Stuck in Neutral (Redux)

 

 

 

"I am traveling 100 mph and going absolutely nowhere..."

 

 

The rant is not yet over. As I was out sweating bullets in the backyard this morning, I continued to think about the concept of being "stuck in neutral". The post I did earlier today addressed the relative lack of progress we have made in race relations. However, there are other things we are making little progress on as well.

 

Get er' done - When my wife and I were in our twenties, neither one of us were rocket scientists. However, we were like a couple of straight arrows with a compass by the tip. After screwing around for a while after high school, I was able to finish four years active Navy service, get a four year degree in Business Finance from the University, get married, and start my first professional job less than a month after I turned 26. My wife got her four year degree, got married, and was working at her first teaching position before she was 22. In other words, we saw the path forward and attacked it with fervor. Many of the youth today who could, decide not to. The years tick by as if they were in stasis. Opportunities continue to abound in this country if you are willing to work hard and take a few risks. Standing still will get you nothing but run over.

 

Energy - I am not going to say much on this as I have addressed it countless times in the past. I will say this - it still strikes me as odd we are buying oil on the market from some countries who hate us when we have more than enough to supply our needs. Rather than wage a "war on coal", we should be waging a war on energy dependence as all it does is weaken our country. Bottom line - not much as changed (from a policy perspective) since the oil embargo of the 1970's. We are better than this - so, so much better.

 

National Debt - Yep, we continue to limp along from one crisis to the next. Oh by the way, the next crisis is really going to have teeth as the days of our free interest seem to be coming to an end. So what? Wait until you see how much it will cost to service our measly $17T debt if the interest rates go up only 1%. It will knock your socks off. But who cares? It is only funny money. Live for today mate - our kids (or grandkids) will take care of it.

 

Education - There is nothing "Progressive" about our education system except its name. It is a real mess right now. I am reminded by the old saying, "You can buy it better, but you can't buy it more expensive". That sums up our education system from top to bottom. Stuck in the last century, only teaching much less than they did a hundred years ago. The National Education Association, which as we all know is just a political hack for the Democrats, are now running commercials on "bullying". Not that our kids are not learning - no, we want to talk about "bullying". Stuck in neutral and slipping backwards.

 

Stock Market - Question: "How is the economy doing?" Answer: "Great! Have you seen the stock market?" It really fails the "straight face" test when someone on the news tells us the market is in good shape. It is not. Ben Bernanke hints the era of "free money" might be coming to an end by the end of the year, and the market tanks almost 300 points. The Bible talks about building your house on rock and not sand. Our market is built is not only built on sand, but it is fracking sand. Hold on tight - the bigger it is, the harder the fall.

 

There is more, so much more I could bring up - but I hope you get the picture. We have lost our way forward. We have lost the courage to effect positive change, not campaign promise change. We have allowed our kids to go into suspended animation just by allowing ourselves to go from drive to coast, and now to idle. We need to be brave, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, and get the hell going! Time is not our friend. The world is waving goodbye to us and we stumble all over ourselves. Forget neutral - from now on we need drive and overdrive.

Stuck in Neutral

"The more hurried I get, the more behind I become..."

 

 

Wow! Did not see that one coming! Who would have thought the trial of the year, the George Zimmerman trial, would cause to much social unrest in our already socially unrested country. The table was set from the get-go. A twenty-nine year old "cop wannabe" who volunteered to be a neighborhood watch captain, is now cast as Satan himself. He spilled innocent blood. He not only shot an unarmed man, but the man was really a boy, and worst of all, he was black.

If you listen to the agitators and the "race baiters" now that the trial is over, you would think we have an epidemic in our country with white on black violent crime, most of which goes unpunished. Before we go down that street, lets first visit the facts. According to globalgrind.com in May of 2012:

Black-on-black murder is at an all-time high. It was revealed that each year, roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered and 94 percent of the time the murderer is another black person.

According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 black murder victims, which means that 262,621 were murdered by other blacks, resulting in the 94 percent figure.

Let that statistic sink in for a minute. In that 35 year period, we lost over 1/4 million young black people to murder. For our country, the beacon of freedom and democracy, to host such carnage is beyond belief.

In Chicago, during the last decade (Jan 1, 2003 thru December 31, 2012), almost 5,000 people were killed. That is about twice as many that have died in Enduring Freedom (active war zone Afghanistan) since the start of the conflict. Of that almost 5,000 deaths in Chicago, 75% were committed by black people to mostly black people. I bring these statistics up only for one reason - we have a HUGE problem in our country with people killing people. I really don't care about the color, ethnic origin or sex on who is the killer or the victim. What I care about is that people die when they should not have to.

