Okay, it's time for the opinionated
bitch to toss in her two cents. It's the
New Year and I decided to clean out my very fat, very neglected Pause for
Thought folder. I tuck little notes into
it on a very nearly daily basis. Some
subjects border on silly, some I take extremely seriously. I have no doubt you will be able to tell the
difference. At any rate, these are some
of the things I want to get off my chest and out of my PFT folder:
First, I hope everyone has a wonderful
year in 2017, and that your lives improve, and that sadness is virtually
non-existent for each and every one of you and your families.
Now – my opinions – mind you, I
welcome comments and discussion…plenty of space below the article.
I would rather have 1 scoop of real
ice cream then 10 scoops of low carb, low fat, sugar free crap.
And are diet industry reps that
refute evidence that aspartame causes serious health problems inbred with the
tobacco reps that used to say smoking didn't cause serious health problems? Just
wondering…
Many of my friends say I will die
behind the wheel of my car – not from an accident, but because I'll be behind
some moron doing 45 in a 65 and my head will just explode. Probably true.
To all you politically correct
fanatics, please lighten the hell up at least a little. You're gonna stroke out trying to make the
whole world perfectly bland.
TV censorship – I like the way it
is today – after nine o'clock at night, restrictions on language and adult
situations lax up a lot. Finally. I know there are those who complain because they
have little ones. Well, train your
children, not the whole rest of the world.
Use the controls on your TVs, and let the rest of us enjoy our
entertainment. I have no desire to go
back in time to when TV couples had twin beds, couldn't show the inside of a
bathroom, and had to refer to pregnancy as "in a family way." TV kind of grew up along with me through the
years. I'm happy about that. – I do however remember Janet Jackson's
exposed boobs during the Superbowl.
Whether it was on purpose or not, I don't see much difference between
that and those cheerleaders with their boobs and asses hanging out of their
costumes. If you are going to call the
Superbowl family entertainment, then the cheerleaders could dress a little more
conservatively. I personally don't care
it doesn't offend me, but I heard all kinds of bitching about Janet's
"slip" – and it lasted forever.
Just like Miley's twerking. If
your kids are out in the world, chances are they've seen most of the things
you're trying to shield them from. In my
opinion – and I'm stressing that it's my opinion – I think it's better to talk
to kids about this type of thing instead of trying to protect them from
it. If you don't talk to your kids and
clue them in about sex, believe me, there are perverts out there who will. Children need to be prepared to go out into
the world, or they're going to get eaten alive.
They need to know how to protect themselves. And not just from pervs,
but from pushers, bullies, thieves, and other bad people. They need to know that your rules and your
protection are there for a reason.
Making them aware is ensuring their survival.
Oil drillers: Stay the hell off of Native American
land. Period. Trespassing is trespassing. And it should not depend on whether the land
is sacred burial grounds or not. What
part of NOT YOUR LAND do you people not comprehend? And while we're on the subject, oil people –
it's not going to be long before fossil fuel is history. Why don't you invest in alternate energy now
instead of using your wealth to suppress it?
Instead of buying fracking equipment, why not by solar panels and
equipment to build roads and houses out of them? You won't continue to poison the water table,
cause earthquakes, and pollute every inch of ground you venture onto. So far your greed and selfishness has been
astonishing. Your lack of forethought is
epic. How much power and money do you really and truly need? Your behavior has gone far past criminal
neglect, and proceeded into intentional endangerment of all living things. Is that really how you want your
grandchildren to remember you? If, of
course, they survive in the world you've turned into a polluted dung heap?
Bathroom stalls in ladies' rooms
are too tight and the doors should open outwards. In some of them you practically have to climb
up on the toilet to get the door open.
What the hell? Barely enough room
to buckle a belt let alone change a sanitary product. I stopped going to one restaurant because if my
knees bumped the door the latch gave.
So Trump is deporting all
immigrants? Cool. American lands will finally go back to the
Indians and wildlife when everyone of European descent ships out – including Trump
and all of his white bread cabinet. B'bye!
I hope that all idealists can
change the world so dramatically that it renders my skepticism and cynicism
obsolete.
I think the few politicians who
exist who aren't lining their pockets and abusing their power are working
against monumental odds.
