This is my last work day for the rest of the year and I've already shut down for the year. So I decided to put together something funny for the blog. Merry Christmas to all!

What do kids think about God? Find out below:

Something has been troubling me for quite a while and I decided to get it off my chest today. Is it possible for men and women to retain their friendships after one gets married? I don’t think so.

At one point in my life I used to have more female friends than male friends. But over the years I have lost touch with every female friend of mine except two, while retaining a relationship with almost all of my male friends. Well one of the two I used to be very close with but the last ten times (at least) we have made plans to do something she has cancelled at the last minute for a variety of reasons. We talk on the phone at least once a week and have for many years but when we plan to go to a movie or out to eat dinner she cancels every time.

She is still single and never wants to get married. We were friends long before I got married and my wife does not have a problem with me seeing her. I told my wife all about her before we got married and she does not feel threatened in any way. There is no animosity between the two at all either.

I feel like there is some secret code in which women will not hang out with married men or married women will not hang out with other men period. As soon as women get married it appears as they disappear from the face of the earth. I have run into other people which have known close female friends of mine who got married only to claim once they got married they never saw them again. Is marriage some strange cult to women? They must abandon their friends because of marriage and child rearing?

With this one in particular we used to go everywhere together. We would talk on the phone several times per day planning various activities, then at night we would go to parties or movies and afterward grab a bite to eat and debate various topics for hours. Then she got a boyfriend and we stopped spending time together and then I got a girlfriend and eventually got married while she broke up. I still made time for her but after I got married she acts like I have the plague or something.

I really don’t understand this and was hoping somebody could set me straight. Unlike most men, I actually enjoy the company of women and I don’t have to be screwing them to be enjoying myself. Maybe I’m getting too naïve in my old age or something.

If you are looking for a good news story for Christmas time, here is a good one. It's so disgusting I have absolutely no comment on it and it happened right here in good ole St. Louis.

As a young boy I hated my Catholic grade school. Back then, bullies were not punished like they are today. I remember one kid pulling a knife on me in the middle of class and I quickly reported him to the teacher. But after it was all said and done I was the one made a fool out of by the teacher and later the principal; the bully was not even reprimanded.

That school did a great job of teaching us it is best to look the other way and not to get involved. They also instilled other values like: fearing God’s wrath, the rules are more important than the people, how to totally conform and how you should completely abandon your brain and accept blind faith in things, plus many other fascist ideologies which took me years to unlearn.

One of the few things I remember was when we were taught how a story changes while being spread from one person to another. The teacher wrote a couple of sentences on a piece of paper and whispered them to a student, who whispered to another until the entire class of about 20 kids had heard the message.

The final student wrote what was whispered to them and the teacher compared it to what she had originally written. They were not even closely related sentences. I was supposed to learn the dangers of spreading rumors about other people but what I actually learned was something else. This Catholic grade school gave me all the ammunition I needed to prove how fallible the Bible actually could be.

I am constantly befuddled by individuals who believe and worship the Bible literally as it is written, word for word. This is preposterous to me. The Gospels writers did not even know Jesus. They wrote the Gospels generations after Christ was crucified. I don’t think the apostles who followed Jesus ever carried a notepad to write His every word or to document what happened. I think they probably told other people about what happened and the stories were passed around much like in my grade school class. We all know how that turned out.

It is also possible that many things transpired without any of the apostles being around to witness them. Just imagine how many things could have happened to change the course of Christianity but are forever lost because no one was there to witness them. So even if the Bible was recorded as accurately as theologians believe, just think about how many things were accidentally omitted.

In my college years I was quite a hellcat. Every now and then I will meet somebody who remembers me from an event long past and tells me about something they remembered I did. We’ll have a laugh, shake hands and part ways and I am thinking, “What in the hell are they talking about? That did not happen that way, they are way off!” Now they were there and I remember them being there but the events they described did not happen as they remembered.

Later, I would talk with other friends who were there and they tell me they remember it differently from both of us. So who is right? I don’t know. I think it is more important to remember we had a party and everybody had fun. There are stories about me circulating that are not really true or at least not true as I remember them. Not that I mind because it contributes to my legend, but again we see how even eye witness accounts can vary and, in most cases, be very inaccurate.

