Politics as usual...

I read an interesting article by Time contributor, Bill Saporito.  The ending paragraph pretty much sums it up:
 
"Yet it has occurred to me that maybe S&P has a point. After all, this is a Congress that let the banking industry run amok, bailed it out with access to trillions of dollars of credit, and has since done precious little to ensure that the process won't be repeated. Nor would Congress reform the ratings industry, which played vital role in the crisis. Nor did it agree a deal worked out between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner that would have preserved the AAA rating. If our Congress is that dumb, perhaps we deserved the downgrade."
  
This is a fairly pointed article that doesn't hold any love for the S&P, Congress or the President.  And frankly, I'm not sure any of them deserve any...  (article: http://news.yahoo.com/why-congress-standard-poors-deserve-other-092005860.html) 
 
Whether you agree with Saporito or not is besides the point.  If you're under any illusion that one person or party is to blame for the debacle that is our federal government, then you're probably an idiot.  In fact, if you're convinced that any currently existing political party or politician is the answer to our current woes, then you should probably do the rest of us a favor and just tear up your voter registration card right now.  You're clearly contributing to the problem and are either too lazy or just incapable of thinking for yourself. 
 
The true crises that faces our country right now is that the foxes burned down the fucking hen house years ago, and none of us were smart enough to come running when we smelled barbequed chicken.  The longer it takes for us to clean house, and I mean completely clean house, the worse off we're going to be in the long run.  The old adage used to be that we needed lawyers to make our decision in Washington because business people and Joe-citizenry couldn't make the sacrifices and compromises necessary to make a functional government.  Well, I think it's pretty clear how that turned out: one party pontificates without any action, and the other one stamps its foot around like an angry toddler refusing to compromise, and all the while the real decision makers are pulling the strings to make us all believe that one or the other party is best.  The system is dysfunctional, and it needs replaced.  It would be nice if most Americans were (a) smart enough to realize this, and (b) would get off their fat asses to make a little change. 
 
Change starts at the voting booth, and I've got my own plan for getting this whole process moving in a more positive direction.  Step one: get rid of the incumbents.  They can't compromise, they clearly don't have the answer.  Thank the good Lord in heaven that these fuck-tards were not in charge of drafting the original Constitution.  They would not have been able to do it, and they are all lesser men and women for not living up to that standard.  They should be ashamed and begging for forgiveness, not pointing fingers.  My five year old can point fingers.  I expect more.
 
Step two: look for that third alternative on the ticket -- and I don't frigging care if its the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, or the Communist Party.  What we need is to empower the fringe.  There is too much power in two parties, and instead of thinkers, all we're getting are puppets with flashy teeth.  Get some new blood into the mix and lets get some actual ideas into this mix, even if they are a little 'out-there.'
 
Step three: after distributing the seats to anyone else who wants one, then we abolish the entire party system.  Gut it and destroy it.  If you affiliate yourself with a party, you're out.  We want 100% independents 100% of the time.  Make these people EARN our respect without a rubber stamp, because a rubber stamp means a foci of power, and that power is never in our best interest.  At best the foci thinks they are acting in our best interest, but what is actually happening is the power hungry trying to make us believe they have our best interest in mind. The party system was created, in many ways, to simplify our choices so that the common man wouldn't have to think.  Well, I think we've had plenty of that.  Even the parties and their candidates seem incapable of that any more.  Destroy the power structures.
 
Step four: term limits.  A politician's only goal is to get re-elected, and s/he will suck up to whatever power base (or power company) in his/her district to make sure that happens.  Let's make sure this is no longer a full time job.  Let these jerks get out in the real world and earn a living rather than telling us they know what it's like.  Who better to make decisions about creating jobs than people who actually have one?  Who better to know what the economy is like than someone who actually lives within it?  Politicians give lip service to us to get re-elected, but very very few of them actually understand what it's like out here because they're not here.  We don't need arm's length empathy, we need boots on the ground.  Those that represent us should be us, not a silver spoon elite created for the purpose of representing us.  They don't understand because they can't understand.  Never forget that.
 
