenient because I plan to have a two hour drive to Mt. Pleasant ahead of me tomorrow. Ask me what the chances of me going are now? Better yet, don’t ask me because I might just break something. Since my Dad is retired and my Mom is getting more time off it seems we’ve been frequenting family trips to casinos lately. Being in Michigan the last two times we wanted to go the weather decided to take a turn for the worst. This time the weather has been quite mild but I had to get sick. I know exactly how I got sick as well. The freaking germ bags that I encounter on a daily basis at work. </div><div><br /></div><div>Last week was a pretty mild week at work resulting in me finishing a lot of week earlier than I normally do. Unfortunately the hazard here of finishing everything you need to do in the pharmacy makes you the one that has the duty to run and greet everyone at the counter. Well on Friday I was greeted by one particular patient who felt the need to sneeze with no arm or hand coverage right into my face. There was a moment of silence where my face was just like frozen in shock mode ( 8 O ) which was followed by me grabbing the nearest hand sanitizer bottle and dousing my face with it. No I’m just kidding. I lit the thing on fire and tossed it at the bitch’s head. Again wishful thinking. I went on silently to ring the bastard her amoxicillin and then went into the pharmacy knowing that in two days I would be in bed…dying. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here I am 48 hours later…in bed…dying.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I’m thinking that there was a higher purpose to blogging about this rather than just to wallow in my own self misery…however I can’t think of it at the moment because I just took two severe cold tablets (Generic Sudafed HAHA for the win) and in the words of the great ZZ Top, “My mind is gone.” It doesn’t make you drowsy…it just fucks you up more than Charlie Sheen in a NYC hotel room. </div><div><br /></div><div>What irked me about Esmerelda the germ queen back at work was not that she sneezed directly in my face. It’s that she sneezed in my face without saying “sorry” or “whoops” or “drop dead” or “go fuck yourself” or “I hate your blog“ or anything. Then I rang her up for Z-pack and then she continued on her way without saying “thank you” or “drop dead” or “go fuck yourself” or “I hate your blog” or anything at that point either. Not only did the bitch give me a cold (at the start of my Spring Break nonetheless) she acted like I was completely subservient to her. I could go into a deep ideological and sophisticated deliberation on how screwed up society has become that we allow people to get away with that in the “name of keeping good customer relations” (aka as the customer taking a dump, whiz, and stab at the working person all at the same time with the reassurance that they will not be held remotely accountable for their actions)--but Claritan for the win!! Did I say that earlier in this post? I can’t remember. </div><div><br /></div><div>God bless Sudeeefed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Peace and some stuff…</div><div><br /></div><div>Joe </div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-58944049476488957362011-03-09T13:23:00.003-05:002011-03-09T13:33:26.963-05:00Lent<div><span class="Apple-style-span">(In lieu of out of context bible verses and long-winded religious rants about how I’m going to Hell and single handedly destroying the moral fabric of America--I ask that you save your hatemail or send them to somebody who actually cares. Yes I have beef with Lent. Yes I know what that implies. Yes I realize that some keepers of the old faith will burst into flames reading this. That’s my job. I care about things like trees. It’s the position of kupreality.blogspot.com that you save a tree today and instead use the nearest already ignited religious zealot to heat your home TONIGHT.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> The Lenten season is upon us. Isn’t that like how every Sunday service newsletter you ever seen begins this time of year? “The Lenten season is upon us and now it is time to get closer with God.” I digress. Lent officially begins today and it means the same thing it has for me for the last 21 years of my life: Absolutely nothing. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The only time the whole “Give up something for Lent” yearly attention fad had any significance in my life was like once in second grade when we had to keep a journal of our progress as Catholic school students embarking on a 40-day journey into the bowels of intense boredom. Apparently the way that our school had best felt would help us understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us was to take away the one thing/hobby/food/activity that made us most happy in life. In my case they failed because I was lucky enough to have tolerant parents who raised me to stay true to myself and make decisions based on the “right thing to do” rather than what somebody told me to do. I wrote the journal about how much I missed my N64...in between rounds of playing Mario Kart 64 with my Dad. Still to this day I don’t understand how Peach was always so damn fast as a computer but so slow when you were in control…</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> Two rules of thumb for life my brothers and sisters…</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1.) Unless they’re your employer; be very cynical of a person who wants to force you into doing something or conforming to a certain way of life.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> 2.) Peach is the worst… </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I understand the concept of Lent. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about individual choice. If you think that giving up Xbox for 40 days will help you become a better person go ahead and do it. I just have a problem with the whole aggressive tone of the holiday season. To me somebody randomly asking me what I gave up for Lent is like me randomly walking up to a stranger and asking them what they did last night. Unless I’m a prime suspect in some crime and you’re a detective my reply would normally be something along the lines of, “…and you are?” or the classic “none of your darn bee’s wax!” Bee’s wax…such a stupid saying. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Think about the irony though. Jeffery is not religious at all. He smokes too much, he has sex with loose women, and he’s a strict carnivore. Besides setting himself up for a heart attack by 35,Jeff has been raised to give up something every year by his family for Lent. So he decides to give up meat. Jeffery now spends the next 40 days bitching uncontrollably about how much he just would like to have a steak. The steak starts to haunt him in his dreams and by the end of the week he’s either at the Chop House or the Big House because he just started gnawing on his date because she reminded him of a piece of meat. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">What have we learned here? First off, Lent has turned Jeff into a cannibal. Second off, that the idea of Lenten sacrifice really is kind of superficial and selfish considering in the eyes of the Church Jeff is somehow a better person than the rest of us because he followed the Lenten dogma (regardless of his pre-Lent actions and his taste for...human)? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So I gave up Xbox for 40 days? Yay I did it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Who has that helped? Nobody. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">What has that helped? It could’ve helped your sex life had you not given up sex for Lent or actually had a sex life to help in the first place. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Who is impressed by the fact that you went 40 days without video games? Maybe you and three other people who share your interests and lack of action. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">My point is that maybe people should not look at Lent as this 40 day period of starvation and self-suppression. Maybe instead of giving up we should just focus on giving. Volunteer at a shelter. Take some of that spare toll change around the house and make a donation to a food bank, children’s charity, the USO. You might be surprised how simply making a quiet contribution can have a more positive effect on the world than incessant whining over Facebook that you’ve got blue balls. </span> </div><div><br /></div><div>-Joe</div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-5497735571101140752011-03-03T09:00:00.000-05:002011-03-03T09:00:13.236-05:00Westboro Wins<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal">The gavel has struck and the Supreme Court has made its official ruling deciding in favor of an infamous anti-gay hate group.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Westboro Baptist Church will be allowed to continue picketing and protesting the funerals of American service members who died to protect those including the hatemonger’s themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Supreme Court upheld in an 8-to-1 decision a lower-court’s ruling to throw out a lawsuit filed against Westboro by the father of an American Marine who had died serving his country.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amongst other things the Supreme Court ruled:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">“…such speech cannot be restricted simply because it is upsetting or arouses contempt.”</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>A couple things instantly come to mind when I first read this judgment in the red eye hours of early Thursday morning.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>First off, if “such speech cannot be restricted simply because it is upsetting or arouses contempt” why have lower courts upheld similar lawsuits on the basis of “hate speech” and “hate crimes” before?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Universities and work places have put in place codes of conduct that restrict hate speech under the guise of anti-harassment codes.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m not arguing on behalf of anti-harassment laws’ righteousness or against them but I do have to question the legal precedent that the Supreme Court has based their decision off of?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Any rational human being with an ounce or two of common decency could tell you that an individual has the right to go about their lives safely and free of harassment on the basis of their gender, creed, religion, sexual orientation, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So I’m sorry if I’m failing to see what the big problem would’ve been had the Supreme Court decided to rule in favor of the father.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The ruling would not change anything in regards to the average American’s right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Seriously, how many people do you know in the course of your daily lives that have ever mentioned in conversation that they’ve always wanted to “stage a hateful protest at a funeral”?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m not talking to you pharmacy & psych ward staff members!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m talking about people that don’t deal with nutcases on a daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">Secondly, this case establishes a new precedent.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From the second I seen the news article’s title--the hairs on the back of neck stood up. Let’s face it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Aside from Jihadists and suicide bombers--Westboro is pretty much as whacked and evil as they come.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I knew that they would take this court victory as a major stepping stone to revving up their activity and media presence.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Once the army has the hill why would they strive to take it again?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They wouldn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They’d continue on and take the town.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This is exactly what Westboro is going to do.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They know they can already get away with protesting military funerals free of civil or criminal repercussions.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That line has been drawn.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Now they’re going to see how far they can push that line.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span>Right now as it is, these protestors have to stay 1000 feet from the actual site of the funeral on the basis that the burial grounds and funerals take place on private property (or private property with public access) that will not allow permit appearance of freak shows like Westboro. Watch these psychotic nut jobs try and get closer to the site because they have “legal protection”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Watch them become louder because they have “legal protection”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Watch them become more aggressive because they have “legal protection”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Next they’ll be picketing just off the property of the grieving family’s property.