Let’s get back to the Bible. So now am I to believe, as an intelligent human being, that 2,000 years ago those people could pass around stories by word of mouth while retaining all of the details. We are also expected to believe every word was written as words flowing directly from the mouth of Jesus onto their piece of paper. I think we should all be too intelligent to believe this is even possible.

People are fallible and people make mistakes; even people who wrote about Jesus 2,000 years ago and earlier. Imagine if they accidentally added a mathematical “typo” like 2 + 2 = 5. Today it would be a religious fact that 2 +2 = 5 and you would have theologians ignoring their common sense and writing essays about how 2 + 2 IS equal to 5 as according to God’s law. They would also ponder if the heathen mathematicians should be damned to eternal hell for spreading the heresy of 2 + 2 = 4. I wonder how many “typos” or misrepresentations are actually in the Bible. I also wonder how many of those contributed to a war or to somebody being killed.

It might be possible to accurately document something like this today if the events were recorded with a camera or some other device. The only risk would be someone inserting their bias into the story, which probably also happened back then.

In my opinion, it is more important to understand the big picture and not focus on the details of what Jesus might have said. Because none of us knows what he actually said, we never will.

I used to own fish tanks. When I would clean the tank the fish would sometimes freak out over my hand entering their world. If they had intelligence would their God be this enormous hand? Would they design temples containing statues of a giant hand and then sing praise to this “Hand of all Holiness”? The truth is we are living in a similar fish tank. We have no idea and no clue who God is, where God is, or what God looks like.

Even the God we have made contact with is still a mystery. We believe He is God because He said He is, but there is absolutely no evidence. Well what if the giant hand could talk to the fish and told them it was God. The fish might believe it, but would that make it true. And then, what if the REAL God caught wind of this hand pretending to be God, how pissed would He be?

I honestly really hope the Bible is true because some of the stories are beautiful and it would definitely make death much easier to contemplate. My heart tells me to believe but sometimes my brain tells me I’m just a fish in a tank, worshiping an enormous hand.

I often ask questions such as: “If I were God would I demand everyone worship me or damn them to an eternal hell? Would I exclude people from heaven just because they were different from others or believed something different? Would I damn people to eternal hell who ignorantly worshipped another god? Would I give people a brain but damn them for using it? Would I admit people into heaven who were mean pricks or murders or rapists just because they said they were sorry at the end of their life? Would I write policies which excluded women from important decision making roles within my church? Would I destroy an entire city including the children just because the adults were having consensual sex? Would I “test” the faith of my most devoted worshipers by taking everything from them including their families and then expect them to still love me?” The list goes on and on………………..

Then I seriously doubt a God who answers “Yes” to any of the above questions, because it sounds more like a devil than a God. So either we got the message wrong or the message itself is wrong. I prefer to believe that WE got it wrong.

My Space account……….FREE

Your first date at the local theater……..$17.00

Bag of popcorn to share during the movie.... $5.49

Large Pepsi to wash down the popcorn.....$5.29

Showing a picture of the girl of your dreams to your kids only to have them point out her defect.....PRICELESS





Have a great weekend!

Chana recently made a comment that got me thinking about some things that I wanted to share with everybody. My response to her was: “I'm just a man trying to be the best husband and father I possibly can. I’m trying to learn from my mistakes and trying not to make the same mistake twice. If I can accomplish that then everything else is gravy.”

Below are some of the principles that I use to guide my life. This is a work in progress and is always subject to changes or revisions. My primary goal is to improve my life while enhancing the lives of everyone around me. I openly welcome all suggestions, criticisms or comments.

Accept responsibility for your mistakes and don’t make excuses for them.
This is the most important principle and why it was listed first.

Learn to apologize when you hurt others or when you make mistakes.
The second most important principle is to make amends for your mistakes. Not only do you want to apologize, but you should do it quickly and sincerely. Apologies are NOT a form of weakness like so many believe but a form of leadership and character which is missing from our society.

Listen to others before striving to be heard.
This is probably the best way to become a leader; by listening to others you gain power and respect. People who are always too busy talking and never listening make terrible leaders.

Never repeat a mistake.
The definition of insanity is repeating the same action while anticipating a different outcome.

Hold others accountable for their mistakes.
This is aimed at parents and is a contributor for instilling the ‘it’s not my fault” attitude from many within our society. Hold your kids responsible for their mistakes and, most importantly, make them pay for their mistakes. If little Johnny breaks a window don’t blame the window for being in the way. Also, make him earn the money to pay for the window.