Why I like basketball best: it
moves; uniforms show a lot of skin, the rules are simple, the scoring is
simple, tall guys. J
Some of our technology is almost
like Star Trek. You can do everything
with your phone – pictures, music, GPS, tracking devices, texting, internet
access, and so much more. When I was a
teenager I had a little cassette recorder and thought it was cool that I could
record music off my clock radio – even though you could hear my dog barking in
the background. And until I was ten
years old our TV was black and white, there was an antenna on the roof, no
cable. VHS was 25 years away, let alone
DVDs or TVs that recorded shows digitally or live feed. It's exciting and confusing all at the same
time. Spock would approve.
I don't understand why the
citizenship requirements have to be so convoluted and take so long. Instead of deporting people who want to work
(I'm not talking about criminal element, gang members, etc – ship 'em the hell
out of our country) make it easy for them to keep their green cards, and
facilitate the citizenship process so that they can work and realize their
dreams. And it's win-win, because once
they realize their dreams as American citizens, they give back via the taxes
they pay. And the only people who are
allowed to bitch about immigrants are pureblood Native Americans. Everybody else is only here because their
families floated their butts over to America from other countries.
Brock Turner only served three
months for committing a brutal rape. Un-freaking-believable. During that three months I hope he at least
took it up the butt all day and night every day and night. Little entitled bastard.
Never a fan of open floor plans –
kitchen clatter is annoying when having a conversation or watching TV in the
living area, not to mention reading or napping.
Plus, keep the heat in the kitchen in the summer when the air
conditioning is running. A dining room table is a great place for kids to study
and do homework, unless the TV is on in the living room that is not petitioned
off.
I wish politicians would stop using
buzz-words and platitudes and just talk to people like human beings.
70% - SEVENTY PERCENT – of Germany's
energy is solar and non-fossil fuels.
That's been written into law there.
No more gasoline powered vehicles.
We need to put the oil industry in its place – stop fighting wars over
oil which we wouldn't need if the fossil fuel industry didn’t spend vast amounts
of money suppressing research and implementation of alternate fuel sources. No dependency on filthy fuel and the Middle
East. No more fracking/drilling/leaking
oil that poisons the soil and water, causes earthquakes, and destroys our
environment. Why don't the oil fat-cats take part of their fortunes and invest
in alternative energy – phase out fossil fuels and build up cleaner, safer
energy industries? That's where money is
going to be made in the future. You
would think they'd be all over it. I
don't understand the stupidity – or the selfishness.
I'm cutting way back on Facebook
this year. I learned a lot from this
election – like bullies who post controversial memes or sentiments, and if you
say something in disagreement, even politely they get all pissed off, unfriend
you, then talk smack and mock you behind your back. To me that's just chickenshit. Cowardly.
I will debate with anyone. Even
on my own page. Unfriending is the 21st
Century equivalent of "well! I'm
gonna take my dollies and go home!
Hmph!" It's almost
funny.
Just for the record, Professor Yancy,
(teaching philosophy at Emory): The second you say "all white people are
racist," you have made a racist statement.
If you reverse that sentiment and said "all black people are
racist," would that be fair? Exactly what sort of philosophy do you
teach? Perhaps inflammatory speech
designed to divide the citizenry?
I never believed in imminent
domain. It flies in the face of personal
freedom. You build a house or a
business, live in it all your life, raise your children in it, follow county
codes and maintain your property just right, get it all paid off and all of a
sudden the government comes along and seizes it to widen a freaking road. Really?
They're widening a road through the town where I live. They are destroying a building that houses
several apartments and offices that a man leases to supplement his retirement.
He's going to be wiped out. Not
right. Build a freaking overpass or
something. Many businesses are going to
be wiped out, and some private homes as well.
Aren't those people citizens and part of the public with rights?
Meme: when you see me in heaven, don't shit
yourselves, you judgmental pricks! J
For Trump to have his finger on the
button of a weapon of mass destruction is kindof redundant: he pretty much is a weapon of mass destruction. Oops!
Did I say that?
I truly hope Trump proves me wrong –
I hope in the last 35 years he's perhaps matured and grown some morals, but
it's not looking that way. I'm just
hoping Congress and the Supreme Court won't let him go too far and run our
already troubled country into the ground.