What is almost as sad is our country is stuck in neutral on race. We have made zero progress since the OJ trial or the Rodney King event. Are there still some problems with white on black crime? Absolutely! Are there also problems with black on white crime? Absolutely again! Every time the opportunists try and divide this country more after an event like the Trayvon Martin tragedy, we all lose. George Zimmerman was a out of shape, cop wannabe who happened to have a conceal permit for a gun. On a dark rainy night, made up of extraordinary bad decisions and circumstances, a young man died and the man who shot him will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

So where are we on race relations in our country. We are better than the days of separate bathrooms and drinking fountains. However for 2013, we are nowhere near where we should be. People of color should not have to fear police. If anyone is being "targeted" only for the color of their skin, the police department should undergo a house cleaning from the top down. By the same token, black crime inside or outside of the black community should NOT BE TOLERATED by anyone, regardless of their color.

I am upset about the number of black youth that are in jail in our country. I am upset that 40% of our black youth cannot get a job. I am upset that many of our black youth are stuck in failing schools across the country. However, what I am most upset about is the number of black youths who are being robbed of their lives due to senseless violence.

Am I concerned about race? You bet I am. However the race which matters the most to me is the human race. To move the human race forward, we need to figure out how to get unstuck from neutral knowing we all don't look the same or act the same.



 
 

The Nuclear Option

 

 

"One's perspective always concerns whose ox is being gored...."

 

Two things are going to happen this week. First off, as with most years, this week will be the hottest (nation wide) of the year. The second, we are going to dive a few feet deeper into the "silly season". The "silly season" really got going last Friday when a "food fight" broke out between Reid and McConnell. The two close friends (they must be, as they keep calling each other "my friend") tossed insults at each other that went from partisan to personal in about 3 seconds.

It seems that because the Democrats are now in charge of the Senate, they don't like the rules they lived by when they were the minority. They want the rules changed. The "Rules of the Senate" can only be changed by a "super majority" (67 votes) of the Senate. Leader Reid, now that he is "top dog", is tired of all the Senatorial wrangling. He wants more votes in the Senate to be simple majorities. In other words, which ever side gets 51 votes on certain procedures will win the day. To change the rules, by not following existing Senate rules, is referred to as the "nuclear option".

Over the years, many of the Senate votes to protect the minority who at times seem powerless, needed a 3/5 (60 votes) majority to carry the day. Using existing Senate rules, votes can be successful by a 51 vote, a 60 vote, or a 67 vote majority. Bottom line - no matter who is in charge, nothing is getting done. The Senate is tied up in knots. In fact, the Senate is so concerned about this issue (along with the fact their approval rating is the same as North Korea - 10%), they are all packing up and going off-site for something between a "love in" or a "battle royal".

I have said many times, the way to get things done in the quickest fashion is to adopt Occam's Razor. What is that you might say? According to Merriam Webster, Occam's Razor is defined as:

A scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities.

Huh? What does that mean? It means KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). It means take the least complicated path. It means hit the "easy button" whenever you can.

Gone are the days when the House, Senate and Executive Branch could talk and reason before putting together legislation. I think the recent schism started during the construction of Obamacare. The Democrats controlled all three houses of government and they be damned if they would ask for input from the minority. Ever since the passage of this mess, most Republicans hate his "signature" piece of legislation more than anything else in Washington. Many still want to kill it dead.  One thing has led to another and now nobody wants to work with anybody on anything.

What will happen this week with Senate and the "nuclear option"? Who knows. I do know this - if anything else gets rammed down the throat of the minority, watch out. Paybacks are hell. In addition, living with the enemy can also be hell.

Iced Tea, Skittles and "Ground and Pound"...

 

 

"There are no winners here, and there are no monsters..."

 

Zimmerman defense team after the verdict

 

 

Last night ended one of the saddest episodes we have been exposed to for a long while. Somehow, this very sad event, which ended in the loss of young life, became all about race. It shouldn't have. It was about two young men, meeting for the first time on a dark, rainy night in a neighborhood located in a small Florida town. Both ended up doing regrettable things. As the defense team said last night - "{The outcome left} no winners, no monsters."

 

Now that it is over (we hope it is), I will paint two different scenarios. In the first scenario, Trayvon Martin walks through a neighborhood to buy some iced tea and Skittles at a local convenience store. On the way back through the neighborhood, he is challenged by a neighborhood watchman. Trayvon may have said something, but keeps walking. The neighborhood watchman takes out his gun and shoots Trayvon. George Zimmerman, the watchman, would have been charged with Second Degree Murder, probably already been tried, convicted and sentenced. The story would have never made the paper.