Even in business, you must hold both your bosses and underlings responsible for their actions. I am not a big fan of giving free passes because they promote mediocrity. If excellence is to be properly rewarded then incompetence or failure must not be ignored.

Always follow through with what you say.
Always keep your promises; your words should always be the ultimate truth. Only when you are trusted will you be fully respected. When I tell my son he is going to be hit he either modifies his behavior or braces himself for impact (he almost always modifies his behavior - it only take a couple of times before they learn).

Don’t get locked into one way of thinking.
It is alright to accept ideas from a variety of ideologies. Whether you are liberal or conservative it is NOT alright to accept every item on the agenda. Likewise, it is alright to accept ideas from the opposing agenda. This principle is what made America a strong country and what is contributing today into making us a weaker country.

Allow opposing ideas to be heard within your family or group.
As a leader, whether it comes from my workers or my son, I openly accept and encourage criticism. This challenges me to be the best I can be and allows everyone to have input into situations. Remember the more ideas you get the faster and more efficiently you can resolve problems.

Always help people in need.
One of your primary roles in life should be to remove the obstacles which obstruct people from obtaining their goals. If you want to be an effective leader then you should also provide a healthy, nurturing environment for the people who follow you or work for you.

Never allow stupid, petty rules limit your options.
Always reward creative thinking even if long standing rules are broken. My son knows if he has a good reason for breaking the rules then he is allowed to break them as long as he is not deceitful and lets us know about what happened right away. This promotes free thinking and teaches a child to evaluate every situation as it materializes. I don’t ever want my son to be locked into one way of thinking nor do I want him following ridiculous rules just because they are the rules.

Accept your limitations but try to improve on them when necessary.

It is alright to say ‘no”.
I learned a long time ago that sometimes the best decision is “no”.

Learn to prevent disasters and when they occur learn damage control.
Speeding down the highway while talking on your cell phone and eating your lunch is probably going to result in an accident. It seems as if no one in our society ever thinks about their actions or the consequences of their actions.

Attitude will often get you farther than talent.
As an IT manager, I only hire people with a positive attitude because I can always teach the technical skills. A negative attitude, however, can kill or sabotage the morale of the entire team. If I am interviewing two people: one with a very positive attitude but with average technical skills and another with outstanding technical skills but a negative attitude. I’ll hire the positive attitude every time.

Surround yourself with quality people.
Life is too short to spend it with assholes; enough said.

Always give your best effort in everything you do.
People might question your level of talent but never your heart or your desire. You should be able to live with that.

I inherited Wahl clippers from my grandpa after he died. These clippers have seen a lot of action in their time. My grandpa cut hair in the army during WW2 with these clippers; then he brought them home and cut my dad’s when he was a boy and then mine and then I used them on my son when he was younger. So four generations of my family have been using these clippers and they are still running great today.

About a year ago while browsing through a Walgreens I noticed the newer Wahl clippers with some added features like a beard trimmer. The old ones still work but this new feature intrigued me so I bought them. These new clippers are already dying after only a year and it pissed me off so I decided to write about this.

Did you know many of the light bulbs made by Thomas Edison in 1879 still work today? Why is it when I purchase a new bulb, I’m lucky to get six months out of it before it dies? Because mediocrity translates into bigger profits while excellence does not. If a new light bulb lasted forever then no one would ever buy light bulbs. Companies started realizing that producing a product which quickly breaks makes more money than producing a more durable, quality product.

I’ve been taught my entire life that capitalism breeds excellence because somebody can always do it faster, cheaper and more efficiently. But what we are finding out is just the opposite. Companies repeatedly produce and sell sub standard items in order to keep the customer coming back buying more shit.

My brother used to work for a manufacturer who built ceiling fans and sewing machines. Early in his career he sold parts for these products. Well, certain models never needed parts. When the company launched an investigation to find out why sales were down on these particular parts and why the new models where not selling, it was discovered certain older models were too well built. They just didn’t break, so parts did not sell and newer models weren’t needed because the old ones lasted a very long time.

So this company changed and started producing sewing machines with parts rigged to break after so long. Also they were built NOT to last as long. This increased sales of the consumable parts and also increased sales of the actual units. Well this is the same plan corporate America uses in everything. Nothing is produced to last, it is only made to last longer than the warranty. Everything from clippers, to light bulbs, to sewing machines, to ceiling fans, to cars are built to expire when they could easily be produced to last a lot longer and cost much less. We line up to pay for this shit everyday and what we are taking home is, literally, shit.

