Cain vs. Kardashian

So over the last couple of days we have been inundated with news of Harold Cain and Kim Kardashian. Not together, however that would give them both more press and might make for more interesting reading. One is accused of past sexual harassment and the other of perpetrating a scam.

At the heart of Mr. Cain’s issue is his runaway presidential campaign. With his ideas that business should have a flat corporate tax, the people should have a flat tax, and there should be a national flat sales tax…all 9% he was well on his way to a major upset for the Republican nomination. Many detractors say this will fail and the liberal media in every interview insisted repeatedly this would help the rich and hurt the poor. If they believe that they are the only ones. If I make $40,000 per year at 9% flat my tax is $3600. If I make $1,000,000 per year then my tax is $90,000. Now math was never my best subject but even I know that $90,000 is more than $3600.

The way SOME wealthy would get around this is by owning nothing. Everything, even the home in which they live, is owned by their company and they get paid a salary. Then they live in luxury and still pay small income tax. Well, yes that would be true but with a flat 9% corporate rate there in no tax loophole (according to his plan) so they still have to pay. And they still must pay 9% national sales tax on the things the corporation buys “for them”. Granted it is from corporate money but if I own a corporation that is still my pocket. This plan is workable as long as the tax codes are modified and Congress and the Senate keep their greedy hands of the till for stupid pork projects.

I heard one interviewer when talking to Mr. Cain about this state (but in the form of a question) that “according to the 999 plan more of the poorest Americans would pay the highest taxes and the wealthy would pay less, right Mr. Cain?” Seriously? Were you even listening to this man or are you just stupid? Wait, I forgot…it’s the liberal spin to make people think Mr. Cain is can’t know what he is doing. And now this story of sexual harassment has come up from over a decade ago and causing “some other candidates” to indicate this proves he isn’t ready for this type of election since he has never run for major office. Again, seriously? Obama was a virtually unknown (outside of IL) Senator before he made his run at the White House and he won; although I still don’t know how. People like Cain scare the political machine because they do come out with the American dream that any child can be president.

Personally, I think someone like Cain is just what this nation needs, a true American who wants to do something, not just another candidate who was primed from youth to be a politician. Herman Cain’s father worked three jobs to support the family and put Herman through College. Then Herman took over putting himself through graduate school while working full time. He has had many successes in business working his way from the ground up. I think he understands better than most politicians how the tax codes work and certainly how to turn a profit. The group we have currently can’t even break even. So the machine is scared and we have to break news that he was once accused of sexual harassment. You know, that should actually be an endorsement. Bill Clinton smoked pot in college (and hell yes he inhaled…anyone who thinks he didn’t is fooling themselves) and he had a sexual affairs in the Oval Office. So what’s a little 15 year old sexual harassment complaint that was NEVER proven? At least not as of yet.

 On the other side of the news is Kim Kardashian and her fake marriage. Yes, I said FAKE. There is not a doubt in my mind this entire thing was a sham. Her engagement lasted longer than the marriage. And oddly enough the pending divorce comes at the same time the Kardashian’s are launching their new clothing store. Hhmmm…they are starting a new business and suddenly getting a ton of free press. That makes me wonder if there is really anyone who believes this was anything less than a load of crap from the Kardashians. But, more importantly, why the hell does anyone care?

See the reason I point these two things out is that in our current society you will find more people who know what is going on with Kim and what’s his name than with Harold Cain. And that’s sad, one has bearing on the next president of this nation and the other is less than unimportant in the great scheme of things. Our society has become focused on celebrities and not what really matters yet then want to bitch when things don’t go the way they want. To that I say pull your heads out of the sand. When stories about celebrities come on change the channel, and when stories come up about politics, politicians and things that pertain to YOUR money, turn it up.

You will note that I gave much more attention here to Herman Cain that I did to Kim Kardashian. This is not because I support Cain; I have not yet made up my mind who I will vote for to get Obama the hell out of office. It simply means I know which thing is more important, and it is NOT the Kardashians. Turn off TMZ, Access Hollywood,  Dancing With The “second rate” Stars, Idol, and whatever else is taking your attention from REAL life and Wake Up America! If you must pay attention to a celebrity then pay attention to just one; the one who said,

“If you're listening to a celebrity in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are.” ~~Alice Cooper 

WAKE UP AMERICA! 