Step five: I want to know every freaking penny that an interest group (or company, or individual, or whatever) has given to every single politician.  If you earn anything that isn't from your federal salary, you MUST report it.  Period.  None of this $X and above nonsense, because wherever you set the floor, the rats will crawl underneath it.  I want to make it as difficult as possible to accept a gift, and I want everyone to know who is being bought, and who is buying them.  Politicians will work for whomever butters their bread -- just like most of us.  If you want them to work for us, then they need to be paid BY US and no one else.  Right now, they belong to big money.  That's got to change.
 
How many changes is that?  Five? Doesn't matter.  The point is that right now politicians care about improving their power base and getting a cushy job for as long as possible so they can get some of that big money to line their pockets.  That isn't to say that all of them start that way, but they sure as hell end up that way.  And it will remain that way as long as the system exists as it currently does.  If you don't believe power corrupts, then quite simply, you've never had any, and you don't know what you're talking about.  These are some of the most powerful people in the world being pushed and manipulated by THE most powerful people in the world.  Why are you comfortable with that?  How on earth do you think that will ever benefit YOU or the people you care about?  

Want to fix the system?  Now you know what to do, and all you have to do for now is step one.  What?  You don't believe this will work?  Surely it can't be any worse than what those morons have been up to under the current system... 

By the time this posts...

Yeah, I'm sure that by the time this thing actually posts (I try to get a good number of reserve posts up to automatically post so that I don't have to scramble at the last minute), the new Conan the Barbarian movie will only be a month away, but I think there is room for a post here anyway.  The cheesy trilogy (counting Red Sonja) was one of my favorite action/fantasy movie series growing up (long before the far superior Lord of the Rings trilogy came along), so I'm interested to see how this turns out.  I followed the Stargate: Atlantis series back when Scifi Fridays* was a 'thing' that geeks like I participated in, so I'm pretty sure I know what to expect from Jason Momoa - although admittedly I thought he was a smallish choice (recognizing that the concept of Conan being a bodybuilder was created entirely by the fact that Schwarzenegger played him in the movies - he was much smaller in the comic books and original stories).  But it will be a nice change of pace for the character to be played by someone that can enunciate...

So, to celebrate this upcoming movie, I offer for you a movie poster and the trailer for your viewing pleasure.  I'm not entirely jazzed that it's in 3D, as most movies I've seen that way have been more 'miss' than 'hit' in recent years, but hopefully it won't suck.  Not that it would probably matter to me anyway.  The chances that I'll see this one in the theater (reads: before it comes out on Netflix) are pretty slim.  But anyway... on to the eye candy:

* Scifi Fridays: before the Syfy channel changed its name, there was a period of a few years where you could watch a trilogy of "original" programming every Friday evening: Stargate, Stargate:Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica.  Probably three of the best series produced by the Scifi/Syfy channel... before or since.  There were various tag along shows that were featured with the trilogy (most of which switched off to a different night, or died altogether), including Eureka, Dresden Files and others, but the staple three were the reason geeks everywhere tuned in. 
 
Why did it change?  Well, we can only speculate as to why poor decisions are made by stupid people, but [RANT ON] the moron President of both USA and Scifi (yeah, she was in charge of both at the same time) discovered that the USA network was losing its market share for that time slot -- losing its share, most likely, to the superior Scifi programming.  But since USA was/is considered a more mainstream network, shows like the more (arguably) mediocre Monk were having a hard time competing with the superior Scifi offerings, there was an assumption that the Scifi channel was essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul (i.e. the USA and Scifi audiences were largely the same people), and USA had the bigger advertising dollars, something had to give.  And geekdom suffered.
 
The result: the Scifi programs that were the anchor of Scifi Friday eventually petered out once they were spread out over the week -- hence giving people that would have only watched one or two of the programs no reason to sit through the extra two hours of commercials.  Thus, three great programs died, and the inferior (arguably) Monk got to limp along for more seasons than it deserved. 

Thank you television executives for proving, once again, that just because you've got your head so far up your butts that you can see daylight does not mean that you're in the clear.  Your head is still in your butt.  And no the smell will not go away until you remove it.
 
Oh, but yeah, that's all speculation...

[RANT OFF].

 

News for the Masses

Watch this:

Within 5 years I predict the word "journalism" will be considered a synonym for "tabloid" or "joke" (and possibly "fuck-tard") by all reputable academic sources... if there are any left.