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They’ll be picketing the residence of a gay couple.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Hell, maybe they’ll be picketing your house because you’re a (SUBSITUTE BLANK FOR HATED GROUP OF THE DAY).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After all, it’s their right to protest. That'll be a fun conversational piece to explain to your young children as they want to know why there's people heckling and scaring them on their way to the bus stop.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Watch the lawyers line-up to represent these people. Don't think they'll do it? Think again.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">They have a citable precedent to prove their case now. Lawyers want to make names for themselves. Just ask the Fieger's and Bernstein's of the world. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span>“Margie Phelps, a leader of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kans., told reporters there the congregation would “quadruple” the number of its funeral protests as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.”</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Amazing how I hadn’t even seen that part of the article yet and I already knew that was coming down the pipes.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In fact when I wrote about Westboro before on this very blog I warned people of what could happen if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of these people.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m not being an alarmist.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I don’t have intelligence or information that other people lack access to.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m just using common sense and a basic understanding of how people abuse the rule of law using other laws.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It’s not rocket science to know that if you offer someone inch after inch they’ll eventually take a foot and then a mile.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Think of the audacity of this whole decision.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Join the military and die for your country so the government can provide legal protection to the people who can now slander and libel you and your family on the day of your funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Damn, doesn’t that make you just want to get right on up and enlist?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>The Supreme Court upheld that Westboro has the right to protest because it “focuses on matters of public concern such as the moral and political conduct of the United States, gays in the military, and the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.” Chief Justice Roberts continued to blab on about how there’s no evidence that the Westboro Church protests specifically attacked the individual soldiers themselves (except for the fact they…ehh…DID and ARE) and how prohibiting Westboro Church members from protesting would “stifle public debate.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Apparently, somewhere in America (the living rooms of 8 Supreme Court Justices) there is an ongoing public debate regarding whether God truly does or doesn’t hate soldiers, Jews, Catholics, Gays (they call them “fags” but it’s apparently not hate speech), Blacks, Protestants, Astronauts (I kid you not), and anybody without the namesake Phelps.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Also since when did courts make decisions based on a party’s motive?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Last time I checked motive was not a necessary factor in proving the liability of a case in criminal or civil law.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>So now on the basis that gay people can serve in the military—Westboro is justified in its actions?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>With that line of thinking why don’t we just go ahead and re-segregate our schools because racial tension still exists?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>My God, with these people running the show how did we even make it out of the 1800s?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Fortunately for the sake of humanity the road to Hell is not paved with dead American soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Unfortunately for America, the road to Hell IS paved with good intentions.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The can of worms that the Supreme Court has consequently opened up in vain to “not stifle public debate” is only going to feed the fires in this country for Westboro and hate groups like it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I don’t know exactly what the future holds but I can tell you two things:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-weight:normal">This is one free-speech libertarian who thinks that the Supreme Court missed the mark big time on this one.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-weight:normal">Fred Phelps and his inbred followers/family/spouse will have a protest on their funerals that’ll wake the dead. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In fact it might be a celebration.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal">Until next time…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Peace & Love,</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span>Joe</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-52177206160023177132011-02-19T02:30:00.004-05:002011-02-19T03:18:52.255-05:00A Few Tired Thoughts About Wisconsin<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; ">I'm sure you've seen the news out of Wisconsin in regards to the mass protests (it's the new fad) over Gov. Walker's intentions to strip bargaining rights from teachers and public employees. I'm not going to say much about this story because I really don't care much for it. Public employees have far more benefits and incentives than any of us do in private industry. I don't care what they say or what they're screaming about. The numbers don't lie. Most people are lucky if they're holding onto a job as it is. I really have a hard time finding sympathy for people complaining that their health care & pensions are going to be cut. Boo fricking hoo. Ask me if I plan on ever seeing a pension? Better yet ask my father who had to take retirement from GM (pre-government takeover) after over 25 years about a "pension". Yeah...he never seen one either. Sorry teachers but you don't want to show up to school today? Fine. Your books will burn well in the fireplace tonight.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; ">"Tenure". Psh...I wish I got tenure. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >On the other hand if you decide to raise your taxes on the "rich" which always ends up being the scapegoat answer for people who don't like numbers and statistics and feel good about being part of a collective mob mentality--MI is looking to accept your fleeing business with open arms. Our governor is doing away with our business tax and already courting those with plans to move from Illinois after their 45% increase on corporate income taxes. Sure he's simply passing the taxes from businesses onto homeowners and retirees but the climate will for once be welcoming to outside industry. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Illinois seems to be following the path of our previous two governors with proposing big government solutions (in the real world we call these bad ideas) at the cost of the taxpayer. Basically it's more wasteful spending to solve problems caused by wasteful spending. You don't go to a doctor with back pain and expect him to shoot you in the foot. So why would one expect a deficit to be fixed by spending? That's as bad as when the Republicans cut taxes and then spend billions on rebuilding foreign infrastructure in Iraq. They lived in the stone age before we invaded. What are they going to do with westernized buildings and utilties? Blow them up. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >You don't spend money you don't have. It's that simple. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So feel free to parade your screaming teachers and students (who the vast majority are probably showing up to the protests for extra credit) around from camera to camera to say the progressive solve-all sentence of our generation: "Tax the Rich". Just remember that for as many people that the unions can bus & fly into Madison to grandstand and make a scene; there are plenty more that elected those representatives and that governor to make the cuts that need to be made. There are plenty of people out there in Wisconsin that have lost their jobs (in far more productive and economically vital jobs than DMV workers & professors with tenure) that don't have pensions, government subsidized health care, bargaining rights, and benefits that are over-funded and in the current economic climate completely unaffordable and outlandish. We're out here trying to survive and do with less. Sorry teachers aren't special. If you paid any attention to your pre-education classes you would know that you're not going to get rich being a teacher. So you took less pay with the expectation that you'd get a bunch of special benefits upon retirement? Yeah? Well we're taking less pay with the expectation that we'll hopefully not lose our jobs and still paying taxes that inevitably pay for your benefits. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So if the rest of us have to face cuts and hardship--public employees can make some sacrifices too. Sorry it's not the media populist opinion or the progressive opinion but it's my opinion. Spending needs to be cut. It does not to be frozen. It does not need to be sustained. It needs to be cut. If the average private citizen has to live within their means then public employees and government should also have to live within their means. Madison. Washington. All of the above. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >~Joe~ </span></div><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "> </span></div><div><br /><br /></div></div></div></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-78602558423801244122011-02-17T23:39:00.005-05:002011-02-18T01:12:29.106-05:00People Who Laugh At People At Walmart<blockquote style="font-size: small; "></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: center;">So every now and then a legality story comes around that defies all matters of common sense . These stories usually originate in my home state and this one in particular falls well under that description. A Ypsilanti woman was shocked to find out that her mother appeared on the website <a href="http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/">"People of Walmart"</a>. If you're unfamiliar with the website follow the link and bask in the glory of all things ugly and hilarious. I don't know how Walmart manages to attract these people but it reminds me why I don't shop there. </div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The woman contests in this <a href="http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/ypsilanti-woman-upset-over-photo-posted-on-people-of-walmart-website-20110216-wpms#disqus_thread">story:</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); line-height: 17px; "></p><blockquote style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">"The thing is if you take a picture of someone in public, they're in public," she said. "My argument is you're in a Walmart. We have no privacy shopping? … So, I could go into any store and take a picture of anybody or their children and put it up on a web page." (Ms. Walmart Jr)</span></blockquote><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Well Mrs. Daisy, technically yeah you can. Welcome to the U.S.A. and the year 2011. I don't claim to be a legal expert or a fashion guru but I'm pretty aware of how I look before I walk out the door into public. As a college student who has rolled out of bed, many days, 20 minutes before my class was due to begin--I've learned how to rock that "just off a weekend bender with a side of homelessness" look very well. See as college students we get away with that kind of thing. I've gone weeks without shaving. Here in the mitten we tend to call that the NHL playoffs. Many of us feel that if our team doesn't win we should continue to sport the beards--as a sign of mourning and protest. On the other hand if our team wins--the beard is a sign of victory and manhood! Grab a beer and flaunt your beard! </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">That being said I'm aware that to some people the whole hippie look seems ridiculous and what's the word work used with me, ummm, oh yeah, "unprofessional" (air-quotes). I'm aware that going out in public looking like a modern day caveman will get stares and criticism. I'm aware that people may not appreciate the fact that my facial hair is now a home for a rare species of endangered birds. So I take on that risk when I enter the public arena looking like I belong on a Geico commercial.