You know, I can't help believing in
capital punishment. I read an article
about two-year-old Glenara Bates who was bitten, scratched, burned, had teeth
knocked out, whipped with belts, shaken hard enough to cause concussion, had a
head wound that was hand-sewn (!), had nails driven through her foot, and
starved to death (she was 13 pounds), by her mother and father. I'm glad he received the death penalty, and
could not believe that Glenara's family actually wept at his sentencing. What kind of monsters are these creeps? The
mother is being tried separately and their other children are in foster
care. The ten-year-old daughter
testified for the prosecution. The
father is on death row. I wish he was in
general population with a chance of being tortured by other inmates. Lethal injection is way too peaceful a death
for him. And the mother too. As far as
I'm concerned, I don't want my tax money going to feed bastards like this. Let them starve to death like they starved
their tiny daughter.
Also, no more death row. Once a violent criminal is sentenced to
death, that sentence should be carried out right then and there. There should be a death chamber right off the
courtroom. March them right on in there
and put them down like the mad animals they are. No goodbyes, no nothing. They shouldn't receive any more sympathy or
consideration than they gave their victims and their victims' families.
How long is it going to take the
Supreme Court to repeal Blue Laws? If
you want to observe superstitious/religious rules, that's your business. Expecting me to observe them is NOT your
business and it's unconstitutional. Isn't
that also covered by the rules of free enterprise?
About people who bootleg music/movies
and plagiarize books. Fans do not
steal. Do not call these criminals fans
or followers. If you own a store and
someone comes into it and takes a bottle of shampoo without paying for it, you
do not call that person a customer, you call them a thief. So please, let's not call people who download
music or any other art or lit without purchasing it a fan. The proper term is thief. The laws should be taken seriously and
enforced. Someone steals my book or my
stories, they might as well snatch my purse.
They've stolen something that is mine.
A thought for Christians who think
writing a check is all they have to do:
Suppose Jesus had just thrown coins at those who came to him to be
healed?
In answer to people who piss and
moan about Facebook updates and changes: I look at it this way. Zuckerberg created an amazing social
page. If you think about it, there are
so many apps, so many amusing aspects of it, so many ways to share your life
with family and friends, the little imperfections are minor. And it's free. So until I can come up with something better
(not in a million years) I should enjoy it and perhaps discuss glitches, but
only if I present them in a positive way, and perhaps even come up with a
solution for them. As far as Zuckerberg's
making a profit (even gazillions), if I came up with something as popular and
amazing as Facebook, I should be able to profit from it (as long as his
employees are all making a fair and livable wage). And while changes can be aggravating, at
least Facebook wasn't created and abandoned.
It's maintained and improved – maybe not to users' specifications or
expectations, but we didn't create the thing, so who are we to tell the one who
did how to maintain his creation?
People who have good manners in
public among strangers, but belch, fart, slurp, and are rude at home – why would
you be considerate to strangers but a pig to those you love? Seems a bit disrespectful to me.
There should be no statute of limitations on ANY violent
crimes – especially if they are committed against children.
Sometimes it seems to me that HHPPA
protects psychopaths. With no communication between families, courts, healthcare,
law enforcement, schools, military, and religious organizations, especially
with minors where parents are held responsible for their actions, how are
problems ever supposed to be effectively addressed before someone with a
problem explodes (like Cho at Virginia Tech who massacred students) or implodes
and commits suicide? Confidentiality
should be secondary to public safety. If
there are psychopathic/violent tendencies the public should be warned, and the
person with the problem closely monitored.
Too many seriously disturbed, violent people are slipping through the
cracks.
I wish people would stop taking the
path of least resistance. Freedoms must
be earned. Take back your health,
liberty, pursuit of happiness, government, pride, economy, self-respect. You can't get what you want sitting on your
ass in front of the TV, behind a video game in a recliner, or on Facebook. There are people in wheelchairs who would
love to have your freedom to get up and move.
If we leave everything to the
politicians, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting for the last
century: shit and shoved in it.
While I agree with the overall
sentiment, and agree that war will be humanity's doom, I also believe that Good
has to defend itself or Evil will utterly and completely destroy it. And I'm not talking religious comparisons or
philosophical ideologies, because that's mostly esoteric crap that will never
be resolved. I'm talking survival. Psychopaths like ISIS must be contained. They are ruthless, they fall into the crazy
not stupid category, and they are relentless.
Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. War might be our doom, but if I'm going to
die anyway, I'd rather die taking evil out of commission as opposed to letting
it step on my face while it destroys me anyway.
Suppose we hadn't stopped the Nazis?
Suppose we hadn't fought for our independence? Suppose we don't stand up to ISIS? Doesn't allowing genocide to happen make us collaborators
in it to some degree?