Seriously folks, what the hell kind of world are we living in when this is considered news worthy by the media 'powers-that-be'? And here I thought there were plenty of serious problems that needed addressing in the world rather than dressing up non-issues to display our overwhelming prejudices and abject stupidity for the world to mock.

Remember the simpler times when we used to keep the village idiot behind closed doors so that he wouldn't embarrass us in front of visitors from neighboring towns?  Not any more! Now we call them "journalists" and "psychologists" and pay them more money in a month than three honest and hardworking folks can earn, collectively, in a year while actually contributing positively to society.  It is an exercise in total intellectual dishonesty to call these news outlets anything other than "entertainment" (more and more often in the same offensive vein as hardcore bukake porn and snuff films)  and should be required to introduce each and every "show" with a disclaimer providing as such so that the actual village idiots among us know when their chains are being yanked.  We totally need to resurrect Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, infuse them with the power of the Incredible Hulk (possibly letting one of them carry Thor's hammer), and let them met out some brutal medieval justice on the mockery of what journalism has become in the United States.

For the good of the order, the producer(s)/editor(s) at each of the actual * "news" outlets that green lighted this story should be immediately deported to Tunisia or Libya or the Fukushima reactor in Japan or someplace else that actually has something news worthy going on, until they remember (or 'figure out' if no one ever bothered to tell them before hiring them as a news editor/producer) what journalism is supposed to be.  And if they can't figure it out in six months... while being on scene of an actual human tragedy... how said tragedy relates to producing "news" and how to identify what kind of "news" should  be shown on a "news" program, well, then they can fucking stay there.  We've got enough morons in country as it is, and we really need to start getting rid of some of the louder and more obnoxious ones.

* Or "purported 'news' outlets" in the case of Fox News.

Ugh. Rant over. At least we get to enjoy the Daily Show's righteous mocking of yet another exemplar of just how stupid we are becoming...

Rare Insight Into My Brain

The following is an excerpt from an article by Karen Weir regarding practical application of the Charles Haanel 'MasterKey System':

The sub-conscious mind does not differentiate any information that is presented to it. It does not "think". It simply accepts messages as truth. Imagine if your subconscious mind is continuously being given erroneous information and accepts it as truth without question. We must take measures to use our conscious mind to assess, accept or reject information.

Now, you can consciously reject information, but if you subject your self to the same bad information repeatedly, you are going to hamper your progress. You see, it is not just what you think about the information presented, but how you feel about it that will determine what you actually manifest. The intensity and frequency of those feelings matters - a lot.

For example, if you are working in an atmosphere where your ideals conflict with the policies and/or procedures, you are placing yourself in a position of having to continuously "filter", and along with that filtering, you are likely experiencing negative thoughts and feelings. It bogs you down and interferes with your personal progress. 

...
As creators of our own destiny, we have the right and the responsibility to choose who we surround ourselves with. Admittedly, there are some relationships that may be detrimental to your development that you cannot just leave.
...
[However], you CAN choose your business partners. You can choose your leaders and you can choose what kind of leader you want to be. So how do you know who to listen to? Who to "hang out" with? It is not always simple. 

Now, I've never read anything about the MasterKey System, but my guess is that I'd probably find most of it one big steaming pile of bullshit.  I don't believe that our subconscious rules our lives, and I have had more than one hearty guffaw at the expense of those that believe that wanting something to be true bad enough actually makes it true.  I mean, that might how things work in the Matrix, but it just isn't so in real life.  Nothing just 'manifests' itself into being because you've rolled it around in your brain.

But there is still a message here that is worth exploring.  The first point is this: when information is first presented to us, in whatever form, our brains have a tendency to treat that information as true.  Let's face it, that's just basic survival.  If something darts towards me out of the corner of my eye, I'm going to duck because my brain thinks I might be under attack -- even if it's just a butterfly passing by my head taking me by surprise.  But the same thing is also true of regular everyday information that comes to us.  If someone tells me I'm looking fat, I'm going to pause for a moment and wonder just how much progress I've really made in my long term dieting plan.  I know that I've made tremendous progress (I've lost more than 100lbs for Christ's sake!), but if someone tells me I'm looking chunky, I'll take pause, just like I would if someone yelled out "fire" in a movie theater -- is there really a fire I need to be concerned about?  Until I take the time to sit down and consider the truth of that statement, it's going to sit in my belly, and I'm going to mull over it.  The same thing is true when I watch the news, listen to status reports in meetings at work, or listen to my son tell me why his little brother is wearing underpants on his head.  Until I consider and review the information given to me, at least some part of me is going to consider it as true.

