25 March 2010

Stupidity - It's What's in Washington!

Well now, let's see...what were we talking about the other day? Hmmmmm...oh yeah, I know! We were talking about the idiocy in this country! Ok, so maybe the country is not being run by idiots...or is it?

I am in a stupor over this supposed healthcare reform. The whole time the debate has been raging over this thing, I have voiced my opinion time and time again about how bad an idea this is. So far, I have been called a racist and a gun-nut by, get this, CANADIANS! Yes kids, it's true, somewhere along the way the world decided it needed to voice its opinion of our government. Well, the only thing I can really say about that is this, HEY! WORLD! MIND YOUR OWN FREAKIN BUSINESS!!! I mean, it never stops! Any time ANYBODY publicly disagrees with the Joker-In-Chief they are branded a hateful racist! Why? That's what I want to know...why? When I talked about the rampant fraud that permeates our healthcare system now, I was called a racist...even though nothing racial ever came out of my keyboard. So, to back up my claims of fraudulent behavior, let me show you a case or two of this fraud.

A 20-something woman, who still lives with her parents and has a child, whose father she has nothing to do with, plans to move out of her parents' home because she can afford it since she has no bills. Wait, did you hear that? She has a CHILD but thinks she has no bills! When it is pointed out to her that her child will need shots, food, clothes, etc. her reply was, "Well my child is on Medicaid so all the medical stuff is free...and I got WIC to get food." Okay, so there's nothing wrong with a single mom getting a helping hand, right? Sure, until you find out this girl has a job that offers medical benefits but she wants to stay on Medicaid so she can use her money to do important things like party. Uh-huh...so we pay taxes to provide Medicaid and WIC for this?

Here is another one for you. This is the case of a married couple that defrauds the system and thinks nothing of it. The husband has a decent job that pays modestly but his wife does not work. The reasoning is the husband believes a woman's place is in the home; this is Mississippi, after all, and this kind of thinking is still popular here (remind me to tell you the one where my wife overheard a man on a cell-phone outside Wal-Mart one day). The wife starts going through the "change of life" and seeks medical care...but they don't use his insurance; nope, Medicaid picks up the tab for the whole thing and they pay nothing. So, again, we pay taxes to provide Medicaid for this?

Now, before all you good little Obamabots (yeah, I know, the bloom has fallen off the rose for me and it is only now, when it is too late, that I realize the folly of my thinking, but you can be sure I will not be repeating this mistake in 2012) get out your poison pens, let me clue you in on something; there are ABSOLUTELY NO RACIAL TONES IN THESE TWO CASES I HAVE DESCRIBED!!! No, all I am pointing out is that the system we have NOW is so expensive because there are more people like the ones I described here that are draining the government tit dry than there are like us that WORK and PAY TAXES and OBEY THE LAW.

So here's an idea; instead of passing a thousand-page bill that is going to cost nearly a TRILLION DOLLARS, why don't we take a long, hard look at the fraud happening now? Why don't we channel resources into rooting out these fraudsters and PUT THEM IN JAIL? Why can't we imprison the doctors that double-bill or bill for tests and procedures that were never performed? Why can't we take the insurance companies out of the stock-market, force them to be non-profit so they can do better things like FOCUSING on the people they insure rather than their shareholders and their own corporate pockets? Why can't we do these things? Tell me why, I really want to know, because I am willing to bet if we did these things, there would be more than enough money in the Treasury to truly offer universal healthcare to everybody...and that's really not a bad idea, is it?

20 March 2010

What Happened To My Country???

I have been getting more and more aggravated lately. I sat here for days trying to figure out what was aggravating me so much and I think I finally hit it. Our country is endangered...no, I am not ranting against immigration, Democrats, Republicans or anything like that. No, what I AM ranting about is the weakening of American society. Essentially, what I am saying is, we are turning into a nation of pantie-wastes! Thanks to the misguided, inane notion that society needs to make life as fair as possible, we are creating a generation of ignorant, weak, entitlement-minded idiots!

