Remembering Truth

After a plethora of praise for the late Edward M. Kennedy, senator from Massachusetts, all citing the wonderful and saint-like work his life was filled with, I thought I would add my short two cents worth by sharing the single thing that comes to my mind when I remember Teddy.
It’s a shame that some in this country tend to idolize those who only project a misleading image of compassion and concern for their fellow human beings. Actions, no matter how long ago, will always speak louder than words.
Rest in peace, Mary Jo Kopechne… oh, and you, too, senator. Perhaps now we can get our priorities straight.

“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” – Edwin Burke

“Honest discussions – even and perhaps especially on topics about which we disagree – can help us resist hypocrisy and arrogance. They can also help us live up to the basic ideals, such as liberty and justice for all, on which our country was founded.” – David E. Price

“Dad, I’m in some trouble. There’s been an accident and you’re going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things.” – Edward M. Kennedy

Life Is Filled With Tough Choices

Oftentimes, the title of this post is definitely a drastic understatement. However, seldom has circumstances put regular, working people into such an unusual position from which to make a decision. What, you may ask, am I talking about? Let me explain further.
Suppose you are the primary breadwinner in a young family of four. Your spouse does part-time work, but spends most of their time caring for your two pre-school age children. Due to the economic conditions you exist under, you own only one vehicle. It simply wouldn’t be fiscally responsible to have two. Life is good, even if it isn’t froth with the frills and luxuries others may have. And you love each other very much.
Your job is demanding, both physically and emotionally. You’ve been required to work overtime, which brings with it the blessing of additional income, as well as the curse of less time at home with your family. You make the sacrifice, if it can be called such when it comes without a choice on your part. And the kids are growing up fast.
Hurricane season is approaching. Last year, with not one, but two storms hammering the gulf coast, there is still recovery work to be done. You’re just grateful to God that your family made it through. The early evacuation warnings helped to ensure that you all got out before the worst hit. Perhaps you lost a home, and most of your belongings, but you’ve still got each other. And you work hard every day to provide as much as you can for those you love.
You show up at work this morning to see a piece of paper being shoved at you, along with a demand for signature. What’s this? A “Condition of Employment”… let me read this. It says:

“Employees may be required to work overtime, have work schedules changed, have days off canceled, and be temporarily reassigned to a different work location.”

Hmmm… that’s nothing new. You have to wonder why you’re being required to sign off
on that stuff. Old news. You continue reading:

“Mandatory evacuation orders given by local or state officials (e.g., for anticipated landfall of a hurricane) do not relieve employees from the requirement to report to work as required by their assigned daily schedule card or as directed by a supervisor… Failure to report to duty or remain on duty may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from employment.”

Wow. You’ve only got one car. The hurricane is bearing down on the coast, and your family is directly in the path of the storm. What to do?
Life is filled with tough choices, indeed. However, this isn’t one of them. Sure, employment may not be as easy to come by in todays dismal economy. But I can guarantee you this much – there isn’t a job anywhere in the world, for any amount of money, that’s worth a loving family. If this choice is between ensuring the safety of my family, or securing my employment, it’s a no brainer. The stupidity of those who continue to toil under the mistaken impression that employees are equivalent to modern-day slaves continues to simply amaze me.
It continues to disgust me, as well.

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.” – Anthony Brandt

“I’ll keep it short and sweet — Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.” – Matt Groening

Abandoning Logic…

…would insinuate that logic was ever present and/or utilized. So technically, I’m thinking that logic can’t be abandoned in the circumstances I find myself in these days. I received a list today of things that I am now “allowed/not allowed” to have. I find myself being forced to laughter, as otherwise the insult would simply cause ulcers. Allow me to give some examples.
Effective immediately, I can have a bottled beverage, provided it is unopened, in clear plastic and no larger than 32 ounces. But, I am expressly forbidden from having a canned beverage of any kind. Of course, I can also have an empty cup (no larger than 32 ounces) and/or an empty thermos (no larger than 1 quart). This means that I can’t pour my canned soda into anything else, I guess.
Effective immediately, I can have coffee and/or coffee creamer, provided they are packaged in a clear Zip-Lock bag. (See, right here is where that empty cup I’m allowed would really come in handy… if it wasn’t required to be empty!) I can also have a candy bar, provided it is removed from the wrapper and placed in a clear Zip-Lock bag. (Everybody does that, right? I mean, what else are you gonna do with a candy bar?) And, as long as we’re gonna wear out a few Zip-Lock bags, I’m also allowed to have facial tissue and/or wipes, provided they are removed from their original packaging and placed in a clear Zip-Lock bag. (It’s starting to sound like I need to buy stock in S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., huh!)
Now don’t get me wrong. There are some things I can have that don’t have to be empty, or in a Zip-Lock bag. Let’s check the list.
Oh yeah… I’m allowed to have feminine hygiene products. But I’m not female, so… hmmm… I’m allowed to have “Fix-a-dent” (not to be confused with Fixodent), hand lotion, hand sanitizer (no doubt to clean up the lotion and the “Fix-a-dent”), lip balm, lip stick and a “wash cloth sized rag” (not to be confused with a regular wash cloth), provided each of these items are in a “trial size.” See, I’m assuming this is similar to a travel size, but I’m not going to risk it on pure assumption.
I am expressly forbidden to have fingernail clippers. I’m not sure how to take that, since I’m also required to keep my fingernails trimmed. Hmmm… better think on that one for a while.
I’m allowed to have an umbrella – but I’m required to leave it in a designated area where I generally don’t go. Guess I could dump out my coffee and use the Zip-Lock bag if it rains.
I’m allowed to have a cell phone, if it is owned and issued by the folks who made the list. I’m forbidden from having a personal cell phone.
For the record, I’m also forbidden from having alcohol, lighters/matches, and any type of tobacco product. I’m not worried about that though, because the list allows me to have a paper, pocket type calendar, as well as a small notepad, a pen and a pencil.
Yep… this is my world. Can you take a look at this list and tell me what crime I’ve committed that has rendered me subject to the vivid imaginations of others?