Just think of the natural resources we could save if common everyday items were build better and to last longer. Imagine if your car lasted for twenty years instead of ten and used one fifth of the gasoline; times that conservation by millions of drivers in the US alone. Think about haw many hundreds of thousands of Wahl trimmers are thrown away every year when they could easily be built to last longer. If they could do it in 1950 then they can do it in 2006.

So let’s look at the healthcare industry. I’ve been saying for years this industry needs to be a non-profit industry to protect us. Profiting from the illnesses of the sick and suffering should only be done when the health of the person is the primary concern and NOT what is best for the profit margin of the company. This is exactly why health care costs are out of control today.

Why haven’t cures for diseases been made when we have so much technology? Simple, there is no profit in curing diseases. The last disease we cured was polio back in the 1960’s. Does anybody else find that ridiculous? We can’t even cure the common cold yet. What a company wants is to create a drug which keeps everybody coming back for more (a legal addict). If they cure people, then the long range profit forecasts are not looking too good. There are many new drugs to treat diseases like cancer, AIDS, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s but never any to cure.

In fact, cures are not even being researched by profit companies because they realize there is no money in it. They only research new drugs to treat diseases; to make them more manageable, to prolong life just long enough to squeeze a little more money out of you before you finally kick off. An outright cure is very unprofitable.

This is exactly why we need government money for stem cell research. Big companies are NEVER looking out for you and your family despite what the ad on TV says. They only care about getting filthy rich.

Another disturbing trend is the lack of competition. There is no competition because they all produce the same bushels and bushels of sub-quality shit.

Earlier this week the Baker-Hamilton report was released with the bi-partisan panel’s advice on the best ways stabilize Iraq. I personally thought the panel did a great job in putting aside their differences to get this report finished. This bi-partisan concept was how America was founded and what makes us a great country. However, there has not been much bi-partisanship for the past couple of decades until now.

Well, I stupidly listened to Rush Limbaugh the day after the report’s release and, of course, he hated it. You see Rush is one of those fundamentalists that do not believe in compromise of any kind. Compromise is weakness. Compromise means nobody gets anything they want, so all sides loose. He is opposed to any advice other than “stay the course”. I also fear our President agrees with Rush.

Again we see the dangers of fundamentalism whether it is extreme right wing thinking or extreme left wing thinking. Fundamentalists will not ever compromise on any issue; it’s their way or the highway. In all honesty, these people do not belong in our country; they should all leave. Our country was founded on the principles of Democracy and compromising is one of the defining principles in this system of government. So if you are not wiling to compromise you should not even run for office because all you are going to do is contribute to the gridlock.

Unfortunately, our current President is a fundamentalist and there is not much we can do about it until 2008. In the meantime we should all learn from this valuable lesson. Learn about the candidates and the issues they support before voting for them. Most importantly if they give any hint of fundamentalism, either left or right, NEVER vote for them.

Fundamentalism is what we are fighting against in Iraq. Al Qaeda, the Taliban are all fundamentalists. There is not much difference from their way of thinking than Rush Limbaugh, President Bush or extremist liberals and conservatives.

Another flaw in fundamentalists thinking is their total lack of communication with people or organizations who oppose them. I was always taught keep your friends close and your enemies closer; which translates into how important it is to keep the lines of communication open with everybody. The President’s policy on Iran is very immature and reminds me of many grade school conversations, such as: “If they don’t like me then I’m not talking to them until they say they like me.” Or “If you don’t do what I say then I am talking to you. NAA! NAA! NAA! I can’t her you! NAA! NAA! NAA!”

Imagine the kind of country this would be if nobody communicated with people they did not like and if nobody every compromised. We wouldn’t have a Constitution. We would never trade with any other nations. We could never have a Democracy without compromise. We would still be debating slavery. Our neighborhoods would all be tightly segregated like a prison playground; association with other races would be strictly prohibited. What a great world that would be!!!

I think Rush’s new slogan should be EIB-Excellence in Bullshit instead of Excellence in Broadcasting.

In a recent interview about Iraq, Bush said, “I understand how tough it is and have been telling the American people how tough it is. And they know how tough it is.” I laughed my ass off. No you don’t know how tough it is!