When I was a kid, I played Little League Baseball. We had to tryout for a position on the team and if you weren't good enough, you did not make the cut, period; there was no thought that every kid should get to play. No, if you couldn't hit, catch or throw you didn't make the team. The reasoning was like this; we are competing against other teams for a Championship! Yes, people, we had a Championship where the two BEST teams competed for a TROPHY! The losing team did NOT get a trophy nor did every kid on the winning team get an individual trophy! Do you want to know why? Really, do you want to know? Simply put, the trophy was a TEAM TROPHY! Every kid on the winning team worked together to win; simple and fair. What I think happened, though, was some of the kids who were not good enough grew up and became parents. Once their kids were old enough to tryout, they remembered the "pain" of not being picked. So, they took over youth sports and changed the rules so that every kid who tried out made the team and every kid on every team got a trophy just for being there because this would help their "self-esteem". Gone is the idea of TEAMWORK and PRACTICE. Why bother coaching and practicing when everybody is going to get a trophy anyway?

That's not the only thing that bothers me today about society; no, there is so much more but the baseball analogy is the broadest description for the problems we have today. Check this out; it used to be that in school, if you failed you got an "F" on your report card and could be held back if necessary. Nowadays there are no "F"'s anymore; they've been replaced with kinder, gentler marks like "I" for Incomplete...and nowadays it seems like kids today are not TAUGHT. They are not taught to think critically and study; they are taught instead on how to pass a standardized test and they are asked how do they feel about a certain subject. HUH??? To quote George Carlin, "We have no more stupid people, we now have "challenged" or "learning disabled"; nobody is crippled or retarded anymore, we now have "handicapable" or "differently abled"; people don't die anymore, they "pass on" or "expire". This is where liberal thought and political correctness came from. Essentially, the people who couldn't cut it on the playing field as kids grew up and changed the rules to what THEY thought was fair.

It's not just the liberals and political correctness that are ruining us. Nope, the conservative, Bible-thumping crowd is just as bad. These are the ones who try to protect their kids from EVERYTHING. They ranted about parental advisories on video games, the v-chip in televisions, and the television and movie rating systems. These are the ones who, in the insane thought that teaching kids sex-education will cause them to have sex. These are the morons who want this country to go back to 1950. They are so stuck in their mindset that they oppose growth and learning, spurn science and Darwinism, and literally want to go back to Ward and June Cleaver or Andy Griffith. This notion is just as dangerous as the misguided liberal notion that we can make the world absolutely fair for everybody.

I knew we were in trouble when, before a show on Discovery Channel, I read a disclosure that roughly read as, "Some material may be inappropriate for some audiences", I wondered what kind of show it was...are you ready for this? The show was called "Two Weeks in Hell" and covered the two week testing period to be eligible for Green Beret training in the Army. HUH??? I watched the show and for the life of me I could not find ANYTHING that could POSSIBLY be inappropriate or graphic. A bunch of soldiers being grilled and examined to see if they have the basic skills and mindset needed to endure Green Beret training and eventually BE a part of the elite unit. I can only think that they had to put the disclaimer up because somewhere in America some IDIOT was offended that the Army would not accept everybody who applied.

Today, it seems like the majority of Americans think they are "owed" something; they are "entitled" to have everything they want. No personal responsibility, no rules, no guidelines, no kind of regulation at all because they are ENTITLED to live however they want. Normally, I would not have a problem with that; the Declaration of Independence says it perfectly when it says we all have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". The PROBLEM lies with the last of that trilogy; PURSUIT of happiness. It doesn't say everybody is entitled to a trophy just for being on a team nor does it say everybody is entitled to a 2,200 square foot home with a 2 1/2 car garage. All it says is everybody has the right to PURSUE those things. Everybody has the right to educate themselves and work hard to acquire the things that would make them happy. Life is not fair, people, DEAL WITH IT! You are trying so hard to preserve your kids' self-esteem that you are crippling them! You are preventing them from ever experiencing the satisfaction of having built something or earned something! STOP!!!