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">As for Miss Daisy and her ridiculous looking mother--the same rule of thumb applies. If everybody else on planet Earth has to groom and pay attention to what they wear, how they act, what they do, how they smell, how they look, etc.; you and your fellow Walmart shopper of a circus clown mother have to as well. You may not be able to judge a book by its cover but you certainly aren't going to jump at reading one that's covered in cobwebs and mold. Just saying. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">However let us break this down a little further. Is it legal to post online pictures of the crazy ass Morlocks that inhabit Walmarts around America for us to laugh, leer, and gag at? Well to answer that question let us first look into the actual action of taking photographs of people in public. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">According to a 2008 USA Today <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2008-04-17-public-photography_N.htm">article </a> in regards to rules and laws about taking pictures in public:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><blockquote style="text-align: center;">"You can photograph people in public places without consent. There are exceptions, though. If subjects have a reasonable expectation of privacy, don't photograph them. For example, don't photograph someone in a restroom or locker room." (Kim Komando, 2008)</blockquote></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">As much as your local Walmart resembles (& probably smells like) a restroom or locker room; it is neither of the two. You can no more walk around naked in Walmart (or near naked if you've seen the people on that website) than you can at your local elementary school (it's frowned upon like masturbating on a plane). So "expectations of privacy" do not exist in Walmart outside of its restrooms and employee locker rooms. I'm assuming that Walmart allows its employees access to lockers of some kind since it spent many years treating workers like they belonged in cages...but I digress.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">The only such provision that exists that could possibly work in the defense of this woman is the provision in regards to private companies regulating and prohibiting photography upon their premises. That being said I don't know of Walmart having any such widespread rules in place ragging on flash photography. You need permission to take photos on private property but since Walmart falls under the category of "private places open to the public" the store can legally prohibit flash photography only on the grounds that the prohibited activities are "CLEARLY PRESENTED". This is why when you walk into your local AMC Theater you'll see signs every 20 feet saying, "No Flash & Video Photography Please". Something tells me those signs aren't littering Walmart. Words and letters could scare away their core demographic. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">So ugly shoppers of America--you're out of luck. Tell Uncle Billy & Aunt Miff that they better leave their spandex one pieces and lycra thongs at home or expect a portfolio or two of their gelatinous figures on the world wide web.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Ms. Wheeler continued in reference to the photo itself:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><blockquote style="text-align: center;color: rgb(64, 64, 64); ">"The picture's of … like the back of her right shoulder, so they were doing it … about stomach level where no one would see that they were holding a camera up to do it," Wheeler said. "She was upset about it. Her first reaction when I told her was I want the picture taken off. Can you do it? And I'm like no, I don't run the website."</blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: center;color: rgb(64, 64, 64); "><br /></blockquote></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">A couple things came to mind reading this. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">1.) Ignorance of the law is no excuse. In this case it's no defense. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">This woman dressed like an idiot and went out into public looking like a slob. That's her problem. By the photographer stealthily snapping a candid of ol Nessie here she probably "unknowingly"guaranteed that another provision was followed in regards to public photography. SHE DID NOT CREATE A DISTURBANCE TO THE PUBLIC. The only thing disturbing was the alleged woman in the picture. *Shudders*</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">2.) She maybe able to get the photograph taken off the website if she can prove that the picture causes mental (how about the rest of us having to see her fugly ass) or economic duress. Also the picture would have to be physically identifiable and distinguishable as her. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">This image is of the "back of her right shoulder" as Walmart Jr. points out. This in my opinion would probably make it a little difficult to prove as physically identifiable or distinguishable. That being said I'm sure that if this story gets enough heat behind it--the website will probably take down the picture as a precaution anyways. Somehow I doubt this is going to get that much movement though. The woman dresses like a dingbat. There's no grounds for defamation there. She looks like an idiot via the exhibition of the incriminating evidence: a photo of her dressed like an idiot in public. Case closed. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">3.) What in the hell was this woman doing on "People of Walmart" to begin with if she wasn't already engaging in the act of laughing at other goofy Walmart shoppers herself?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">It comes back to the old saying about "those who live in glass houses". Unless this woman was tipped off by somebody (which the way it was worded in the article does not seem to be the case at all) that this dame on the website looked an awful lot like her mother; I really don't see what this woman is bitching about? Sounds to me like Ms. Wheeler had no problem laughing and scowling at the other 99.9% of the images on this website until her dear old Mom showed up. If that's the case honey-<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1lfSzgcAw">STOP WHINING!</a> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">My favorite part of the entire story was the little snippet about Walmart "in no way supporting the website." I had to chuckle there. Real talk.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Face it. People like to go into Walmart and walk around for the same reasons that people like to slow down and gawk at car wrecks on the highway. We live in a rubbernecking society. People have morbid and bizarre curiosity by human nature. Walmart doesn't care about "People of Walmart" nor should they. They're the single largest company in the world and if you were the big fish in the pond you wouldn't really give a shit about the little fish either. You'd just give a shit that there were little fish to shop in your store and buy your Chinese...fish food...okay that analogy sucked but you get my point.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">"People of Walmart" gets people into those stores to look for more people to post on that site. It's American voyeurism at its very finest and just goes to prove that there is no publicity worse than no publicity. "People of Walmart" provides the "Where's Waldo?" factor to Walmart's existence. It gets people in the store looking for Waldo. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; ">V</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; ">oilà! Walmart's got you in their store. Problem solved. Everybody's happy. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">So the moral of this story is: Don't dress like an idiot and you won't end up on People of Walmart. </span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; ">However if you don't mind looking like an idiot--do as the Romans (me) and just avoid going to Walmart.</span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Until next time,</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Peace & Love</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Joe </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div></div></div></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-75684103869274090042011-02-10T00:47:00.005-05:002011-02-10T01:19:05.589-05:00Smokers & Asses<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyAk1XHxz4PopZ5y-MWmDIxxUrBKYGliBGclSAQQxvS1mJ5zCx50yUX9jCnKmBEtl12CADXti37yk6wtxMWRqt6gdjl1OJtv73FEOFoRLdZqeWdmuPd-o3D-UcWywT0ATxQGHeU0qBQ/s1600/ButtImplants.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyAk1XHxz4PopZ5y-MWmDIxxUrBKYGliBGclSAQQxvS1mJ5zCx50yUX9jCnKmBEtl12CADXti37yk6wtxMWRqt6gdjl1OJtv73FEOFoRLdZqeWdmuPd-o3D-UcWywT0ATxQGHeU0qBQ/s320/ButtImplants.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571938114566495410" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/02/08/researchers-raise-concerns-about-%E2%80%98thirdhand-smoke%E2%80%99/">EXHIBIT A: <u>Smokers</u></a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Researchers in the city of San Francisco, a bastion for implementation of sane and reasonable public policy, have found that besides smoking a cigarette and being around somebody that’s smoking is a little known third villainous evil: Thirdhand Smoke. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">This type of smoke is so dangerous that when a smoker lights up in an apartment complex or garage, the smoke can then seep into the walls, cracks in the walls, under the crack of the door, and linger there. However it just doesn’t linger like a creeping peeping tom in your bedroom at night. It’s much more maniacal and malicious than that. The smoke will than collaborate with other hardened household criminals like dust, dog farts, and household chemicals and become much more toxic. It will wait for you to sleep and then seep in through skin, into your lungs, and up the crack of your ass and make you 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than a person living in a plastic bubble. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">You know what really cracks me up about this article besides its ridiculously foreboding “alarmist” tone? The fact that one of these two researchers has the audacity to act as if small children are being maliciously exposed to carcinogens in “dust” and “small things they put in their mouths” (or lack thereof considering this researcher is a female living in San Francisco) solely by smokers and smoking alone .</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">For people that live under a rock carcinogens are things that contribute to or cause cancer. So if we’re going to single out third hand smoke (aka the smell) why don’t we go after other more widespread and consistent culprits?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Let’s start with UV radiation which our sun produces. Yeah, small children wouldn’t find themselves exposed to that at all. Ammonia (found in household cleaners, bleach, in traces of glass, etc.) is also a carcinogen. Vapors from Detergents are also found to be carcinogenic. I guess you better not wash your kid's clothes. They may get cancer from it. How about the radio waves that are constantly being transmitted through open air for our FM & AM broadcasts? How about the fact that your house is probably located by a power tower or cell phone tower of some form? How about the fact that you live in California? Ever been to the Los Angeles? Yeah that’s some good brown air you got there. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">My point is not to act as if smoking isn't bad for you. Trust me. I know first hand that smoking causes cancer and it's a horrible habit. What I'm pointing out is how people who want to simply control how others live go about doing that. This is how legislation passes and changes occur. This is how liberties disappear. Somebody with some form of authority (whether it's the government or somebody who just thinks they're important) comes out with a study or a bunch of meaningless statistics to cause a public panic. They scare people. Case in point think about 9-11. What happened after 9-11? People were in a mass panic. What passed right after 9-11? The Patriot Act. What did the Patriot Act do to stop terrorism? Absolutely nothing. What happened to many of our civil liberties as Americans following the passage of the Patriot Act? They got kicked to the curb. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">If this article seriously freaks you out and you’re a pregnant woman; seriously just find a clinic and end it or give the kid up for adoption. If miniscule particles are going to send you into an overprotective “bubble-wrap my child” state of living it is better that that kid doesn’t even know you as a parent. Better yet. Stop calling for government to take away my freedoms because you're a paranoid idiot. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal; ">“I woke up at night,” Ballard said, “and I could just smell the tobacco smell getting worse every night. It was like it was just oozing out of the walls.”</span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Yes as if suddenly in the middle of the night the smoke just comes out to get you. Logical breakdown here. If you don’t smoke and the smell is bothering you why did you buy the apartment? That smell had of been there when you were looking at the place. It’s not like your furniture is taking a couple drags while you’re out. You didn’t know that a heavy smoker had just moved out? If you fart and you’re the only person in the car do you blame the radio station?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">This is what I’m talking about and why I’m firmly pro-choice because seriously it’s better that some people don’t have children. This is woman is a prime example of what “spoiled brats” grow up to turn into. It’s not my fault that I was stupid enough to sign an agreement on an apartment that reeked of smoke. It’s the original residents fault for choosing to smoke. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal; "> I</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "> mean can we seriously make our society any wimpier? Give me a freaking break. First you can’t play dodge ball because it’s too violent and then you can’t play it because it’s discriminative against fat people. Yet the same flag wavers that are complaining about dodge ball being discriminative towards fat people are in turn discriminating against society as a whole by filing lawsuits against food companies over portion sizes because people are getting way "too fat." </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Full circle moment. Hey Oprah!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "> Let’s not offend fat people by simply telling them they’re fat and can either lose weight or face the consequences of higher insurance rates, Diabetes, cardiovascular problems, etc. du jour. Let us instead legislate that restaurants need to serve the entire public less for their money because Porkie has a Food-to-Mouth problem. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">I can see it now…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Fourth Hand Smoke: Cancer from talking to a smoker over a phone. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Fifth Hand Smoke: Cancer from merely thinking about a smoker.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Sixth Sense Smoke: Cancer from a smoker psychically transmitted to a non-smoker. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><a href="http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Tourist-Dies-After-Butt-Implant-Procedure-at-Philly-Hotel-Source-115583299.html">EXHIBIT B: Asses</a></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Speaking of incredibly stupid people we have a story that I'm sure will be the butt of many jokes. (HAHA I’m so punny!)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Apparently this 20 year-old British idiot went to Philadelphia and got a “Back-Alley Butt Job” at a Hampton Inn. That’s not even the beginning of a bad joke. That’s the entire story. Oh yeah, and she died.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"> I admit that when I seen a headline reading, “British Tourist Dies After Getting Butt Implants At A Hampton Inn”, I laughed my ass off (there I go again) for a good ten minutes. This woman seriously might get an award for being the idiot of the year but it’s still only February and there’s ten months to go until 2012. I’m sure somebody will make a bigger ASS of themselves. Oh there I go again flexing my </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">puns of steel!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">If there is an afterlife and everybody truly does get a chance to meet I really need to find this woman and ask her at what point she realized this was a bad idea. I’m thinking never. That of course is just one man’s opinion but I have a hunch that he's probably right. In fact I’m kind of curious to find out how this procedure even went down without this woman being a complete airhead. There is a reason why you never see “Butt Implants Coming Soon” on convention center schedules at your local motel-hotel-holiday inns. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Anyways lady. Hat’s off to you. You were born an airhead and died a hardass. May you RIP...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">...Ass</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Until next time,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Peace & Love</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Joe</span></p>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-26787922228705949422011-02-08T01:18:00.006-05:002011-02-08T01:51:52.912-05:00I'm Not Homeless!!!<div style="text-align: center;">So let me address what may be the fail of the week. Scratch that last sentence. Let me address what may possibly be the fail of the decade for me, myself, and I. As you may or may not have already read; last night I posted a rather lengthy piece on why you should probably consider ditching Facebook. If you haven't seen it you can either scroll down from this post on the main page or you can click <a href="http://kupreality.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-why-i-quit-facebook-serious-funny.html">here.</a> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Well guess what America. I’m back on Facebook. I know. I’m a hypocrite. However, before you all flee from this blog in horror let me speak out in my defense. I spent the majority of the night deleting information, photos, and adjusting my privacy settings. Next up will be a massive overhaul of the friend’s list. I’m betting on eliminating a good 100 people from my friend's list . </div><div style="text-align: center;">Pull my ears and call me Adolf baby.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;">I’ve also decided rather than completely cutting Facebook out of my life (since it's unavoidable whether I stay on it or not) using it rarely and as simply a device of communication will suffice. Facebook may be a device of all-knowing, all-seeing, creep-tastic powers for some people. For me it’s a creepy place full of creepy people that should be used in moderation. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Now the reason for me changing my mind? </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sigh…</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Blame it on the vodka...blame it on the Henny...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">No! No! I keed. I'm not Ted Kennedy! (Too Soon?)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It all comes down to peer pressure. I got the whole guilt trip about how people missed seeing my multiple humorous statuses on a daily basis. As one friend put it…</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">“Whenever I was having a really bad day I could always read your statuses and know hey at least my life isn’t as bad as yours.” </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Yeah. I feel you cuz. Those words really brighten my day. My hats off to you. It’s words of encouragement from friends like this that remind me that God put me on this Earth to brighten people’s day. It gives me hope. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I’ve always had the ability to make people laugh and I’m glad that the man upstairs has blessed me with the ability to break my foot falling up steps, deal with ridiculously insane yet humorous sociopath customers, fall down ridiculous amounts of stairwells across America, be gravity’s bitch boy, an insanely gigantic nose, and long list of other character defects. I’m Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark if he was reincarnated as a platypus. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">That being said I get a kick out of making people laugh. Some people find my humor dry and insulting. (95% of people & Republicans) Some people find it witty, edgy, and hilarious (a couple friends, the ten to fifteen people that actually read this blog and send me suggestions, and that guy that’s always drunk and pissing himself on the corner in Mt. Clemens). Other people are surprised that I’m not homeless or living in a commune somewhere. Then there’s those people that try to deny knowing me (my family) or of me. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It’s all good. As long as there’s people out there having bad days and as long as I continue to keep a sense of humor about being an ant under God’s magnifying glass--I will continue to blog my experiences, thoughts, and off color humor for the masses (all nine or ten of you readers out there with paper bags on your heads) to consume and laugh. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I will now shower (I do that because I am not homeless!) and leave you with a rejected GivesMeHope.com story. You know that cheesy website with all the really sappy Lifetime Movie Channel stories that are so sweet and inspirational they give your very soul the warmth and courage to stay strong through your darkest days. Yeah I know right. Fuck that website. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><blockquote style="text-align: center;"><i>“Today my boyfriend and I were totally boinking each other in my parent’s bedroom and the condom broke. I was so scared and couldn’t keep my composure so I ran to the bathroom and started to cry. My boyfriend came into the bathroom and began to console me. He sweetly wiped away my tears and whispered in my ear, “It’ll be okay. My uncle works for an Abortion clinic.” My boyfriend’s uncle and abortion give me hope.” </i></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Feel free to send your hatemail to the “Bother Me” link above and enjoy this picture of Mother Teresa with a pancake over her head. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <img src="http://www.faithmouse.com/mother-teresa-pancake.jpg" alt="Blessed Mother Teresa with a pancake over her head" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hey you never know! Your hatemail may even be featured right here on A Kup of Reality. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Until next time,</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Peace, Love, & Abortion Clinics</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Joe </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">PS Check out my these dudes' podcast at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><a href="http://www.kyleandjeremy.com/" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; color: rgb(230, 9, 27); text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.kyleandjeremy.com</a>. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; ">THEY MUCHO HILARIOUSO ^^^</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-27744870017889132992011-02-07T03:17:00.008-05:002011-02-08T02:06:49.429-05:00A SERIOUS & FUNNY GUIDE FOR THE HESITANT YET PROSPECTIVE FACEBOOK REFUGEE.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpi-SWU4mrpFi3nUbiAjHOqamrjByTtxVdcCce8i5rWdkwxUZrkSF7_1l8I9Bgmxv_k_-imSMdt731OXIdUFESh13euWLd6ULshf9O21ytRMJ50kcMRfkEWlf8cae0PHOt7wAPmBbCbJ4/s400/Facebook_Logo+19.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpi-SWU4mrpFi3nUbiAjHOqamrjByTtxVdcCce8i5rWdkwxUZrkSF7_1l8I9Bgmxv_k_-imSMdt731OXIdUFESh13euWLd6ULshf9O21ytRMJ50kcMRfkEWlf8cae0PHOt7wAPmBbCbJ4/s400/Facebook_Logo+19.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">DISCLAIMER: Let me first start off by saying that I am not in anyway sipping the Haterade over Facebook. I‘m not out there rallying around the whole privacy movement that thinks “Facebook is Satan personified as a social networking dot com” and that “if you don’t quit it you’ll burn for eternity.” My thoughts about those people have not strayed from comments I made earlier last year. I’m merely pointing out my thoughts and recent decision to make a change in my life. With that cleared up I present to you: A SERIOUS & FUNNY GUIDE FOR THE HESITANT FACEBOOK REFUGEE!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>PART A: MY BEEF WITH FACEBOOK AND MYSPACE</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Last night I made a life changing decision. I decided to pack up my things and depart from my internet haven of too many years: Facebook. It was a rather difficult decision for me to make because I was one of those people who you could probably call an “addict”. I loved Facebook. I thought the whole idea of this vast social networking site that made staying in touch with people as simple as a few keystrokes and clicks of the mouse was absolutely the “moon landing” of my generation. It was on my Android and by God I used it. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Then I started actually thinking about what I was doing. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I can’t say that it was spontaneously something I decided to do. I had been reading other people’s testimonials and blog posts about how far along they were in their recovery from Facebook addiction. Everywhere I’d go I’d read the same old slogan: You think quitting cigarettes is hard, try quitting Facebook. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">At first I thought to myself, “Shit that’s so stupid. It’s just Facebook!” Then I started actually thinking about how much this social networking site had become not only a support beam in my life but a major influence on the outside world. Think about it. We created Facebook and then Facebook basically created a sub-cultural movement in our own lives. The phrase “unfriended”. It’s now a word in English language. A social networking site created a verb. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Every modem of technology, advertising, communication, insists itself upon Facebook. Retail chains now offer special coupon deals and sales through Facebook. Their own television ads even beg of you to “Like” them on Facebook. If that’s not sad enough, car companies are now spending money on developing hands-free technology that’ll rattle off the latest gossip on the passenger’s news feeds. People were driving themselves off cliffs because they needed to check their notifications. It is everywhere. We’re constantly being barraged by this social media networking site whether you want to or not. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">One of the things that always annoyed me about Facebook was the same kind of thing that had annoyed me about its predecessor in internet fads: Myspace. Somehow whatever happened online played a direct or indirect part in the drama that occurred in your real life. I remember being in high school and hearing about fights inside and outside of my circle of friends that involved somebody doing or saying something over Myspace. The whole internet bullying thing really came to head with social media sites. Thinking back on it now I’d bet that the biggest source of bullying in my high school wasn’t actually in the high school. It was on the school’s forum page on Myspace. It seems like as soon as people got behind their keyboards there was suddenly a security blanket that went up. Suddenly people felt more confident spewing venom about their peers. Threads would pop-up instigating arguments between students and other students and everybody would laugh and get their chuckles in until the next school day. This was usually when the fists would start flying. The laughs would be over as the squad cars pulled up. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Remember <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312018,00.html">this story</a>? See my point? Hiding behind the keyboard. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I’m not saying that Facebook and Myspace were or are inherently evil. However I do think that both of these sites are having a substantial effect on the human psyche. People are taking what happens on these sites a little too seriously. Experts and psychologists want to say that graphic and violent television over the last decade or two has seriously desensitized our youth. I’m here telling you that Facebook has over-sensitized our population. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">How many times have you found yourself in some form of altercation (whether over Facebook or outside it) because of “unfriending” or a refused friend request? I’m sure that if you’ve had any form of long term connection with FB or a social life at all you’ve been in those shoes. Think about it. Your OWN profile that contains your OWN personal information that you are the sole domestic owner of (regardless of what any contractual or privacy agreement with Facebook says) is now subject to somebody else’s influence. Your friends are telling you who to be friends with and what to share. Couple that with what recently happened involving a social media offshoot that stole information from public Facebook profiles--tell me it’s not making the hairs stand up on the back of your neck a little bit. If you have any trace of pride and self-preservation in your temple of being then it damned well should. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">It also irks me that people are literally obsessed with Facebook. When your conversations outside of Facebook involve FACEBOOK there is a problem. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So now that you know my beef…</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>PART B: SECURITY & INSECURITY </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If anybody has been on FB for longer than a week they’ve witnessed the many personifications of the website over the few years since its inception. In fact it got quite annoying for many of us users on the basis that as soon as we got used to “Version 2.0”, Facebook would be updating itself to the completely different “Version 2.2”. User familiarization easily became disorienting and many people started threatening to abandon the site if Facebook continued to play games. From these very “tweeks” and “updates” the whole anti-Facebook privacy movement was born and I think rightfully so. People were absolutely right to be critical of the fact that when Facebook would suddenly decide to update itself it would conveniently throw everybody’s privacy settings into limbo--that “limbo” usually meaning fully visible to everyone. Facebook did recently clean up its act and allowed for people to set their own security preferences. Some of the anti-Facebook crowds still screamed that FB made the custom settings too complicated and time consuming. A common argument would read something like…</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">“I had no idea that everyone meant everyone on Facebook. I thought it meant everyone in my friend’s list.” </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Now they’d have a good point if it weren’t for the fact that right below the option to make your profile “visible to everyone” was an option to make your profile “visible to only friends.” Facebook shouldn’t be held responsible for a user’s own stupidity and lack of linguistic comprehension skills. That’s where my major problem lies with these groups. None of them want to take accountability for their own actions. The user shouldn’t be held responsible for being stupid? Suddenly it’s FB’s fault that a teacher posted a video of herself binge drinking and the school decided to can her? Suddenly it’s FB’s fault that you have a bunch of photos of yourself doing illegal things and nobody wants to hire you? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">C’mon now. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Safety and stupidity are two terms that are on far opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. Yet these social networking safety activists continue to present themselves as advocates for the “stupid” rather than the “vulnerable”. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">However, Facebook is creepy on a lot of levels. By far one trend on Facebook that I will never understand is the whole “Facebook Places” thing. I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone in their right mind would ever post the following over Facebook. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">“Ryan Smith just checked into “My House” With Four Friends”</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Can I ask who cares? Maybe it has to do with a lot of the other features of Facebook. Maybe it all plays to that primitive urge in all of us to be in the spotlight. We all want attention and acceptance. What better way to make yourself look popular than to flaunt where you’re at and who you’re with? What better way to also open yourself up to stalkers and criminals? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">It would be bad enough to just have the whole Facebook Places thing set up for the purpose of online voyeurism. However Facebook has to do what it does best and take it the next level. With the whole “Places” feature you can see not only who those four friends are but where exactly “My House” is. In fact if you really wanted to you could get online mapped-out directions to Ryan’s house. Now hey wouldn’t that be a bitch for Ryan if he decided to announce to Facebook that he and his family were going on vacation to the Bahamas for a week. Empty house for a week. His house is listed on “Places” still with directions to it. Hello burglary. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Of course I have to admit it is quite funny to “check into” other random people’s houses and creep them out. I mean if you don’t mind the fact that your joke could be misinterpreted and you could end up in jail or publicly ostracized as a creep. I’m just saying. It is wicked funny though. Ha Ha. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">That being said let’s talk about how to actually become a Facebook refugee yourself and what to expect.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>PART C: THERE IS NO CHANTIX OR PATCH FOR FACEBOOK BUT HERE’S HOW I QUIT!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Step One: Deactivation vs. Deletion</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">You must first decide how far you want to take this. There’s a difference between being a Facebook Refugee and being in Facebook Exile. If you simply want to deactivate your account, (hides your profile until you decide to log back in) which is what I did though I doubt I’ll ever log back in, simply go to your account settings and select “Deactivate Account”. Facebook will then subject you to this sappy-ass tearjerker page about how all your “friends” will miss you when in reality nobody is really going to care except Facebook. My God you have your friends phone numbers. Text them. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Getting back on track to what I was saying simply give Face book a reason to why your leaving. There’s a dozen options to choose from that range from “This is temporary, I’ll be back” to pretty much “I’ve been mentally raped.” You can then decide on whether you want to opt into/out of email notifications and leave other suggestions and comments for Facebook before making your way down the road to freedom. I suggest writing an epic Braveheart-esque speech in the comments section for good measure. Playing some orchestral soundtrack music on a boom box in the background and sporting war paint can also add to the atmosphere.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you want to delete your account permanently <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Delete-a-Facebook-Account">go here.</a> I haven’t followed through on this process but it looks long and tedious. I also would not want to risk Facebook hunting me down and firebombing my house…not that they would ever do such a thing. I hope. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Step Two: Coming Out To Your Friends As A Facebook Refugee (or Dead Man Walking if you decided to permanently delete your account)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you were like me and deactivated your account suddenly and dramatically (In my case it was in the middle of an altercation with a number of my buddies) you may need to brace yourself for a bunch of angrily worded text messages wanting to know why you “blocked” them. What you need to understand is that to them it looks like you simply unfriended and blocked them because your name will no longer appear in their friend roster or (to add insult to injury) search results. You may be able to avoid this step by posting a message explaining that you’re leaving Facebook. Do this clearly and firmly. Avoid posting statuses like:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">“I will miss you all”</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">“Goodbye friends”</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">“Allahu Akbar!!”</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The following statuses will put you on suicide watch or possibly the TSA’s No Fly List. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Step Three: The Withdrawals & Alternatives</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you were anything like me the lack of Facebook in your life is going to be a little bit of a culture shock. Whenever I would log onto my internet from my computer I would habitually type “Facebook” into my Google search bar and that did not change after I deactivated my account. In fact I still occasionally subconsciously type it into my search bar and feel stupid. This will pass…I hope. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you had Facebook on your phone be prepared to take it off of your menu screen or you will be haunted. Luckily for me I have a Twitter account which I abuse regularily (I love me some Twitter) and a job that requires me to regularily be checking my emails and staying on top of the latest drug news. I’m also a full-time student. You can do the math there. I live, breathe, and eat off of my phone and internet connection. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Getting back to my love affair with Twitter. Twitter is absolutely freaking awesome if you’re a news/politics oriented blogger. As somebody who often cites (and bitches regularly about) current events in his posts I can tell you that Twitter is such a valuable tool for me. News spreads so quickly and trends tend to buck information out there faster than many news sources tend to. Why do you think CNN, FOX, & MSNBC all have analysts following Twitter? That’s where it’s at for me. I would much rather be able to read Egyptian citizens’ tweets from the heart of the turmoil than be barraged with status after status about how drunk Rachel got last night and how big her boyfriend’s junk is. Sorry if high school drama doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I’ve got other things that matter in my life. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>PART D: LIBERATION AT LAST!!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">While it may not seem so liberating at first (For as much as Facebook has parasitically attached itself to everything and everywhere it might seem like a pain in the ass) I can assure you that the vast majority of people who have quit Facbeook and lived to talk about it are far happier this way. I’ve been away from it for a day and I can tell you it’s actually pretty cool to be back with just “my real friends”. No more 300 extra people spouting their stupid pointless comments about what they think about me. No more Farmville invitations. No more friend requests from people that you’ve meant once drunk on a bet if you’re lucky. No more poke wars (I’m gonna admit I’ll probably miss those) and no more creepy tagged photos. You my friend are now off the grid. You’re free. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Fly on little wing, fly on. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Until next time,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Peace & Love</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Joe </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-57730775501457553212011-02-07T00:20:00.001-05:002011-02-07T00:24:59.776-05:00Post Super Bowl Thoughts 2011<div style="text-align: center;">So Green Bay took the Lombardi Trophy this year! The commercials were absolutely hilarious especially the hysterically violent Pepsi Max commercials. The only thing funnier than that chick getting nailed in the face with the can for me was sitting on Twitter and watching all the over conservative housewives and femi-nazis pitching a bitch about how insulted they were. Hands down my favorite tweet:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">“One year there will be a Super Bowl in which men and women will stand together and condone the sexual exploitation of the female during this violent event.” </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This wasn’t the only bitch post that caught my attention. It goes with the territory that whenever there is an event of any kind that lacks estrogen and sympathy--the uber-estrogenic amongst us have to complain about it. There were dozens of self-gratifying tweets from the humorless anal retentive viewers of America. Many of them got “Top Tweets” which I guess is what happens when an idiot says something so idiotic that a bunch of other idiots get together and “re-tweet” what that idiot said. I know the process involves idiots because I’ve had things re-tweeted before and I’m a pretty big idiot. That being said at least I’m an idiot with a wicked awesome sense of humor. Nuff said. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">However the Super Bowl was a lot better than I had expected. While Green Bay dominated early on; the Steelers came back and made the game pretty epic. I didn’t have any bets lying on either team because my Pats lost and as a member of the “Latter Day Saints of Tom Brady” ; I’m very much still in mourning. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">My bet was that it would take Christina Aguliera a minute and a half to finish the national anthem. Still I do not know if I won money or not because I was too busy cringing in embarrassment as she warbled on for what seemed to be an eternity botching the words. If you missed this train wreck you can go ahead and <a href="http://www.popeater.com/2011/02/06/christina-aguilera-national-anthem-super-bowl/">watch it here.</a> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Uhhhhhh *shutters*…</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Luckily, (even though a lot of Twitter seemed to be in disagreement with me) the Black Eyed Peas put on a very decent show during Halftime. Call it stiff, nerdy, or cheesy all you want but I dug it. They did a great job and my hats off to the Peas. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Another thing that caught my attention was the Chrysler ad featuring Eminem. My God did Chrysler take an ad and knock it out of the proverbial ball park. It was spine-tingling good and really spoke for Detroit & Michigan in a way that a lot of the cheesy Pure Michigan ads and others couldn’t do. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc">“This is the Motor City and this is what we do.” Imported…From…Detroit.</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hell to the yeah. Chrysler my hat is also off to you. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Now for GM. Oh GM. Government Motors. You guys used to be great. What the hell happened? I know you let the accountants and everything else take over and laid off everybody else that actually knew a thing or two about cars but seriously…Glee?! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I like Glee but that commercial was freaking embarrassing. You matched that up against Chrysler’s ad?! Between that and your ad featuring the Hee-Haw walking through the Tech Center (which I seriously doubt he had ever stepped foot in before that commercial) lying about how you paid back every tax dollar that you took in the bail-out; you make me want to puke. I drive a Chevy. I’m almost embarrassed to be driving it now. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Also nice plant you’re opening up in <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/gm_announces_major_investment.html">Mexico</a>. Glad our tax dollars are working for that side of the border. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Regardless I’m not going to go in that angry cynical direction for this post because I’m better than that and the Super Bowl remains in my eyes the greatest sporting event of the year. American football. Not soccer. Not the vuvuezelas or however the hell those annoying bastard horns spell their name. American football. The NFL baby. That is a man’s sport and for one time a year I don’t have a problem telling the PC pink squads that the Super Bowl should stay that way. I’m not sorry that we men like commercials with beer, and chicks with gigantic boobs, and violent explosive commercials. You know what it is what it is. It’s two teams with a drive to be the best. One team wins the other team loses. It’s an arena with smells of beer, sweat, and sometimes blood and you know what that’s okay. The Super Bowl rules. Enough said. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">At least until the playoffs start here in Hockey Town. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Fights. Blood. Hockey. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Until next time,</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Peace & Beer</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Joe</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-8752771951484323292011-02-05T01:27:00.006-05:002011-02-05T01:42:58.054-05:00Patients Say the Darndest Things<div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So did you all survive that destructive 12 inches! I know I did and I’m still waiting for a phone call and a cigarette in bed!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Of course the only thing inevitable about this snowstorm’s complete broken promise of world domination and devastation was that work would not be closed down due to a state declared snow emergency (and possibly also a significant drop in the stock market for flare manufacturing companies shares). You would think that after the flocks of crazed and fearful Michiganders looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered their local grocery stores in the hopes that by some ray of God’s glorious mercy they’d be able to finally use that “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon on shaving cream (because you need to shave during the apocalypse) ; these mindless idiots would stay home for a few days. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">BUZZER. AHHHHHNNNNN. WRONG. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I have to admit that topping the small list of things I look forward to during the long and desolate Michigan winter season are those days at the funny pharm where it's quiet enough to actually help your patients and make their trip to medicine land a pleasant and comforting one. That’s what I think we all strive for (at least those of us that haven’t been committed to the local sanatorium or who make decisions for insurance companies ) in the medical field. You wouldn’t know this if you happened to walk in during an average day at your local retail pharmacy though. Chances are if you walked in after 2.00 o’clock on a weekday you’d see the following…</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- A pharmacist who is running around trying to do 9 things at once.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- A line of restless and impatient people with piles of expired transfer coupons and insurance rejection letters in their hands. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- Pharmacy technicians who are busy getting yelled at, heckled, spit at, and interrogated by restless and impatient customers all while also trying to do 9 things at once. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- That one sole understanding patient who probably at some point in her/his life worked in a pharmacy and was smart enough to run away screaming. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- Topless dancers. (Only at union-led stores.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">However in between the turmoil and soap opera theatrics that we have to endure from both the mentally deranged and the rightfully-frustrated patients--there are those moments of peace and gratification that do at least for a brief moment make the job worth it. While these moments are often less noticed at a supervisor and management level and often lost in the haystack amongst the various monotonies of your daily tasks; they’re little divine moments that remind you that some people do appreciate your slave labor. That is as long as you remind them that you and your fellow staff have to eat at some point during the day. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">"Ohh don't whip me to hawd, Mistah..."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Today however something got me wicked annoyed (besides the fact that I got a bullshit parking ticket which I‘ll get to in a second) and it made my drive home one of self-muttering and a few choice cuss words. One of my patients came into today to follow up on a problem that she was having with her cardiologist’s office regarding a refill request. This particular doctor is a very well-to-do and respected cardiovascular specialist in our local area and his staff is a little, well, they’re angels. The problems we’ve had to deal with in regards to this office were miniscule and few and far between. However this woman needed a refill on her Crestor 20mg and they had not responded to us after we had sent multiple electronic refill requests. Long story short--it had been about two weeks and the patient was down to her last two tablets and it was the weekend. We were backed up. However, it was already late in the day and I needed to call this office because she would’ve been up shit’s creek had I put her off to wait on the state program hyenas at the counter. For those of you unfamiliar with your local medicinal tin gods -- the big guys tend to close early on Fridays. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I called the office and the nurse receptionist informed me that the patient was supposed to have received a hard copy when she visited the office back in December. The pt (“patient” for you pre-med majors out there) naturally didn’t have the hard copy (because it was Friday and that would’ve made our lives too easy) so I decided to call back and just get an oral over the phone. Yes I know I said oral. That’s what it’s called. Just ask your sister after you let her know I still have her bra. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">In the meantime the other tech was helping the drifters at the counter. In the minute that passed between him walking away from the counter to finish counting a medication for a woman who was waiting the patient standing behind her in line proceeded to say the following towards me:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">“Hey you. New guy! Kid on the phone. Excuse me? Hello jackass. Yeah you, the woppy looking one I’m waiting here.” </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Let me back up and clarify the following. Working with the public sucks and dealing with an abusive public is just the occupational hazard that occurs on a daily basis. I’m also aware that I’m no angel in the language department. In fact you can say I’m a linguistic connoisseur in the field of profanity. An aficionado of offensive terminology. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">What annoyed me was…</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1.) He wasn’t even next to be waited upon. There was still a lady ahead of him. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">2.) There were young kids behind him who overheard his rant. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">3.) Woppy is not the same as calling someone a “Wop” ;{n. Wahp] Simply a noun. Get your slurs right asshole. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">4.) I was on the phone in the middle of a conversation with a doctor’s office trying to get some fucking medication for a patient that was clearly standing right in Archie Bunker here’s line-of-sight. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">5.) Nobody else in the line had enough class to put this guy in his place or say anything to him. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Let me tell you something. As a loudmouth by birth, merit, and heredity I have no problem diagnosing someone with the symptoms of “assholism” [n. ASS-HOLE-ISM} that they’re an asshole and need a prescription for a chill pill. I once asked a guy who thought he was going to leave his shopping cart in front of this old lady and her husband while they were waiting to use the self check-outs if he had “lost something” and made sure he picked up after himself like an ADULT and took his own damn shopping cart back to where it belonged. I’m not telling you this solely to brag about my longstanding record as a champion for the everyman blue-collar Costco shopper but to let you know that putting people in their place is almost a fetish of mine. So you can only imagine how hard it was for me to not tell the nurse receptionist to “hold for a second while I took the garbage out.” You can imagine how this was pure torture for me to bite my lip. For as much as the public likes to criticize and critique every word we medical professionals say--they should've been on this guy like the TSA on my balls.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Regardless the lady got her refill authorized and I was off my shift and out of Danvers twenty minutes after this incident. Freedom. The day was two hours longer than I had counted on but hey who cares it’s over. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">BUZZER. AHHHHHNNNNN. WRONG. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I come out to find a nice parking violation notice on my windshield. Luckily a security camera caught a snapshot of my reaction. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://sites.google.com/site/paranormalzonex/_/rsrc/1292417883992/Paranormal/mystery-paranormal-004/unknown%20weird%20999.jpg" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div>Let me back up again. Earlier that day, like 9.30 AM when I pulled into the pet cemetery parking lot, the entire lot was covered in snow and ice. The lines on the parking spaces were not visible. This was not my fault because…</div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1.) I don’t own the parking lot nor have responsibilities over what condition the lot is in. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">2.) I don’t have the time to shovel myself a spot to find a parking space. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">3.) I am NOT God or a menstrual woman both of which having the power to change the barometric pressure of a particular area. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Fast forward to whatever part of the day rent-a-detective Starsky felt the need to right me a fucking ticket. The snow had melted because the sun came out and the temperature warmed up. I’m pretty sure the parking lot also got salted. I didn’t come back out to my car to leave for nearly seven and a half hours after I originally parked there. I’m sure the other people that I judged my parking spot off of were neither insane enough to spend seven hours in that place let alone work there or merely parking there with the intent to leave and make me look like a douche bag with a parking ticket. However, nonetheless they left and I was left there now visibly illegally parked. Hello fine!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So now it’s the weekend and the Super Bowl is Sunday. I was informed that they were taking bets on how long it was going to take Christina Aguliera to wail out the national anthem. I’m betting a minute and a half. That bitch better wail. I need the money to pay off my ticket. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Until next time…</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Peace & love except where parking & standing is explicitly prohibited,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">That woppy guy who blogs for A Kup of Reality.</span></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-22177966255398427392011-01-31T20:45:00.007-05:002011-01-31T22:07:15.034-05:00Cable News 2011 Winter Survival Guide: BUY FLARES!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucNawIjufuhEfzCbxHshgCc6M5SsEBcQOZv57fWGdVQani-0Ge3Ap7j8TuC0uguyOoXfM5ldcen3IZhytSKsRSaaTDlJaBUD1tdbj707y1dfJMre9nyj5L2WMATU-bC4Tpc2fQKMXCw/s1600/UhOh.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucNawIjufuhEfzCbxHshgCc6M5SsEBcQOZv57fWGdVQani-0Ge3Ap7j8TuC0uguyOoXfM5ldcen3IZhytSKsRSaaTDlJaBUD1tdbj707y1dfJMre9nyj5L2WMATU-bC4Tpc2fQKMXCw/s320/UhOh.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568551463475246114" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><div style="text-align: center;">Hide your husbands!!! Hide yo wives!! A blizzard be comin'!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">In case you didn't hear or haven't watched television in a while (I don't blame you) tomorrow begins Sweeps Month. It's also pretty handy that tomorrow night Southeastern MI is supposed to be bullseyed by a massive snowstorm. Thanks to the ratings hungry cable news channels people are "in the know" about the coming weather and are thankfully taking precautions.</div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >And by taking precautions I mean going absolutely bon-fuck-kers. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >All day today grocery stores, retail chains, pharmacies, and supermarkets alike have been contending with massive crowds of people buying out shelves of water, canned goods, heaters, medicine, clothes, etc., on the basis that apparently this storm is going to be so big that if people don't go out and push and shove and trample over each other like it's Black Friday at the WWE; we may all very well die horrific unfathomable white fluffy deaths. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Accuweather projections predict that this apocalyptic blizzard could produce anywhere between...wait for it...10 to 15 inches of snow. The blizzard (who goes by "Tommy Lee") may also produce high gusts of wind and freezing rain all of which are totally unheard of in the Midwest...especially Michigan...in February. O_o</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So what are you doing to protect yourself against this armed and incredibly dangerous storm? Have you prepared a will? Do you have your financial affairs completely in order? Have you decided which family member from out of state (somewhere further south where one inch of snow constitutes a state of emergency and economic shutdown) will inherit your pets? Is State Farm really there for you? Where's that black guy from the Allstate commercials? Does he know whether you're in good hands or not? Will our Ballparks still plump if we have to cook them on an electric griddle?! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I don't know about you but what I learned from the likes of MSNBC (which I'm told still has viewers) and CNN Headline News (I don't know about them) is that it is very important to have a Household Emergency Snow Kit. Now you're probably thinking right about now, "Gee I know what goes in an Household Emergency Snow Kit, Joe!" </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Shovel, Warm Clothes, Cocoa, Salt, Electric Heaters...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Maybe if you lived in Ohio! *Que cheesy news anchor laughs*</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >But no, seriously. You're totally wrong. You forgot the Flares. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >According to cable news and the massive amounts of clear cable news watchers that I encountered in the aisles of Meijer and Kroger today; it is very certain the Mayans were horribly wrong and the world will actually end tomorrow night. Scientifically this is a plausible hypothesis. I have absolutely no evidence to back up how it could be plausible except for the fact that Justin Bieber not only wrote a novel, but is coming out with a movie--and that in itself is like equipotent to opening Pandora's Box or maybe breaking a really big mirror. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >However if you simply do what cable news tells you to do and follow the crowd of raving shopaholic lunatics; you will live to see another day...of looking like a complete douche. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So to my fellow douches, paranoid schizophrenics, and Fox News habitual viewers here are some steps to survive the coming blizzard. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>SHOP TIL YOU DROP!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >It's the day before a massive apocalyptic event is going to occur! You know that miniskirt you've always wanted at Forever 21?! Buy it (unless you have kankles because nobody wants to see those) and put it on your credit card! Raid local supermarkets and grocery stores and stock up on everything and anything. Buy pointless shit that you would never spend a penny or second of your time on a normal basis. I'm talking Chia Pets, Bungee Cords, & products sold at your local Kmart. You don't know how long you're going to be stuck in your houses so you want to be prepared. The April Thaw is a long two months away and truth be told; you can only stand your family and roommates for so long before you start considering cannibalism which brings me to my next point!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>SELL OFF UNNEEDED FAMILY MEMBERS</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >You'd be surprised how valuable your Aunt Myrtle or cousin Samantha might be to a prospective buyer in Uzbekistan, Laos, or Micronesia. Any source of additional income will be needed considering that you won't be able to make it to your place of work (the whole being buried in snow thing) and that 62 inch LED 3D hi-def TV set you just purchased is not going to pay for itself. Hey it's an emergency damnit!! The Super Bowl is this weekend!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>HAVE A COAT, GLOVES, ADDITIONAL CLOTHES FOR WARMTH</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Note to reader: Not very important but the next bullet is!!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>HAVE FLARES!!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Because we all know how handy these little things are when you're stranded in the middle of complete nowhere. Forest fires do tend to garner a certain amount of public attention. Why not have a few of these things lying around the house? If your power goes out and you don't have heat or extra clothes for warmth you can light up a flare and stick it up your ass. This way you'll not only die faster than going into hypothermia but the rectal pressure will put a literal meaning to the phrase "totally fucked." Remember only you can start a house fire!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>GET SHOVELS</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b></b>Believe it or not this may be an important item to have at your house. Since we all know that the city will be sending armies of plows and salt trucks to your very neighborhood to ensure that your streets are completely safe to travel on--you may need to get that snow out of your driveway. Of course it's possible that the city might send people to do that for you and if that's the case it's very plausible that you don't live in Metro Detroit. Just remember! Flares come first!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>GET SALT</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Considering our fine snow removal services may miss the occasional street or region having some salt around the house may be advisable. If your local grocer is out of salt, you may consider mining for it yourself or purchasing an M1 Tank. This way you can wage war against your neighbors over resources. Two Bush administrations can't be wrong!!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>BOOZE, BOOZE, & MORE BOOZE</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Remember the only way to beat the winter blues is to blend it with ice and booze. You'll have plenty of ice and plenty of time to drink and remind yourself what a great idea it was to move to Michigan in the first place. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>BUY FLARES!!!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Buy them damnit!!!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So there it is. Follow these simple fail-proof steps and you'll live to see March. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >And if you don't...may God have mercy on your souls. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Until next time. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Peace & Love</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Joe </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-25289125758459075962011-01-30T23:31:00.002-05:002011-01-30T23:45:33.876-05:00Remember Me?!<span class="Apple-style-span" >Hello blogosphere. My name is Joe and once upon a time I actually published things on this blog. Interesting things. Eye-popping experiences. Hard-hitting political and social commentary that left people awe-struck and dumbfounded at the enlightened wisdom that I could spew at the drop of the hat. Gratuitous steamy sex scenes... </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >KIDDING!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Things came up. Actually a lot of things came up. Schooling became a major priority and work took over my life. It's pretty hard to maintain a blogging habit when you've got 16 credit hours and two jobs at 30+ hours a week. I'm burnt out as hell. B-U-R-N-T. O-U-T. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Needless to say I still am tweeting away at my twitter and I promise to try and get back to this blog as soon as I possibly can. I'm sure that I'll be off all ten of my faithful blog visitor's shit lists in no time and back onto every liberal bloggers shit list in a matter of a few days so hang in there just a little bit longer folks! The Kup is back! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >BTW...be sure to check out my buddy's new podcast, "The Kyle & Jeremy Show" at <a href="http://bit.ly/hdJGax">kyleandjeremy.com</a>. They're absolutely awesome. Listen, show your support, and subscribe or they will find you and murder your families! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Okay well they probably won't...but you really want to take that risk?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >- Joe </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></div>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-21102660892517660502010-11-28T21:19:00.002-05:002010-11-28T21:22:06.421-05:00You Stream Me On Stream With Fish?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_hhgjQqsEXsR4JzfurW4EjD7FY6uwE2tN5VGmqgmPUXhkvHhZqzqQqrnl61dvCrWX_g-TaqH6DldK-L_CezCaRENLZr7DSjYzqxtitTzjogT4YaRuu5mcJpJKNMy-khipNqIuydfyQ/s1600/Annoying.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_hhgjQqsEXsR4JzfurW4EjD7FY6uwE2tN5VGmqgmPUXhkvHhZqzqQqrnl61dvCrWX_g-TaqH6DldK-L_CezCaRENLZr7DSjYzqxtitTzjogT4YaRuu5mcJpJKNMy-khipNqIuydfyQ/s400/Annoying.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544791263095799202" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> <br /><br />Let’s face it. If you’re anything like me there is absolutely no way that your schedule allows for you to have a TV show addiction. I personally don’t have TIVO so I don’t have the option of recording shows and viewing them at a later time. I’m also too lazy to record something on to tape (yes we still have VCRs in this household). This is why I try and stay as far away from the non-sporting event related television programming as much as possible. It’s just too risky. </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> However every once in a while a show comes around that I really can’t avoid. I have about three or four shows that I have been brainwashed into watching by friends and family basically forcing me down onto the couch and saying “you should really watch this show!” Of course you can’t just watch that show. You have to see what’s next in the line-up. So by the time the nightly news is coming on at 11 o’clock or midnight, for all intents and purposes, you’re totally fucked. They’ve got you hooked. This isn’t my point though. My point is that there needs to attention brought to a real underlying crisis facing us internet video host users. This crisis is the inability for most of us to ever find a free and WORKING online source of an episode we’ve missed. </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> We’ve all been there. You type in the episode name and series into the Google search bar and get back a list of supposed sites that you can “view the episode online for free”. Attracted like mosquitoes to a bug zapper, we all click on these websites links with the same drool hanging out of the corner of our mouths; blindly staring at our computer screens with the deer in headlights effect in full glory. The video player starts to load and you relax expecting to be entertained by your favorite sitcom/mystery/telenovela, and BOOM what happens? </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> “Before watching our free video please complete one of the following quick surveys”</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">- How many kids on average do you eat at the dinner table per week?</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">- Want free liver transplants?!</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">- Play Frogger Version 100.6</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">- Meet Hot Single Mormons In Your Area!</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> It’s annoying as fuck. We all know that the surveys are never quick and they’re never easy. You click on one survey and it’s usually connected with a never-ending cycle of ad offers that you have to refuse or oblige to. They usually require answers to questions you wouldn’t feel comfortable answering to your own financial advisor let alone some random video site. However those aren’t even the worst. </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> There’s also the stupid “If your video doesn’t load after completing a survey, try another one of the offers and wait five minutes.” I’m sure there are plenty of potato brained folks out there that after blindly giving Gonzo in Uzbekistan their credit card info for “free tofurkey coupons” gladly hop into another privacy invasion mosh pit from hell. Then you have the game sponsors. These are the best. You go and play Frogger and you’re having adware and spy ware simultaneously injected into your computer. First download the “Fraudyouracct codec” with the “You’re An Asshole Toolbar” and play a couple rounds as the loveable frog and your video will pop right on up. Yeah right. The only thing popping up is on the guy getting your bank account numbers hacking you on the other side from a remote shack somewhere in Bolivia. </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Last, but certainly not least, are the loveable “link to Megavideo” pseudo-sites. They’re constructed all around multiple illiterate variations of the same phrase or question. Every site is the same cheaply constructed ploy to sound like a foreign tourist with a two week crash course in the English language set it up.</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Miss your latest episode of Cop Show. Watch Cop show now free on Megavideo. Megavideo stream link here. Watch Show of Cop on Megavideo here. Watch stream link here. Megavideo Cop show here. Watch me stream link here. Watch link stream me on Cop. Watch cop stream me in bathroom here. Watch link stream here. You watch me here. Clicky you on me? Stream</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;"> No I’ll pass…thank you…I think… </span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">Until next time…</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">Peace & Love</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-size:85%;">Joe</span></span><br /><span id="intelliTxt"></span></div><span id="intelliTxt"><br /></span>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575582322172853347.post-10559754716028064062010-11-19T02:56:00.006-05:002010-11-19T03:56:30.552-05:00A Salute (One-Fingered) To Rep. 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mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;">Without further ado and in lieu of stories about crotch grabbing at the airports; I present you with the final hoorah of the honorable Frankenstein monster of Florida. I give you Rep. Alan Grayson. God I'm going to miss this guy. He does more for advancing common sense idealism than any of us could ever do criticizing him. Not to be outdone with his "Republicans want you to die quickly" charts, Grayson returns to his pedestal with a brand new rant entitled "What Republicans Can Do With Their Tax Cuts For The Rich".</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10pt;" > </span>Watch and enjoy</span></p><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4-mZtdI7-hY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4-mZtdI7-hY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Yes.<span style=""> </span>Yes young Democratic pawns.<span style=""> </span>Feel the hate flowing through you.<span style=""> </span>Blame the rich!<span style=""> </span>Covet their earnings and excess.<span style=""> </span>You know Mr. Grayson, had you any real ideas outside of the typical class-warfare progressive talking points you may have actually been re-elected.<span style=""> </span>Oh well…you really put the (D) in delusion. <br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> According to Alan Grayson the rich can buy an $83,000 2011 Mercedes luxury car not just once, but every single year, for the next decade.<span style=""> </span>You heard him correctly! Those evil top earners can selfishly inject over $800,000 of THEIR OWN DISPOSABLE INCOME (which they couldn’t have really honestly earned because their too rich to have souls or be Democrats) into an automobile company's bottom line. It’s not like they can take $800,000 in ten year earned income per rich white Republican dude and covert that income into paying for new job openings for working class people.<span style=""> </span>Oh those selfish capitalist pigs.<span style=""> </span>Clearly they have no idea how to properly spend their income.<span style=""> </span>Rep. Grayson is so right.<span style=""> </span>We should just have the government take that $83,000 or $800,000 (depending on which figures get you more warm and fuzzy inside) and put it into a slush fund program that could buy a congressman a toilet seat, or pay off special interest groups, private jet fuel tabs, or hookers.<span style=""> </span>Tax dollars well spent, ol chap!<span style=""><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;">Maybe they could even make another one of<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvwTMZNWGuk"> these!</a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Alan Grayson knows how to spend money properly.<span style=""> </span>I’m sorry let me rephrase that.<span style=""> </span>Alan Grayson knows how to spend YOUR money properly.<span style=""> </span>Because we all know that government creates jobs!<span style=""> </span>Look at Los Angeles, California.<span style=""> </span>$111 million in stimulus and the Los Angeles Labor Force was able to expand by a whopping 54 jobs.<span style=""> </span>After all had 111 entrepreneurs and small-business owners been able to each invest $1,000,000 in developing a new business venture—it’s not like they’d been able to create more than 54 jobs.<span style=""> </span>I mean 54 government jobs is clearly more than 111 entrepreneurial positions plus staff.<span style=""> </span>54 is greater number than 111.<span style=""> </span>The TSA's love pats (in Macomb we call them hand jobs) will stop terrorists and the sky is purple too!<span style=""> </span>One plus one is three.<span style=""> </span>Ke$ha can actually sing and KFC is actually chicken!</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> This presentation was so arrogantly ridiculous it’s laughable.<span style=""> </span>The only thing that would have made this more laughable would’ve been had Grayson actually brought in these items and then turned around and criticized private citizens about purchasing them.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Government does not make jobs.<span style=""> </span>They expand government. Ladies and gentlemen, a mixed economy cannot survive on a public sector being larger than the private sector.<span style=""> </span>It doesn’t happen.<span style=""> </span>It’s unsustainable.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately, the scary thing is that while Alan Grayson will be history by January, there are plenty left in Congress that share in his delusional viewpoints.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> That alone should scare the bejeezus out of you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Until next time…</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Peace & Love,</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:85%;">Joe</span></p>Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16554340890189035378noreply@blogger.com0