 

In the second scenario, Trayvon goes to the store to buy the iced tea and skittles. On the way back, he is challenged by Zimmerman. A fight breaks out, where Trayvon gets on top of Zimmerman and, in MMA style, pounds his head into the concrete with such force it either kills him or leaves him with a TBI (traumatic brain injury). Zimmerman either did not have a gun or had one and did not pull it out. Trayvon would have been caught, tried as an adult,  and convicted. The story would have never made the paper.

 

By the way, in the town I live in, an off duty police officer got into an altercation with a patron at a restaurant last year. Words were exchanged and the off duty police officer punched the man so hard, the man fell to the payment. Net result - in the contact between the pavement and the man's head, the pavement won. The man suffered a TBI and the off duty cop was tried and sentenced to four years. I bring this up because pounding someone's head into the pavement or sidewalk can be a real game changer for the victim. Zimmerman was lucky he was just bloodied.

 

Some "talking head" on the news last night said we really need to keep this tragedy from becoming a travesty. When questioned what he meant, the man explained the travesty would be social unrest, looting, violence and so on. In addition, another part of the travesty would be our President and/or Attorney General "taking sides" once again on this tragic event.

 

My hope is that we can all learn and grow from this. George Zimmerman will never be the same. In certain sectors, he will always be a "marked man". He will never be totally safe. In addition, he will be haunted by the fact he took a human life. Most people never get over that. Trayvon's family will never be the same. A son lost at seventeen - lost forever. Finally, we as Americans, lost once again. In our quest to knit together this most perfect union, forces that want us divided over race, have again emerged. We must get beyond this - we must grow from this. To let this very sad event continue to fester, will be the worst tragedy, the worst travesty, of all.

The Sharknado Nation!

 

 

"We can now actually make a movie so bad, it is good..."

 

Boy, did I screw up this week. I have nobody to blame but myself. I knew it was coming, I could have arranged my schedule, but I did not. I did not even set the DVR. No excuse - I missed the most talked about movie so far this season - I missed Sharknado! 

 

When I got up Friday morning and was watching the morning news shows, I did not think ANYTHING could eclipse the Zimmerman trial. I was wrong. Sharknado was the talk of the town. One of the shows I was watching said the number one tweet on Thursday night had to do with Sharknado. It was the birth pangs of a new cult classic. It might even end up being the next Rocky Horror Picture Show. That 1975 work of art has lasted far longer and has an following far larger than ANYONE could have ever imagined!

So how do we do this? How in the world can we continue to make movies so bad, they are actually good? I did not watch Sharknado because I forgot, I did not watch it because I thought it looked CHEESY! Shows you what I know. Most people that watched it laughed so hard they cannot wait until the SyFy  Channel airs it again. One of my FB friends said (tongue in cheek) this - the only thing fake in Sharknado was when the shark ate the man with the chain saw. When the man managed to cut his way out of the shark, my FB friend said "No chain saw starts on the first pull".

Okay - I will lay off Sharknado for a while. Lets talk about the new release this week, Pacific Rim. Already it is predicted to do better than The Lone Ranger, Man of Steel, and After Earth. All I know about Pacific Rim is some earthquake or something releases an "inter dimensional beast" (whatever the heck that is) to attack our cities. No problem - we will just build robots to fight this thing that are about the size of the Empire State Building. In the previews, one of our gigantic robots picks up an ocean freighter and smacks the "inter dimensional beast" in the chops. Does that save the world? I don't know - I have not seen the movie.

I am so glad we are not making classics or musicals anymore. We did however, make Les Misérables  into a movie. I saw it - it was excellent. However, to make it go, it needed all star acting, direction, cinematography, sound and everything else. Gone are the days when you can take a screenplay by a guy named Joshua Logan and make a box office hit called Mister Roberts. Gone are the days when you can take a gangster movie and make an award winning comedy out of it called Some Like it Hot. Gone are the days when you can take a story about a meaningless island during World War II and turn it into a timeless hit called South Pacific. No, today most of our movies are GIGO (garbage in, garbage out).

So to all who watched Sharknado on Thursday night and loved it, bless you! You watched the best of the bad this season. Whatever recipe we had to make timeless classics seems to be lost out of our Hollywood kitchen. We have become very good at making crap - lots and lots of expensive crap. But cheer up! The next time we have a tornado, grab your chainsaw, for something wicked this way comes.  On second thought, forget it - Something Wicked This Way Comes was a great movie based on the 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury.

 

 

 

The shrinking US....

 

 

"American families can expect to spend almost $250,000 in the next 17 years raising a child"

USA  Today
December 24, 2012

 

Years ago, there was a best selling book out called The Birth Dearth. It was an insightful book written by an author named Ben Wattenburg. This book, published in 1987, talked about the shrinking birth rate for most western civilization countries, specifically in the white community. Well folks - it has happened in Europe and is now happening right here in the good old US of A.