I feel as though I’m floating in a sea of lunacy and knee-jerk reactions. Seriously, if your neighbor beats his dog, is everyone on the street forbidden to own a pet? I just don’t think I will ever understand the thought process that leads to such things. The one that says everyone should be punished, lest one might do wrong. But, such is life in my world for the moment.
Tell me… where am I?

“Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.”
- Laurence J. Peter

“We live in a Newtonian world of Einsteinian physics ruled by Frankenstein logic.”
- David Russell

“The longer I’m here, the less they trust me. But, when I’m gone, they’ll still say I was a good guy.”
- Jeff Jeter

Best Place to Live?

Since I’m approaching retirement age, I’m beginning to wonder if maybe there are better places to be. Sure, I know that every place on earth comes with its own set of issues… I just have to wonder if very many of them are of the self-inflicted variety, as ours seem to be. (I wonder about a lot of things, just for the record.)
I decided I would take a look and see what the general consensus is regarding the best places in the world to live. Admittedly, I was surprised. The United States wasn’t even in the top ten on most of the lists I found. And, as of July 2009, Costa Rica was the country shown at number one. Who’d would have guessed it? It must be a truly well-guarded secret.
I wasn’t surprised to see that the United Nations – which I do not regard highly, to say the least – didn’t agree. Instead, they listed Iceland as their number one country to live in. Between the two, I’d have to go with Costa Rica. I’m not that into snow!
But, I’ve been blessed here with friends in faraway places like the Netherlands and Tasmania (and Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida!), whose opinions I value. So, let me hear from you! Where would be a good place for me to retire?

Peace and prayers…

“There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.” – Samuel Johnson

“One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways.” – Bertrand Russell

“Since I’ve learned what STFU means, I find that I have a history of shouting it at politicians and the television news a lot. And I still do.” – Jeff Jeter

Not Having It My Way

You have to think that the people who own Burger King are going through toilet paper like water through a screen door. Thanks to this bone-headed move, my days of Whopper consumption have officially come to an end. Check out the story here.
Hello Whataburger!

And, just so you can keep a smidge of hope in the myriad local governments operating around the country, you’ll be happy to know that the city of Tulare, California is on the job. Yep, in Tulare, even 8-year old girls can’t operate a lemonade stand without city permits. Shut down!
Assholes.

Peace and prayers.

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.” – Robert Kennedy

“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.” – Harlan Ellison

Definitely Worth a Thousand Words…

I think the picture says it all. So much potential. So little common sense. And apparently, no concern at all for the average American. I suppose that, no matter how much we may want to believe that there is such a thing as an honest politician, no such thing exists. Shame. And I tell you what, when Los Angeles starts to scream about the Democrat controlled government… well, me thinks something stinks. I’m not sure who the “artist” is, but I think he’s earned a beer summit at the White House. Whaddya think? Samuel Adams, anyone?

Oh, and just so people can’t say I’m unfairly picking on the commandant in sheep, here’s the original version (which no one complained about). Amazing how times have changed, huh? Or have they…

Peace and prayers.

“The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.” – Norman Mailer

“The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.” – Karl Marx

“By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell — and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.” – Adolf Hitler

“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” – Norman Thomas

“Yes we can.” – Barack Obama

Can I Check That Lock?

Art Lebedev has come up with this beauty of intellectual engineering, and has called it the Thief-Proof Home Door Lock-and-Chain Maze. I have to say, it looks like it may be fun to work with… unless your house was on fire and you needed to get the hell out!
The lovely Lady Gwynneth and I returned from a day of air conditioning installation at my Mom’s house to find that the door lock on the front door had been totally stripped out. You insert the key and it just free-wheeled in never-ending circles, never unlocking anything at all. It was only through her skilled athleticism that she was able to shimmy through a window we were able to rattle open that we were able to get into the house. A quick check showed that everything was good. Everything except the shattered guts of the front door lock. So it was off to the hardware store to buy new and better lock sets.
Locks… they are a strange, yet somehow comforting thing. We carefully install them on every entry door into our respective abodes, making sure to set them every night before we retire. That allows us to sleep better, snug with the knowledge that the big, bad world can’t get in. But are we really keeping anyone out? Are there not windows? It seems that we are really keeping ourselves secured inside. A self-imposed “prison” of sorts, on a nightly basis.
I don’t know why I ponder things such as these. But, as long as I’m thinking about it, I better go make sure I set that dead bolt.
Peace and prayers.

“If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.” – Albert Einstein

“If only they made locks for mouths. Think of how high I may have promoted by now.” – Jeff Jeter

With this post, the foot of the stairs has welcomed its 17,000th visitor! Thanks so much for keeping us on your reading lists, and may God bless!