Bill Cosby. I own the entire Cosby Show, as well as
"Cosby Himself." I felt like
he was a part of my family – that used to be a good thing. Now it's like he was a perv uncle who had a
whole secret life and everything I knew about him was a lie. And I was merely a fan. I can't begin to know how betrayed his wife
and children must feel. If it had been a
situation where things just got a little hot and heavy and he came on a little
too strong, once when he was young,
that would be one thing, but all the way back to 1965 with the drugs and the
forced sex. What I don't understand, is
that he was an attractive man, who could have had sex any time he wanted. Why force it?
Why rape? What a waste. Pathetic,
lying, creep.
On the flip side of that coin, there
are women who trade sex to get what they want and who are every bit as duplicitous
as their male counterparts. Everyone
acted like Monica Lewinsky was a victim.
How's that again? She got the job
in the White House, publicizing the blow job got her fame, published in major
magazine and newspaper, and book deals and later a clothing line. In 2014 she's "breaking her
silence" and later started doing interviews again while Hillary was
running for office. When exactly was she
silent? Sexual whore then, media whore ever since. If you type "Monica" into Google,
the first search result that appears in the cache is Monica Lewinsky. The thing is, when actual rape happens,
especially with celebrities, the public thinks back on ho-bags like Monica and
are skeptical about women who come forward who have truly been victimized. When the media takes over and sensationalizes
that horror when it's the real deal, it's a nightmare for the victim. If it didn't happen and it's sensationalized,
it's a nightmare for the accused – who actually becomes the victim. And to be fair, it isn't always the men. I fully understand the concept of rape
culture, but there are some women who know that there is money and power
between the sheets and don't hesitate to mine for it. And then they find out there is more money
and power to be had by blackmailing the men.
There are some truly insidious people out there – male and female. It's not an easy thing to keep score.
Ever work for an employer that
allowed you to determine your own salary? Or let you decide when you would get
a raise and how much it would be? Why
should politicians? Our government is supposed to be for/by/of the people. Salaries and raises for the government should
be decided by public referendum. The
people should evaluate all local and federal legislators and officials, and
decide if their performance has earned them a raise, annually, just like any
other employees. And if the economy
plummets they should take pay cuts just like everyone else. No tax shelters, no offshore accounts. Their retirement packages should not be 100
percent of their pay, either. They
should only receive Social Security, and have to make their own personal retirement
investments like everyone else.
Especially if they are hiking taxes for the middle class, and cutting
Social Security, Medicare, and Disability benefits for average Americans. The
United States were not formed to support and accommodate wealthy elitists;
exactly the opposite.
We need to rein in big
business. If a company is caught with
offshore accounts, the entire company should be deported to the country where
the accounts are. If a company
outsources all of their jobs to, say, India, then that company should be
required to headquarter in India.
Including executives. If they
aren't employing Americans, and they aren't paying taxes in America, why should
they live here, in luxury when their employees are struggling an ocean
away? For that matter, I think
outsourcing jobs should be illegal.
American companies should employ Americans, and be completely part of
the American economy.
No more multi-million dollar
corporate bankruptcies. (That goes for
you too, Donald Trump!) If you own a
multi-million dollar company, and it fails, and you have personal wealth, you
should be required to pay off the debts, not declare bankruptcy and leave
others holding the bag. Nobody else gets
away with that, why should big business?
All the top-heavy businesses should
be required to pay their employees fair salaries. No more companies with execs making tens of
millions a year while employees doing the actual work live below the poverty
level. Especially in retail. Wealth
should be distributed. No executive should make millions of dollars a year
while any of their employees qualify for food stamps. That's a disgrace.
No selling land to foreign
entities. Especially Native American
land, John McCain and other despicable politicians like you! Stealing the resources beneath land that
doesn't belong to the government in the first place, trying to swindle the land
out from under the owners in the second place.
Shame! How do you bastards sleep
at night? How many times do you think
you have the right to shaft a group of people?
And shame to any American citizen who allows this theft to
continue. If it can happen to the Native
Americans, it can happen to you.
With all the early pregnancy tests
available there should be no abortions after the second month of pregnancy,
though I do believe a woman has the right to choose, especially if her life is
at risk, if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest (including rape by a
spouse). She should not have the right
to terminate a pregnancy after the first trimester – in fact, I think that's
pushing it. 12 weeks is very close to
when the heartbeat can be detected, and the fetus begins to become
recognizable, as opposed to a clot of cells.
