Frustrated

OK, so it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but I've been busy with a job that doesn't allow a lot of time to digest the news, however the excrement is piling up, so I thought I'd post a few things that are really making me angry.

First, Obama. Pretty much everything he does makes me angry, but it's just getting maddening! The way this guy can lie (yes, LIE) with such a straight face absolutely puts Bill Clinton to shame! Take for instance this disaster coming up that will be National Health Care. Nearly everything Obama has said about it is untrue! He says you can keep your current private health plan, the problem is if you lose your job or change jobs you then have to go to the public plan. That doesn't even take into account how many companies will simply drop their insurance coverage and offload it all to the government. I don't believe for a second that everyone will get full health care even with preexisting conditions. We've already seen it in Britain and Canada, people who don't get the very best operations or treatment because "it's just not worth the money to do it to someone who won't live much longer anyway." And how will spending billions (more likely trillions) lower costs? Perhaps Biden can explain it since he said that we have to spend more money to lower costs. Where is it going to come from? We're all damn near broke as it is, and the rich, despite the stereotype, don't have a bottomless pit of money for the government to confiscate; eventually even the rich will run dry.

The latest Obama statement to piss me off was just yesterday. In a press conference on health care he was asked about the arrest of the [black] Harvard professor in his own home. I don't want to go into the details about the case, you can find all the information online. What Obama said was he didn't want to comment because he "didn't have all the facts" but then commented anyway saying the police "acted stupidly." If you don't have all the facts how do you KNOW the police acted stupidly? He then went on to infer this was all racial (despite the fact one of the arresting cops was black) and that there has been a long history of police brutality against blacks in this country.

What is with this guy! He's a complete man-child who is angry at white people. It's out there for us all to see, he's got a grudge against white people, he views whites as all racist. For the PRESIDENT to come out and say what he said is so immature, so tacky, so uncalled for, but Obama gets a free pass on it. 

The stimulus bill, now there's another thing I'm more angry at every day. We were told this bill had to be passed immediately so the economy could get back on track. The problem is most of the money is not even spent until next year, but the bill had to be passed immediately. (Of course I know that even if all the money was spent in the first month nothing would have happened, and nothing will in 2010 either). But the money that is being spent now is being spent on millions of pounds of pork and cheese for homeless shelters. How does this stimulate the economy? Sure, some farmers will make a little money off of this, but that's it, it's spent, that's the end of it, no real stimulus, no long term stimulus for those that even got the money.

I also just got word today stimulus money is being used to install automatic start/shut down equipment on train locomotives at my former employer, the Wisconsin and Southern. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to this project to reduce emissions. This money is from the stimulus bill, please tell me how this is stimulating? I know I sure as hell won't be getting my job back because the WSOR has fewer emissions! Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle claims that thousands of dollars will be saved in wasted fuel. Maybe, but I don't think it will be enough to matter as far as employment goes! The really stupid thing is that the railroad always shuts down its engines in warm weather anyway, and they can't be shut down in cold weather because they can't use anti-freeze, they have to be kept idling or they will freeze up. So really, what will this do? Not much more from the current situation.

Back to this health care bill. The secret is that it's not about health care, it's about government control of your life! How long will it take before they start denying coverage because you smoke or eat at McDonald's too much or don't exercise 30 minutes a day? Nearly everything you do can be said to affect your health, so if the government controls your health care and doles it out based on what you do, they now in effect have total control over your life! Forget supersizing that Big Mac, big government won't allow it.

And if you don't want health care you will be fined up to $2500 a year. Yes, that is correct, fined because you chose not to buy health care! It's in the current version of the bill. Doesn't that seem a bit intrusive?

I could go on with so much more, but these are the things that have been really irritating me lately. Most likely tomorrow there will be a new list.

What is the difference between our State run media and Iran's?

Reuters' coverage of the "election" in Iran is absolutely pathetic. How stupid do they take the world for? By the reporting you would really think that it was a fair election in Iran and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually had a chance of losing. Ha! Haha!! Are you kidding me?