PS; Have a nice day.

English As A First Language

I have been wondering for a long time, what has happened to the English language? I understand there are those who are not literate, use slang, and that slang is regional. I also understand there are those folks involved in the gang lifestyle and we all know they are just stump stupid. These are not the people I am talking about. I am talking about people who are allegedly educated. A couple of the things that bother me most are the use of the improper (or non existent) words and the grammar errors. While the list of these things is extensive here are just a couple of examples.

Wrong words = Here is my biggest peeve of this category supposedly vs. supposably. Folks there is no B in this word or any form of this word. When I hear “supposably” I just cringe. Now, if this was coming from people with little or no education that would be one thing but I hear this out of people who I know have high school diplomas and in some cases college degrees. How in the world do you go through school, including college, believing this is the correct was to pronounce this word? I guess though, since they use a word (supposably) that does not exist they can pronounce it however they want. But if the word you mean is “supposedly”, please learn to pronounce it correctly.

The next one on my list is “lackadaisical”. What I hear quite often is “lackadaisial”. I know the use if this word, like some other $5 words, sounds good in conversation but it sounds better when you pronounce it correctly. With both of these words, and others, the only thing worse than mispronouncing it is using it incorrectly. I'm thinking if you are going to use a word you should be able to pronounce it and know what it means. My favorite on the list of not knowing what it means is insubordination. I hear that thrown around like a baseball. And while many times the user is close more times than not the word is used incorrectly because they don't truly know what it means. If you plan to use it, look it up first so you can use it right.

Grammar = This one is killing me. Remember when we were in elementary school learning English? There were, and still are, certain rules to this language. So when I hear someone say something along the lines of, “The team they won the game.”, or, “The man he went to the store.” I have to wonder what happened to the rules. These are just two examples of what I am hearing more and more. I'm not sure why this is happening, other than teachers passing students who should not be passed or laziness, but it is annoying. Well, annoying in day to day life. It is unbearable when it comes from those who, again, are college educated. In this category those who stand out are reporters. I hear it daily on the news; the anchor or field reporter making this mistake. And ironically it is quite often after they say, “Now get this....”. Now get this? Really? I swear, watching the news sometimes is like listening to teenagers.

So many things in our language have been distorted, twisted, or just plain ignored. It reminds me of the reports a few years back or teachers in California getting classes in ebonics to better communicate with students. Excuse me? This was completely stupid. Instead of teachers learning ebonics make the students learn English! English is a requirement of graduation in my state and I thought it was on the left coast as well. Maybe I was wrong.

I thought it was bad when our kids started saying “Like” in every phrase: its like, I was like, etc. I never dreamed it would become this bad and it is only getting worse. Granted our language is always in transition. We no longer speak today the way Shakespeare spoke, but some things are just wrong and make the user sound stupid. I made a comment while in Germany last summer, to our German hosts, that you can't learn English from an American. Little did I know that my humorous comment would prove to become the truth.

Now, make no mistake, I am not an English major, nor do I claim to be the smartest person in the world. But when an average guy like me can hear these things and know they are wrong you would think the “educated” would certainly know. Especially the talking heads on the news or those who are educating our children. I saw, when my daughter was in school, the way teachers let things slide. I didn't allow it. I helped my daughter and made sure she learned the right way. I know she slips up; we all do. But she learned what was correct and strives to speak in that manner. And I will help my grand daughters, as will my daughter. But it does not give the schools the right to take a pass on proper teaching. I think every parent of a school age student, especially a high school student, should demand more from the schools. They are not here to raise our children, but we damn sure should expect them to educate them. After all, supposably” that is their job.

That is all.

For the record I did not capitalize ebonics by design. I do not consider that word worthy; it is not a true language and therefore is not deserving.

Where is my Transporter?

I was thinking the other day about, of all things, Star Trek. While this may sound odd hear me out. For those of us old enough to remember, Star Trek aired in 1966 and ran 3 seasons...so much for a five year mission. Since then it has been syndicated, led to 4 spin offs and several movies. That, however, is not what got me thinking; I was more focused on the tech.

ST was very much science fiction. Traveling to the stars at light speed and faster. And then there was the effects. While not great I'm sure these, along with the insanity of it and the fact the camera was already in place before the module touched down, is what led many people to believe we never landed a man on the moon. My grand mother was one of these. She believed the entire moon landing was shot on a Hollywood style studio....remember Capricorn One? But I digress. My focus, and thinking, was on the tech.