Two months seems fair- a period has been missed, and the tests work by
then. So, perhaps an 8 week soft
deadline, and a 12 week hard deadline.
And a word to pro-lifers: Not
everyone is perfect. Before you go
condemning a woman seeking an abortion, and picketing clinics that provide the
procedures, perhaps you should go to the clinics and provide an
alternative: Contract with clinics, and
women seeking abortions, to assume financial responsibility for the birth of
the woman's child, and subsequent adoption.
If you are not willing to assume such responsibility in the name of
saving that life, than perhaps you should back off. And as far as those signs you carry with
pictures of babies that survive the abortion and are killed – I'm not talking
about that. Those late-term abortions
are already illegal, and certainly should be.
So you can put away all the horror-pictures and videos that you use to
terrorize the uninformed over to your opinion.
And those of you who commit violent acts during your demonstrations and
protests, you are hypocrites. Human life
is either sacred or it's not.
Churches should be taxed just like
any other business. Televangelists are
worth hundreds of millions of dollars, begging from people like they're
floundering. Really? How do they sleep at night? If an organization is non-profit, one hundred
percent of the income should go to the cause.
Charitable organizations should be run by volunteers. Period.
The second anyone in the organization, religious or not, collects a
paycheck, the organization should be taxed just like any other business. The second a church invests in any commercial
stocks or financial accounts, it should be taxed like any other business. I have no problem with churches accumulating
wealth to accommodate their congregations and their charitable causes, but
that's not what's happening. Church administrations are getting top heavy and
rich. They are not strictly charitable
organizations. Therefore they should be
taxed like any other businesses. If
ministers, priests, nuns, and lay personnel receive payment for the jobs they
do, they should be taxed just like any other citizen of this country. And the Roman Catholic church is no exception. Churches requiring a tithe from their
congregants are requiring payment like a business. If 'minimum donations' are demanded for
priests and nuns to say prayers for congregants, those 'minimum donations' should be taxable. They are not praying out of the goodness of
their hearts, they are praying for profit, which is reprehensible to begin
with. I don't recall Jesus Christ ever
accepting payment for his prayers and miracles.
Who do priests think they are?
Criminals in prison should have to
earn their keep. Put them to work. No rest for the wicked. As much as possible they should grow their
own food. Exercise yards and all prison
grounds should be turned into gardens. Work is exercise, let them stay in shape
by working. They work; they eat. Simple equation. If there is not enough work to keep everyone
active, then upon leaving prison, convicts should be required to pay back
society for their room and board. I
never understood why people should have to pay for the keeping of criminals who
already harmed society. It's like being
victimized twice.
Grocery stores and restaurants
should be required to donate leftovers to shelters and charitable
organizations. This policy of throwing
away leftovers at the end of the day when there are starving people out there
needs to stop. Nobody should be hungry
when perfectly good food is tossed into dumpsters every single night. And any frivolous lawsuits brought about
saying that food is tainted by people looking to make a fortune via a lawsuit, should
be thrown right the hell out of court.
Every single American citizen, upon
turning eighteen, should have to serve two years in the military. Period.
No exceptions. No college
deferments. No hardship nonsense. If you are employed by the military, then you
are supporting your family. Whatever
race, financial status, gender, etc. If
you are a citizen of this country, you should be required to serve. And everyone should come up through the
ranks, promotion by promotion. One group
of citizens should not have to risk their lives and limbs to ensure the freedom
of another group that thinks they are too good to serve. Even citizens who are
mildly disabled could serve in some way.
And if someone leaves this country to avoid military service, their
citizenship should be permanently revoked.
It's time equality became a reality in this country.
And finally, to clarify things just
a little: Just because I cannot stand
Trump doesn't mean I liked Hillary either.
Personally, I don't think either candidate was worth a crap. Which is why I didn't vote. As far as my personal politics is concerned,
I'm conservative about some things, and liberal about others. I think most situations are multi-faceted,
and generalizations are dangerous. As
conservative as some of my above statements are, I abhor racism, bigotry, sexism,
age discrimination, no matter where it comes from. While I hope that humans can get a grip on
themselves and end war, I know that there will always be fanatics and
psychopaths who will require decent people with consciences to stand up to
them. So, while I yearn for peace I support a strong military. I think teachers, medical personnel,
emergency responders, police officers, and military personnel should be paid
better than sports figures and entertainers.
This country's got serious gyroscope problems.
Okay. I think I'm finished for now. Again, I welcome comments and
discussion. Drop me a line.
