I Think, Therefore I Rant!

I find myself writing on this subject again. I wrote about it when the lowlife Michael Vick pled guilty to animal cruelty charges and now I write as Barry Bonds is indicted for lying while under oath.

I know that most of the commentary on the web and the mainstream media is regarding Mr. Bonds use of steroids. But that isn’t the charge! Rather, he is being charged that he obstructed justice by lying under oath. Even Martha Stewart spent time in prison for a similar violation.

Lying under oath is a serious charge and the talking heads like Charles Barkley don’t seem to get it. They think this is a witch hunt about steroid use. It isn’t. It is about lying under oath when you shouldn’t lie. At a minimum he should have cited his 5th amendment rights when asked the question.

Like a lot of people, I have become hooked on “desktop search” products. These products index your hard drive’s documents so that you can quickly and easily search for that piece of information you know that you have but are missing. The most popular version of this is Google Desktop but there are others and I particularly like Copernic Desktop Search because I find it more stable than the other utilities on the market and it can read my calendar in Outlook which is a big deal to me.

As much as I like these tools, I find that there is one big thing that they all miss. They don’t rank my favorite sites higher than other sites if I am doing a web search. This simply doesn’t make sense. Obviously, I have been to that site before (or else it wouldn’t be in my Favorites/Bookmarks folder). Therefore, I trust that information more than other information.

For the last 2 posts, I have explained that social security is in real trouble and should be euthanized. Now I will explain how to do it in the most fair and compassionate way possible.

Our current generation of retirees (and soon-to-be retirees) needs to be protected in this whole process. Therefore my plan doesn’t require them to make any sacrifices. They had a contract with the US government and we need to keep that contract. So the first step of the process is that anyone 58 and over receives all of the benefits that they are currently supposed to receive.

The second step of the process is that since everyone that is 57 today has ten years to prepare for the change, they will receive 10% less than what they were supposed to receive as of today. They need to start saving to prepare for that day and stop looking to the government for a complete handout that is not going to happen. Besides, 10% is not that big of a sacrifice.

My last post talked about our wimpy politicians and their fear of trying to fix the social security system. It won’t be easy and it is a little complicated so please read carefully:

WE NEED TO ELIMINATE SOCIAL SECURITY!

That is the hardest thing to accept. Once we accept that, the question becomes how to eliminate it.

You ask why we should eliminate social security. Did you read my last post? If no, please do so now then come back (click here). Don’t worry, I will wait.

…….. long pause

Now that you’re back, it should be obvious that the biggest curse that Franklin Roosevelt did was to setup a system that violates reason. FDR’s system only works if there are more workers today than yesterday and more workers tomorrow than today. Since that equation cannot continue indefinitely, the system was bound to fail eventually. Now is the time of failure and we need to face it.

Social Security is often called the 3rd rail of politics - touch it and you die. While that is probably true, we still need some politicians to step up and commit suicide because it definitely needs fixed.

First, lets discuss why it needs fixed. I am days away from my 45th birthday as I write this and I have no confidence that I will see a dime of Social Security money when I turn 67 in 22 short years. If I do see any money, then it will be a huge burden on the backs of my children and their peers!

Nearly everyone that I talk to on this subject are under the same impression - no money for us or at least not in relationship to the huge amount of money we will have put into the system.

I am sick and tired of the bad attitude and the drugs in professional sports. I know that many athletes say that they aren’t heroes and they shouldn’t be held to a higher standard. I tend to agree with them but can’t we at least hold them to the same level of conduct that we hold our own co-workers?

If my co-worker was found to be sleeping with the boss in order to get ahead, they would both be dismissed from their position. If they lied on their resume, they would be fired. If they were salespeople and they falsified an order, they would be fired.

Similarly, if I go into work tomorrow and strike my boss with a fist (sometimes I have wanted to) then I would be fired and possibly be charged with a crime.

So why is it okay to have steroid use in sports? That is cheating.

America is the birthplace of the modern voting experience. Yes, I know ancient Greece voted for their Senators but their was a pretty big gap between then and when the entire government was elected by the people.

But for all of this heritage we seem to have lost the appetite for voting. Our voter turnout for the last couple of elections is pretty abysmal and is shamed by the latest Iraqi election where about 70% exercised their right to vote. The Afghanistan people also had an 80+% turnout when they elected their first President in 2004.

For the US, our elected officials cannot say that they were elected by the majority of their constituents but rather were elected by the majority (or plurality in some cases) of those who bothered to show up.

So why is this? Why don’t we give a s–t?

Why is it that Americans are so afraid of having an ID card? It isn’t like we are not caring a ton of documentation anyway. What is the harm of another card that is required to be presented when we enter or leave the country or when we vote or when we change jobs or enroll in a school?

What is the harm in doing any of this? Most of these locations require the showing of some form of ID anyway and all of those methods are easily counterfeited and not secure. If the method that we are being forced to use now is not secure than we are wasting our time be providing the information anyway - so let’s put something in place that actually works.

US GOVERNMENT: GO AHEAD AND REQUIRE A FOOLPROOF I’D CARD!

Our entire immigration system in the US is broken! We are addicted to low cost labor available from poorer countries. This has been the case since the birth of the country - why should we expect otherwise now?

I am Irish. When my forefathers came to this country they were likely trying to escape poverty and famine in the old country. When they came here, they had virtually no money and they had to work - in fact they expected to work. That is why they came to the land of opportunity!

Many of the canals of the Midwest and the railroads going west were built with the sweat of Irish labor (along with many other ethnic groups). This is a good thing and was the price of success for entering the land of the free and the brave. This condition is what we need to preserve in this country - hard work and moderately fair pay for those that are willing to do it. Lord, knows that we have enough people in this country that DON’T want to work hard but I will rant on welfare at some other time.

Okay, I get it. Teens like to wear clothes that make old people upset. This happened in my day with bell bottoms, embroidered jeans, and long hair (yes, I am that old). But common sense dictates that if you can’t jog down the street or play a casual game of basketball (baseball, Frisbee throwing, hopscotch - take your pick) without holding up your pants, then you aren’t fully dressed. I don’t care about baggy or ripped but can you please pull your pants up?

The sad part of all of this is that this “style” is actually a throwback to being in jail where the guards will remove a prisoners belts to avoid its use as a weapon or noose for suicide. The style was originally called “jailin” or “sagging” and was made mainstream by the Rap culture. By wearing pants below the buttocks, teens are actually making the statement that they are imprisoned and that is simply not true.