Unless your daughters spend a year in Iraq with snipers shooting at them around every turn with no body armor, and Iraqi citizens running up to them trying to blow them up, you have absolutely no clue how tough it is. Until they finally come home thinking the worst is behind only to get called back for a second year, you have absolutely no clue how tough it is. Until you get a phone call informing you that your only son has been killed and now your family blood line ends with your generation, you don’t know how tough it is. Until you have to survive on a soldiers pay while raising a family with the head of household absent, you have no clue how tough it is. What a moron!!! In fact, the dictionary should change the definition of moron to: “see Bush.”

That little diatribe is Bush’s way of saying “stay the course”. Troops will never leave Iraq until Bush leaves the Whitehouse. If he could look both James Baker and Lee Hamilton in the eyes and say, “fuck off!” he would. We’ll see what he says when he addresses the American public next week.

My brother found this on Digg.com; it's priceless. There are several versions but this one is the best.

Dear Connie,

I know the counselor said we should not contact each other during our “cooling off” period, but I couldn’t wait anymore.

The day you left I swore I’d never talk to you again but that was just the little boy in me talking. Still, I never wanted to be the first one to make contact. In my mind, it was always you who should come crawling back to me. I guess my pride needed that. But now I see that my pride’s cost me a lot of things. I’m tired of pretending I don’t miss you. I don’t care about looking bad anymore. I don’t care who makes the first move as long as one of us does. Maybe it’s time we let our heart speak as loudly as our hurt.

This is what my heart says: “There is no one like you, Connie. I look for you in the eyes and breasts of every woman I see, but they are not you. They are not even close.”

Two weeks ago I met this girl at Flamingo’s and brought her home with me. I don’t say this to hurt you, but just to illustrate the depth of my desperation. She was young, maybe 19; with one of those perfect bodies that only youth and maybe a childhood spent ice skating can give you. I mean, just a perfect body. She is every man’s dream, right?

As I sat on the couch being blown by this stunner, I thought, look at the stuff we’ve made important in our lives. It’s so superficial. What does a perfect body mean? Does it make her better in bed? Well, in this case, yes, but you see what I am getting at. Does it make her a better person? Does she have a better heart than my moderately attractive Connie? I doubt it. And I never really thought of that before. I don’t know, maybe I’m just growing up a little.

Later, after I tossed her about a pint of throat yogurt, I found myself thinking, “Why do I feel so drained and empty?” It wasn’t just her flawless technique or her slutty, shameless hunger, but something else. I had this nagging feeling of loss. Why did I feel so incomplete? And then it hit me. I didn’t feel the same because you were not there to watch. Do you know what I mean? Nothing feels the same without you. Jesus, Connie, I’m just going crazy without you. And everything I do reminds me of you.

Do you remember Carol, that single mom we met at the Holiday Inn lounge last year? Well, she dropped by last week with a pan of lasagna. She said she figured I wasn’t eating right without a woman around. I didn’t know what she meant until later, but that’s not the real story. Anyway, we had a few glasses of wine and the next thing you know, we are banging away in our bedroom. And this tart’s a total monster in the sack. She’s giving me everything, you know, like a real woman does when she’s not hung up about her weight or her career and whether the kids can hear us. And all of a sudden, she spots that tilting mirror on your grandmother’s old vanity. So she puts it on the floor and we straddle it, right, so we can watch ourselves. And it’s totally hot but it makes me sad too because I can’t help thinking, “Why didn’t Connie ever put the mirror on the floor? We’ve had this vanity for what, 14 years, and we never used it as a sex toy.”

Saturday, your sister drops by with my copy of the restraining order. I mean, Vicki’s just a kid and all but she’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders and she’s been a real good friend to me during this painful time. She’s given me lots of good advice about you and women in general. She is pulling for us to get back together. She really is.

So we’re doing Jell-O shots in a hot bubble bath and talking about happier times. Here’s this teenage girl with the same DNA as you and all I can think is how much she looked like you when you were 18. And that just about makes me cry. And then it turns out, Vicky’s really into the whole anal thing, that gets me to thinking about how many times I pressured you about trying it and how that probably fueled some of the bitterness between us. But do you see how even then, when I’m thrusting inside your baby sister’s cinnamon hole, all I can do is think of you? It’s true, Connie. In your heart you must know it. Don’t you think we could start over? Just wipe all the grievances away and start over fresh? I think we can. If you feel the same way please, please, please let me know.