Just look at this coverage. "...Ahmadinejad, a hardline conservative,..." Are you kidding me? I guess if your definition of hardline conservative and tyrannical dictator are one in the same (and in this country I will guarantee that's what the media thinks!) then yes, Ahmadinejad is a hardline conservative. It then says his "challenger," Mirhossein Mousavi, is a moderate. Well, if that's the case does that mean that killings ordered by the state will now be reduced to brutal beatings? 

It gets better though as Reuters reports, "A bitterly fought campaign has generated intense excitement inside Iran and strong interest around the world, with policymakers looking for signs of a change of approach by Tehran, whose ties with the West worsened under Ahmadinejad." Do you actually think there was any kind of real campaign? There may have been a show campaign, but I hardly think there was anything legitimate. And why should we expect Tehran to change its views? Ahmadinejad is a lunatic. Worse, he is a dangerous lunatic. The guy has denied the holocaust ever happened! He's says Israel has no right to exist and is actively working to obtain nukes to destroy them, all with the help of our own President Obama! Who would think Tehran would change?

And speaking of Obama get this! "Obama said his administration was excited about the debate taking place in Iran and he hoped it would help the two countries to engage 'in new ways.'" Oh. My. God. This is absolutely pathetic and dangerous. I can't believe this is just pandering to Iran and giving legitimacy to the "elections," I think Obama believes all this is real! I doubt Bush would have ever thought there was any real debate in Iran. No, Bush was grown up and serious and correct by naming Iran as part of an Axis of Evil.

Ahmadinejad is a threat mainly to Israel right now, but left unchecked he will be a danger to us and the rest of the world and Obama is letting him get away with it. There will be no "new ways" with Iran, not in reality. Ahmadinejad wants Nukes and Obama has said that there should be no one country that decides who can have nukes and who can't. He has said it's OK to share nuclear power technology with Iran because they won't use it for weapons. Yeah, right, I'm sure they would never try that. 

A lot of people didn't like Bush but at least he would have handled this like and adult and not like the selfish man-child Obama who will let Iran get away with whatever they want. It's scary.

A Life in Perspective

Today I had a bit of a revelation. I realized that I'm only, that is only 25 years old. First a bit of background.

Since I've turned the age of say, oh, about 21, I've had a lot of new insecurities about myself. These were such things as I didn't feel I was achieving what I should be, that I was not on the path to success and a fulfilling life. That I was only one step ahead of other 21 year olds while at the same time being so far behind the other 21-year-olds I admired. I felt like a failure. This feeling has stuck with me. Until today.

Today my boss/friend (if that is possible!) made an off-hand comment that really stuck with me. He said I was really smart for being 28 years old. I said I was only 25. He said, "really, you're 11 years younger than me? Wow, I thought you were 28 or something. You're pretty smart for 25." All of a sudden it snapped into my head that indeed I was only 25. 25 years old is all!! What have I been in such a hurry for? Just think of everything that has happened since then! 25 years is not that long. That one comment has made me realize I still have a long time to focus on what I want to achieve. Why get hung up on 25? I have far more than another 25 years to become a successful American! 25 is nothing!

I may be in a job I dislike right now and may feel I'm going backwards but I have to look towards one of my heros, whom I know a lot of people despise but I absolutely love, Rush Limbaugh. Here is a guy that was fired seven times, seven times! So many of those times he was told  he would never make it radio, he would never amount to anything. And yet here he is, in his late 50's, a huge success, rich, and hated by half the country. My dream, of sorts! What if Rush had given up at 25 years old? He'd be nothing but a loser in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, instead of the huge success (in spite of a lot of people) in Palm Beach, Florida. 

25! Not even a quarter century and I felt like a failure! All it took was an offhand remark to again make me feel like I am on the right track.

Alternative Blog

I'm turning my dormant Form 19 blog into a log for my summer of weed spraying. Hopefully I will keep that one updated more than this one, but we'll see how that goes.

You can find it at:

http://form19.blogspot.com/

Just because Obama decrees it doesn't make it so

Everyone can all be so happy now that by 2016 an auto maker's fleet will have an average mileage rating of 35.5 mpg. Obama has decreed it and solved the problem of dependency on foreign oil and pollution problems all in one fell swoop. It's historic.