Now call me old fashioned, but I always thought one of our jobs while visiting this orb was to propagate the species. True, not everyone is able to do it - however, if you are able, you should. When my wife and I were going through marriage counseling prior to entering into matrimony, the pastor asked us if we wanted to have kids. We both answered to the affirmative. He then said "If you wait until you can afford to have children, you will never have them." How very true those words were.

According to Moneymorning.com on July 8, 2013:

And, as I discussed earlier, we are now seeing that mothers of fewer children are generally much happier than mothers of larger broods.
Combine all of this with student debt in this country being completely out of control, Obamacare hitting the pockets of our younger population the most, the dismal job market...
You can see why young people are having fewer children, and waiting longer to have them.

According to the CDC, birth rates have dropped by 1% between 2011 and 2012. 
In fact, the U.S. birthrate has steadily declined by approximately 9% since reaching a historic high in 2007.

What China is now finding out is the smaller family policy it adopted a while ago does have its drawbacks. It is referred to economically as the "reverse pyramid". There is just not enough young people to support the aging older population. Think that might happen here? Look at our world famous Ponzi Scheme, aka Social Security. When Social Security first started out, there were 16 people working to support one retiree. Today the ratio is 3.3 working to support one retiree. In twenty years it is estimated to be 2 working to support one retiree. As the expression goes "Do the math". Because of shrinking numbers alone, our Ponzi Scheme will soon collapse under its own weight.

How bad is the decline in births? Here is a real stunner from the Daily Caller in June 2013:

The decline in the U.S. white population has been occurring more quickly than expected, resulting in the first “natural decrease” for whites — deaths exceeding births — in more than a century.

The demographics don't lie. Americans, especially the white population are shrinking, and shrinking fast. This is a big problem now that will be a giant problem in the future. We will have to increase the numbers of immigrants if for nothing else, to fill the bottom of the retirement pyramid. Our future looks - well, smaller. Quite a bit smaller, and quite a bit different.

A Third Party?

 

 

MAD = Mutually Assured Destruction

 

 

 

Okay boys and girls. We are now going to teach you one more time how NOT to act as an adult. Yesterday's lesson took place in the Well of the United States Senate when both the Senate Leader, and the Minority Leader had a name calling contest. It is okay though, because before they besmirched each others veracity and character, they referred to each other as "my friend". I thought I was going to puke.

 

Those who know me, know I am a hard core conservative. I am not a Republican nor a Democrat. Every election I vote for whichever candidate most closely represents my views. Many times I need to plug my nose before I vote. That being said, both parties have big, big problems. They are anachronistic and bellicose. Many think they have outlived their usefulness. Those people might be right.

 

Democrats - This is now the party of what Lenin use to refer to as Useful Idiots. As much as I would like to vote for an occasional Democrat, they make it very hard for me to do so. Even though they might, they often give the impression they have NO concept of money or debt. I am not going to hang our national debt problem around only the Democrat's neck - running up our debt is the only "bipartisan" thing both sides seem to do well together. They also give the impression they would like to do away with "absolutes", such as the Bible or our Constitution. You know, make them "living documents" that can change with the times. I may be wrong on this, but more times than not, it really seems that way.

 

My biggest problem with Democrats today is they are no longer the party of JFK. Fiscally conservative Democrats seem to have gone the way of the Dodo Bird. It is a shame, because we are left with only useful idiots.

 

Republicans - This party is just a caricature of what it once was. It is now the "Party of No" - or the party of no ideas. Play defense against the Democrats. Now that is not all bad as without the loyal opposition slowing down this train, there is no telling what kind of crap would be voted into law. We saw what happened during the first two years of Obama's first term. Single party rule gave us Obamacare.

 

My biggest problem with the Republicans today is they no longer act like the party of Reagan. Reagan knew how to disagree without being disagreeable. Republicans who try to reach "across the aisle" often times compromise core values to such a degree, they become nothing more than RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). There are some bight shining stars, but for the most part the party is in deep, deep trouble.

 

Third Party - Guess what? Here is a news flash - the majority of Americans would like their government run as responsibly as people run their households. In other words, spend only what you make. The only time we should share money with other countries is when there is money left over to share. No family would give money away by putting it on their ballooning credit card.

 

Most Americans who have studied or learned about our Constitution like it - no, they love it. It is short and sweet, drafted by enlightened patriots in early times. The majority of us don't mind living under this set of rules, thank you very much.

 

To my friends who align with either Republicans or Democrats, know this - your days might be numbered. The silent masses are not going to be silent much longer. We are tired of explaining (as well as apologizing) to our kids why Washington and our national debt are so hosed up. For those who desire real change, a new party, the time might be now. There is low fruit on the tree, just waiting to be picked.