Otherwise, can you let me know where the fucking remote is?

Love,

Dan

For years people have been telling me I was too conservative. Conservatism, as I understood it, always favored the preservation of American values like a strong family, a strong work ethic, American made, meat and potatoes. The Constitution was revered and almost worshiped. I always believed that I was conservative until the past several years when the worst President in history took over and changed everything. Now people are always telling me I’m too liberal. How could that be?

This all prompted me to write Conservatism Under The Microscope last month in which I explained how the conservatives of today actually worship the liberals of yesteryear. And, if you really boil it down, many of the greatest people and ideas in history were liberal. Well I wanted to expand and enhance those ideas in this post.

In that last post I explained the definition of conservatism which means resistant to change and wanting to preserve the ideology of the past with strong traditions. Well the conservative of today is nothing like that. The recipe for today’s conservatism translates into protecting wealth with an artificial flavoring of Christianity. It is ridiculous how conservatives of today and Christians have joined forces because both ideologies are complete opposites. I’ll explain more about this later.

I listen to Rush Limbaugh almost everyday and he is constantly hammering the Democrats for being soft on terrorism because they do not support the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act. Both of these new laws contradict the Bill of Rights which has existed for centuries. So I would think conservatives by their very nature would want to protect the constitution, more specifically the Bill of Rights. It should be the liberals wanting to change things, right? How did this get so screwed up?

My conservative roots tell me the Constitution should be the fundamental dogma of all Conservatives, so why would they even hint at changing this sacred cow? The Bill of Rights is my fundamental dogma by which I lead my life. The majority rules unless the majority conflicts with the Bill of Rights, in which case the Bill of Rights will trump the majority every time. That is conservative ideology at it finest so why do they consider this ideology liberal?

My conservative roots tell me the family is the most important thing in my life – this should be another staple in the ideology of all conservatives. Instead, they want the needs of corporate American put ahead the needs of American families. Whenever laws are proposed that favor people or families versus corporate America, Corporate America always wins because of heavy conservative favor. Why? Because, again, conservatives of today are not really conservative anymore, they are pro big business fascists disguised as Republicans.

My conservative roots tell me the elderly are sacred and should be protected. So why do conservatives want to end Social Security or at least limit it when so many seniors are dependent on it to survive. Conservatism, especially if they are Christian as they claim, should believe that poor people come first before the needs of the rich or specifically the needs of corporate American, right? This is exactly how Jesus would want it; the needier should be protected and helped by those whose can provide (help your brother in need). This Christian ideology has existed long before the corporation was created but conservatives forgot about it. Actually they did not forget about it, they are just showing their fascist roots again.

If we apply the new conservative rules to Christianity then the Christian ideology is very liberal. Putting the needs of the poor before the needs of the rich is very liberal according to today’s conservatives. Jesus existed and served the poor people of his time. I don’t ever remember Him walking into Caesar’s palace and giving him wine or fish. Nor do I remember him promising a place in His kingdom if the correct contribution was made. I also don’t remember hearing Jesus speaking out in favor of war; He was a man of peace. So how Christianity and conservatism aligned is still a mystery to me.

My conservative roots tell me marriage has never been defined in our culture so wanting to now define it as only between a man and a woman and limit it is a very liberal idea. Conservatives should want to leave the law alone (remember earlier, resist change) but instead they want this unnecessary and sweeping change to marriage. This is only wanted to preserve their false Christian image. Republicans don’t really give a shit about this.

My conservative roots also want to protect American jobs. For some reason the conservatives of today are against this. I realize the market changes and jobs must change with this pattern but what I am against is when jobs are eliminated only to secure more wealth and higher profits. Conservatives, by their nature should also want to “conserve” American jobs. Whatever happened to the “Made in America” conservative image of a couple of decades ago? I’ll tell you what happened to it, it was outsourced for cheaper labor. Conservatives should be against outsourcing to protect American jobs and preserving the “Made in America” values of the Reagan area, but why aren’t they?

Today’s conservative is only concerned with protecting the wealth of the few at the expense of the many, with legislation designed to give an advantage to the few. I think I just defined apartheid. Anyway, the whole idea of a corporation exists only to protect the wealth of the investors within the company. Investors wanted a way to reap the benefits of profits without any risk. Hence the corporation was born. Now if a corporation goes bankrupt, the investors and the executives escape with no penalties or liabilities, leaving the employee behind to foot the bill with their pensions. A true conservative would want to stop this and help the working families but not the new fascist conservatives. The new bankruptcy laws are another example of corporate America being favored over American families.