But wait! Just because the government says cars must get 35.5 mpg doesn't mean it can actually happen. Hell, why not just demand cars get 40 mpg, or 80 mpg, why not 400 mpg? If Obama can say, "Uh, by, uh, 2016, uh, all new, uh, cars, will get, uh, 35 mpg" why couldn't he say they will get "uh, 400 mpg?" Obviously the will of government will outweigh any actual technology.

This is the problem. Auto makers do have technology for cars to get upwards of 40 mpg, however the tradeoff is these cars will be little more than glorified golf carts. Americans want large cars, whether it be family sedans, crossovers, SUVs, or full sized trucks, the demand is for large cars and the technology to make those cars get 30 to 35 mpg just isn't there yet and it's doubtful it will be there by 2016.

Supporters of these new emissions and mileage standards will claim that the 35.5 mpg is an average of the fleet and that not all cars produced by one auto maker must be 35.5 mpg. Yes, that is correct; however, that average must still be met and if most of the fleet gets 20 mpg meeting that average will be a problem. 

The solution? It will be that more small cars will have to be added to the fleet to bring that average mpg in line. It won't matter if they can't sell a single one of these as long as they are available. Of course, how long will it be before these golf carts are the only car that is available and we are forced into them?

Obama does admit that it will now cost more to buy a car because it will be more expensive to produce these higher gas mileage cars. In fact Obama, who knows all, has actually nailed down the price to be $1300 more. Isn't it amazing how he can see that out in the future? But don't worry because you will more than make up that price in fuel savings says the Bamster.

If you believe all that then I have a tropical island in North Dakota to sell you as well.

But lets just say this whole thing did reduce the amount of gas you used. If you are using less than it's likely everyone is using less. If less gas is being used, bought rather, than that also means that there is less gas being taxed. And that of course means that gas tax revenues will be way down. "So what?" you ask.

We all know that the government, whether it be federal or local, can never do with less money. Do you think they will sit by idly as gas tax revenues decrease? Ha! Ha ha! Of course not, they will raise the taxes on gas to make up the deficit. This has already happened in places like Florida that put in water restrictions. People used less water (per the government mandate), therefore there was less money rolling in, so prices were raised on water. So when that gas tax goes up, how much will you really be saving?

Five Words

Five words that sum up my hope for the future:

I. Want. Obama. To. Fail.

That is all.

The Men of the Depression

I have been thinking today about the Great Depression since that is the direction we seem to be heading. And I've been thinking about my reaction to being laid off. I have to think the men of the Great Depression probably didn't get to feeling the way I have.

They didn't have time to get that way. There was no unemployment, there was no FDIC protection, there wasn't a thousand government agencies to take care of you; you had to do it yourself. Either you could lay in the gutter and feel sorry for yourself or you could go out in search of work, any work, to sustain yourself.

Some of these people lost everything. The Joads from The Grapes of Wrath were a fictional representation of the thousands of families that were hardest hit. They lost their home, nearly all of their belongings, and watched the earth turn to uninhabitable dust all around them. Former neighbors and friends bulldozed their homes as a means of survival for their families. 

And then I look at myself. I still have a house, a car, a full refrigerator, a TV, internet, what do I have to be so depressed about compared to the Joads? I only lost my job, they lost it all. Tom Joad had only a few minutes to reflect on what he had lost before he HAD to go in search of work; I've had a month and could continue on for several more before I felt any pain.

The question is do I compare up to the men who made it through the depression or have I just become another whining spoiled American? My grandfather didn't sit around during the depression, he worked for a farmer for a dollar a day - and that was a well earned dollar. The days were long, the work still backbreaking. He eventually went to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps building roads in western North Dakota until World War II started. 

I can't imagine he was in a great mood throughout this time period, but then how much time did he have to reflect on it? It was work or starve - and he sure as hell wouldn't ever become a beggar. But what about myself? I can probably collect railroad unemployment after July first, but I feel like such a leech in taking it (even though it is taken only from railroad retirement funds which is what I have been being taxed on separately since working for the railroad). It seems like I should be out there doing whatever in necessary instead of sitting around and whining about what has happened.

I used to think I would have made it through the Great Depression; I used to think I would never become one of those whining Americans that leeches off of others; now though, I'm not so sure I am who I think I am.