Remember this, without the bad there can be no good! Without death there is no life! Without grief there can be no joy! Without effort there can be no appreciation! If you give your kids everything they never learn how to EARN! If you protect your kids from everything bad, they will not know what to avoid when they are grown! When you give welfare to the poor, you take away their dignity and motivation! Changing education to focus more on how the child feels will severely affect the child's ability to THINK! So make your kids play outside! Let them play cowboys and indians without worrying about offending the indians! Let them climb trees and ride their bicycles without knee, ankle and shoulder pads! Let them fall down and skin their knees! Let them settle their playground differences themselves...even if it means a fistfight! In other words, people, let your kids GROW and LEARN!

This isn't the end, people, stay tuned for more ranting...

02 March 2010

Stupidity and Ignorance: The Latest Fad

I have been shaking my head at recent news reports on television, internet and in print. It seems that there has been a rise in auto accidents lately due to, get this, WINTER WEATHER! Oh my goodness, imagine that, people do not know how to drive in snow and ice! That's not all, folks, the Supreme Court is now hearing a case from Chicago arguing that Chicago's 28 year old ban on handguns is unconstitutional. Can anyone tell me what these two stories have in common and how do they apply to the title of this post? Simply put, it seems to me that ignorance, stupidity and/or apathy are what reigns supreme in the United States today.

So, let's see if I can make my point to you clear. Let's start with cars. Nowadays it seems, at first glance, that automotive technology such as anti-lock brakes, front and side airbags, and now auto-braking systems are wonderful advances that would cut down the number of accidents and related fatalities on our roads and highways. You'd think they would...but they won't. Nope, the smarter they make our cars, the dumber we get. It's not too hard to see this principle in action. Back in the 60's and early 70's, cars had steel dashboards and lap seatbelts if they had seatbelts at all. Every bump and pothole was felt inside the car because the stiff suspensions transferred the motion from the shocks and struts through the frame to the driver. I'm not saying there weren't distracted drivers back then, I'm just saying that back then most people were careful when they drove because there were no safety systems then.

Now look at today; suspension systems are so sophisticated now that road feel is almost non-existent. Cruise control, anti-lock brakes and airbags lull drivers into a false sense of security. People think that modern technology has made their cars idiot-proof. Again, this is not hard to see; take a recent snowstorm we had here in Mississippi. Six inches of snow fell that Friday. I know of at least one person who professed to running off the road several times that day...his full-size pickup with mudder tires couldn't handle the slippery conditions (I think it may also have been his speed, but, hey, that's just me). Automakers boast about traction control, all-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, and now, auto-braking systems (Volvo). Should be real safe yet the number and severity of auto accidents is on the rise. It's not the car's fault, people; it's the IDIOT BEHIND THE WHEEL! This is a PRIME example of stupidity and ignorance.

Now let's look at the Second Amendment (again). Chicago has had a handgun ban in effect for 28 years, yet the South Side has become increasingly violent over this time. Some Chicago residents have challenged the ban and this case is now in front of the Supreme Court (McDonald v. Chicago, 08-1521). Mayor Richard Daley has even come out and stated that government has, "...for health and safety to pass reasonable laws dealing with the protection and health of the people of the city of Chicago." What the good mayor leaves out is the rising violent crime rate in his fair city. These are not "gun nuts" that are suing the city. Nope these Chicago residents are, specifically, ordinary citizens. The following quote from the AP article says, "A couple worries that burglars who tried to break in when the wife was home alone will return. A retiree fears the drug dealers and junkies just outside his window will attempt — again — to steal what he spent a lifetime earning. And a businessman wants to protect himself as he could when he was a police officer." Wow, what a nutty bunch, huh? The gun-grabbers are, once again, predicting dire straits and a return to "The Wild West" if citizens are allowed to own and carry guns; despite mounting evidence that proves the opposite is true. It's not hard to see; if a criminal thinks you are waiting inside your house with a 12 gauge, said criminal is going to think twice about breaking into your home.

So here we sit, fighting the ignorance and stupidity of the Brady bunch and the majority of Democrat politicians who think they have to control how we live. Now we are also fighting the same ignorant and stupid Dems who want to control how we drive. Common sense is dead in this country, folks. We have become a nation of lazy idiots that no longer possess the ability to think critically about situations without relying on idiot talking heads in the media and in Washington. Heaven help us.