Today’s conservative only uses Christianity as a “smoke and mirror” show to herd the mindless horde and trick them into believing they actually care. American’s today are too stupid and gutless to actually dig into the facts and discover what is actually happening. They willingly submit into the “Matrix” because it is safer there. It’s definitely more comforting than to accept what is really happening to them.

It was amazing how close we came in the early to mid 1900's to becoming a socialist society. One of the reasons socialism failed was because communism was an abysmal failure. People associated communism with socialism and did not want to live in a restrictive society in which the government controlled everything. We chose capitalism as our mantra. Instead of a dictator controlling everything we have corporations controlling everything.

Another reason socialism was destroyed was because big business did not want the people to organize and form strong unions, so they did everything they could to prevent it. By backing McCarthyism and the witch hunts which followed, they further ensured America would remain their ripe territory and the people would have no recourse. It was also around this time in which corporations learned how much power they had and how easy and cheap it was to buy politicians. Buying politicians ensured no labor laws would ever surface and the balance of power has been tilted their way ever since. Only FDR with his New Deal was able to break this trend but conservatives have been trying to sabotage Social Security ever since.

In my opinion, a blissful situation exists when a society has a mixture of socialism and capitalism; both must coexist. Both compliment each other and also account for people which fall through the cracks. My definition of socialism does not call for bigger government but smarter government. It allows for tighter, more restrictive regulations on monopolies, such as, utilities and hospitals. It also puts tighter controls on markets by NOT allowing large corporations within the same market to merge and NOT allowing corporations to create markets which are unwanted by the consumer.

An example of an unwanted market situation was when I wrote a few months back about a remote control which does not allow the channel to be changed on a television while advertisements are playing. No consumer is going to want that so it should not be allowed. Only demand should dictate the market and not vise versa. When forces other than demand dictate markets, you have the same treachery as in a restrictive communistic society.

Capitalism is supposed to allow markets to set the pricing and production levels based upon demand (unless you have a monopoly). It’s a company’s knowledge of these markets which dictates profit levels. If you produce the perfect amount of your product to satisfy demand then your profits will be excellent. If you produce too many or too little then your profits will suffer. But the most important thing here is to realize demand is set by the consumer and NOT the company.

There are several markets in which the corporations have complete control so they can set pricing to whatever level they want and basically dictate how the market will operate. Utilities are a perfect example of this. This is why government regulations exist; so these monopolies cannot cannot completely suck our Country dry. This is also why these monopolistic companies lobby so hard to remove these regulations. Don’t ever be fooled by legislation calling to end government regulations – they always exist to protect the consumer. And remember YOU are the consumer.

The MPAA and the RIAA are a different kind of monopoly and they are constantly lobbying the government for more control by turning an average family into wanted felons with ridiculous rules. This article is the epitome of greed and a microcosm of the problem which plagues our society. Keep in mind that the article is pure satire but the point is well made. In this fake scenario, the MPAA wants to collect a fee from any home theatre system, which is defined as two chairs in a room with a television. If you don’t pay the fee then pay a fine of $500,000.

When a DVD is sold, it is only to be viewed by one person. Any other people watching the movie should pay a fee to the MPAA. I can actually imagine the MPAA sponsoring a bill like this. Then our Senators, who are paid by the lobbyists, could again show their true colors by easily passing it into law. Here is how the law would work:

Our scenario begins as a family (husband, wife, kids, dog and a cat) huddle comfortably in front of the television to watch the new Shrek DVD. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door, “Federal Agents, this is a bust!!!!” Then the front door bursts open and eleven or so men clad in black with hoods and guns rush into the house grabbing the family and throwing them onto the ground. The cat and dog are quickly tazed before they can react and left in a puddle of their own drool and piss. The rest of the family is quickly handcuffed and hauled away to stand trial before a federal judge. They are held without bail in this serious matter for one month before the trial begins. After a short trial they are quickly sentenced to ten years in jail and a $500,000 fine – they loose everything. The final scene is animal control putting the family pets into a barred van as the foreclosure notice is hammered onto the front door by the local sheriff. Another family destroyed to protect DVD sales. This successful and rewarding bust sponsored by the MPAA and the RIAA (I’m sure the RIAA will also want a piece of this).