What wonderful toys they had on Star Trek. Communicators, Phasers, the PADD that every one walked around carrying. Oh to have such things in reality, but that is decades if not centuries away. Or is it? Let look at these one at a time.

Communicators: every one had one. You could be in immediate contact with whomever you wanted and you could do almost anywhere. Science fiction? Well what about the cell phone? Remember how these things started? Huge, bulky, expensive pieces of hardware. Now they are small, compact, offer texting, web, blue tooth (for hands free) and some even have walkie talkie type features. Well, that sounds damn close to a communicator to me. And you can call virtually anyone you want, a large number of people have them and some even allow you to call around the world. One down.

Phasers: Okay, we don't have that...yet. But science has projected a LASER on the moon, there are LASER pointing devices, and LASER sighting systems. And the last varies in size, range and application. You can get a LASER sight for a handgun, a hunting rifle, and the military is using LASER guided bombs and missiles. Phasers can't be that far behind.

PADD: The Personal Access Display Device, a hand-held computer interface. Science fiction? Really? Has anyone seen, or does anyone have, an iPad? It is, by its very nature and design, a PADD.

Obviously we do not have light speed travel but it is really that far fetched? I know what Einstein said about this but remember, it is a theory. It can't be proven until we actually obtain the skills and technology to try. So who is to say that we cannot travel at that speed? Maybe in our great grandchildren will see this happen in their lives. The idea of space travel is pretty cool but that isn't what I want right now. We have communicators per se; we have the PADD, and phasers can't be far away. Fine. What I really want to know is where are the transporters? THAT'S what I want.

Just think about it, vacations that don't require drive time or flights. No more plane crashes. No more car crashes. No more possibly of a terrorist high jacking. And no more TSA. The best part is the savings. Obviously the cost to design, build and make it work is expensive. Therefore it would require all governments to be on board, but once up and running you could travel for cost cost of turning on a microwave oven. A family trip to Great Britain, Asia, Europe, or anywhere else in the world for $5.00. Not a bad idea there.

So Start Trek technology, at least some of it, is no longer science fiction; it is fact and growing by leaps and bounds. That is really cool for those of us who grew up watching ST wishing we could have those toys. Now we do. Not what you expected from me on my blog? Sorry, but I would love to travel the world but I can't seem to hit the Power Ball. So come on Governments, NASA, MIT, etc.....where is my transporter?

Common Courtesy Isn't

Well, I said this would be a multiple topic area, and it is. Today's topic on which I choose to rant is manners. Can someone tell me where they went? What has happened to our society where the manners we, the baby boomers, learned from our parents go flying out the window? Furthermore, who is to blame? I know who is not responsible....me.

I raised my daughter to use words like please, thank you, sir and ma'am. And she is raising her children to do the same. So where sis it go wrong? My guess is somewhere along the lines one of the baby boomers decided they did not like using manners; that they were far too important than that. Far more important than anyone else. And then, these mindless wonders, passed this on to their children. Probably something like, “You don't have to say please to the waitress. She is doing her job; it is expected that she is to refill your glass.” Then, these same innocent eyes watch as the same parent leaves a tip that is nothing more than the pennies from their pockets, if they leave one at all.

Now waitresses and waiters are not the only ones being “talked down to”. This was just an example; but you get my point. These children will grow believing, incorrectly, that they superior to others and therefore do not have to say things like please or thank you. Sadly this will carry on into other aspects of their lives. They will grow to be the ones who bump into you at the store and look at you with eyes full of hate like it was your fault. Or they will go in the out door, drive the wrong way in the parking lot (and in both of those instances expect YOU to get out of their way), or simply let a door slam in your face.

I know you have seen them. They let the door fall on the mother of two who is carrying one of them. They walk around with their Bluetooth in their ear yapping away on the phone while expecting a salesperson to help them. Seriously? You can't get off of your call long enough to tell them what size or color you are looking for then have the nerve to get angry with them for not...what?...reading your mind. These are the same people who text while driving, cut you off, then flip you off because they almost hit you. They sit at the table where they supposed to having dinner out with the family only to ignore said family while they talk on the phone. Folks this also teaches your children. It teaches them that this is just fine and the way things are. Now this will make sure they grow up to ignore their children as well. Then these people wonder why they never hear from their kids, why their child's marriage failed, why the son is on jail for non payment of child support or domestic violence, etc. Yet, when these people ask that stupid question, “Who's fault is this?”, they get mad when we, those who remember our manners, tell them, “It's your fault”.