Could this ever be possible? I think it could be. If so, is this what the market is dictating the consumer wants or is this the consumer dictating what the market wants? When our Congress votes on issues like this with the freshly printed money from the lobbyists in their pockets do they realize what they are signing into law?

It happened again. For the third time this year, hundreds of thousands of homes in the St. Louis area lost power for more than three days (many are still out) as a another mediocre storm was again mistakenly classified as “one of the worst ever”. The only disaster was NOT the couple of inches of ice but the performance of Ameren, as they proved again incapable of handling the electricity needs of a large metropolitan area. If this utility cannot get customers back on the grid within 24 hours of a small storm, then the state of Missouri should find a utility than can.

This past July an average thunderstorm transformed St. Louis into a Stone Age town, last Thursday it was a small ice storm. What would happen if a real nasty storm hit St. Louis? I am talking about tornadoes or a blizzard with a few feet of snow, not some measly ice or a typical thunderstorm. What would happen is the St. Louis area would be without power for weeks and possibly months. How come none of the St. Louis politicians are calling Ameren out on this issue?

To further complicate the matter, Governor Matt Blunt calls a state of emergency. I can understand in Jefferson City where they received up to 16 inches of snow but why in St. Louis were all we got was a couple of inches of ice. The only thing I can think of is because Ameren could not restore the power within an adequate length of time so he had no choice but to get help for the people who could have frozen to death in their igloos. If he called for the state of emergency because of a corporate screw up, then he should state that but he is too much a corporate guy to ever call Ameren out in public.

Ameren claims to have 1500 electrical crews available to hang lines after a storm. What they fail to tell us is this 1500 covers a large area in Missouri and Illinois and not just the St. Louis area and they count the tree cutting crews as part of this 1500. How many tree cutters are included in this 1500? It is hard to say but it could be up to 50%.

At one time Ameren had almost 500 electrical crews working in the St. Louis area alone but fired them when they bought out Union Electric as a cost cutting action. So now when any precipitation falls in the St. Louis area we are all at risk to loosing power for days just so Ameren executives can take home a fatter bonus.

To compensate for the loss of those employees Ameren hires crews from neighboring power companies on a project by project basis. These mercenaries can take up to two days to arrive or longer if the roads are blocked due to snow or other hazards. My family freezing to death in my home is seen as just a “project” by Ameren, nothing more. If the amount of Ameren crews is not brought back up to acceptable levels then they should be forced to bring in the mercenaries BEFORE the storm so they are in ST. Louis and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

This is why Matt Blunt, who is in bed with big business, keeps up the charade by calling for a state of emergency after a thunderstorm and a mild freezing rain storm. What should be done is an investigation into the business practices of Ameren and discovering why they cannot respond faster to outages. City Governor Francis Slay is just as guilty by doing nothing. This is yet another example of our politicians not looking out for us by siding with big business over the people.

We were without power for three of the coldest nights of the year. What was even more frustrating was calling into the Ameren (no)customer service lines. First of all, the number was busy for the first 36 hours. Then when I finally did get through I was not even given a date when my power would be restored. Ameren had over a week lead time before this storm hit so there is no excuse for them not being prepared with CSR’s to answer the phones or crews available to fix the downed lines. At the very least they should have had the mercenary crews already in town and ready to go.

While on the phone with them I totally freaked out and had a "Clark Griswold" moment. The echoes of “f bombs” and GD’s are still resonating within the walls of my house. I almost smashed the phone when I slammed down the receiver. I was so bad I later apologized to my wife and son for my idiotic behavior. If there would have been an Ameren truck anywhere close to me at that moment I could have picked it up and threw it because I was so pissed off.

My particular case was different from the average downed power lines because the tree limbs pulled the weather box and meter from my house. Those are the responsibility of the home owner so I had to get an electrician to fix my stuff before Ameren could even reconnect my lines. Well, I had that finished the same day just in case but I was still out three days.

I’ve had enough of this crap; we are looking for a natural gas powered generator to keep our entire house powered in the event of another outage. When we moved into this house we were hoping not to need such a thing because we live in a large metropolitan area but our asshole power company can never restore our power within a reasonable time frame so now we have to get one. Maybe I’ll send Ameren the bill.