Since it is obvious that common courtesy isn't anymore I wish to offer you a few helpful hints. These are simple things and you can choose to do it or not. But if you come to my house you had better choose to.

Men = PULL YOUR DAMN PANTS UP!!! No one wants to see your underwear and this is NOT a good look. I don't know who started this trend but he should be flogged. You look like a 9 year old who does not know how to dress himself. ~ Take you hat off at the table. I don't mean the poker table but when you are eating it is very bad manners to wear a hat. ~ Don't interrupt. If I, or someone else is talking, wait your turn. ~ Hold the door open, and not just for a lady but for anyone. If you are opening the door and see someone walking up behind you, hold it for them. ~ Say please and thank you. ~ Do not talk back to your parents or grand parents. ~ Yes and no, not yeah and naw. ~ Loud profanity is not cool, it is loud profanity, and my grand children do not need to hear it. There is a lot more but you get the idea, I hope. I will leave you with this gentlemen, if you come into my home and act like an ass, insist on showing me yours or are rude to my family I will ask you to leave...with the point of my boot.

Ladies = See that word, ladies? Act like it starting with please and thank you. ~ While both sexes are guilty I see more women do this than men so I put it here...HANG UP AND DRIVE!!! ~ Stop putting on your makeup while driving your car. If you don't have time before you leave the house then do it at work or get up 10 minutes earlier. ~ From there it repeats the men. Women can hold open a door. Don't interrupt. Loud profanity is just that, etc. I think we all see a pattern here.

I am by no means the best person in the world, but the things I listed here I do. I don;t even wear a hat in the house, let alone at the table. Even when dealing with the guys who work “for” me I say please and thanks you when assigning a task. It is not that hard and it is the polite thing to do. Folks, your children watch you. They will grow up to act like you. So ask yourself, do I want my child to grow up just like me? If the answer is no then you need to make corrections in yourself. If the answer is yes then you may just remember what manners are. If the answer is yes but you are a complete Jackwagon, well then you have issues too large to be handled here. You might want to think about seeking professional help. Time to wake up America and start treating each other politely and with respect. It is not that hard.

That is all....for now.

‎"We must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It's time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." ~~ Ronald Reagan

 

This may seem like an interesting place to begin a blog but I happen to think this is a wonderful quote and needs to be repeated over and over again by ALL Americans until it sinks in. I am not your babysitter nor am I the reason you do what you do. You and I have free will. We choose what we are going to do each day from the time we get out of bed. So stop blaming others, or society because you have a screw loose. It is NOT my fault. It is NOT the fault of the government. It is NOT the fault of someone you saw on TV. If you have screwed something up, screwed someone over, broken the law, or in any other way proven yourself to be a worthless piece of crap and you want to know who is to blame....look in the damn mirror!

 

I have listened for the last several days to the talking heads, "experts", and politicos ramble on about the tragedy in Arizona being the fault of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Are you kidding me? This suspect (I would say alleged shooter but when you are seen by multiple witnesses killing people, 2 of whom tackled you and took your gun, then there is nothing alleged about you) has had issues for some time. The news and Internet is coming out every day with new information on him, most recently showing a history of mental and anger issues as far back as 2009. So he has issues, he is defiant, he is argumentative and has been kicked out of college for all of these reasons. The college even said it was, "for the safety of the students and staff", and yet this rampage was the fault of the Tea Party? Seriously? Did you people roll out of bed this morning and have a big bowl of crack crispies? This man would have been pulling the trigger on people no matter who said what, period. And I have no doubt that, if allowed back into society, he will do it again. I know that sounds cynical but tough. I have 7 years military service and 29 years in law enforcement and have earned the right to be cynical.

 

My outlook it that the Tea Party no more caused this man's shooting spree anymore than golf made Tiger Woods cheat on his wife. And if guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons made Oprah fat! Remember: hold the person accountable for their actions, not the means they chose to utilize. The responsibility lies with one man and we should always remember that.