Which brings us to the second valid point: given our subconscious acceptance of information, it really is important for us to consider our environment for our psychological well-being.  There are, unfortunately, some folks out there that believe being polite and respectful of their fellow man is a waste of time or is somehow unnecessary.  Those folks don't care if they hurt other people's feelings, because they don't think it's necessary to be nice to other people that aren't important to them.  And sometimes they're even impolite to people that are important to them because they have a misguided belief that being 'mean' all the time is fun and liberating, or else they think that they're just being 'honest' because it just popped into their heads.  These people are toxic, and even if you learn to automatically doubt the veracity of their statements, repeated exposure will most certainly bog you down.

Think about politics for a moment.  If you've got a strong political affiliation, you will have automatically trained yourself to doubt what the 'other' side says.  If your candidate says the current administration has decreased health care benefits to you while simultaneously costing you considerably more in tax dollars, then you're going to be skeptical if when hear someone from the administration tell you that you're actually receiving more benefits and your taxes have gone down.  Obviously they can't both be right, can they?  So, you doubt what you're told by the other side until they prove it to you... even though you're perfectly willing to blindly accept what your own side has told you.  You've trained yourself to ignore what you consider a toxic source of information (while still practicing the inherent belief of information told to you by your own side).  Now lets say that you're a lifelong Democrat and you've just been hired to do video editing for Fox News.  You may not believe a word you're hearing over and over again, but it's still going to wear you down over time.  The constant bombardment of pro-Republican sentiment from your co-workers and your work is not going to be pleasant, despite the automatic rejection you've trained yourself to internalize.

So, you have to ask yourself, why surround yourself with people that are just going to grind you down?  Why expose yourself to constant bombardment?  Life is just way too short to put up with it.  Avoid those that are constantly bringing you down -- even at the risk of appearing rude!  Someone who is down on you all the time has already exercised an unforgivable rudeness by disrespecting you at every chance.  If you choose to avoid that contact by walking away from a dick that wants to stop and have a conversation with you at the water cooler, so be it!  If you're 'cornered' in your office by a dick that wants to impart his 'sage' venom from your doorway, it's ok to ask him to leave so you can get some work done.  If some jackass wants to whisper snide comments about a lecturer during the entirety of a presentation, get up and move.

It all boils down to this: if you don't want to have to detox at the end of every day, then you need to avoid exposure to assholes whenever you can... despite how difficult that can sometimes be.  Eventually they'll get the message.  A true dick, especially the arrogant me-against-the-world types, won't care and will simply ignore you right back.  But if you're lucky, perhaps -- just maybe, they'll figure out that they need to be a little more polite when in conversation with you if they don't want the silent treatment.

But good lord, what the hell is up with people that think it's ok to be a dick all the time anyway?  It's one thing to challenge the status quo, even passionately, but that's entirely different from being a toxic asshole at every chance.

There is a time and a place where you have to stick to your guns and you have to make someone uncomfortable in order to be an agent of change.  I mean, let's face it, once people find a groove that they're comfortable with, they're going to go with it because it's easy and comfortable -- even if they're wrong, and even if that position is harmful to other people (e.g. faith healers, morons who refuse to vaccinate their children, etc.).  When you point out that they're wrong, you're going to run into a wall of denial because people do NOT want to move from a comfortable position, and they sure as hell don't want to have to admit that they've been wrong.  In the face of such opposition, sometimes you have to be exceedingly strident in your efforts to bring about change.  But if you truly care, you should do that with facts, evidence, and an actual willingness to help someone sort through those facts when you've presented them. 

It is way too easy, and damnably lazy, to simply resort to the short cut of being a dick and start calling the opposition names without taking the effort to make actual change.  A true dick seems to be oblivious to the fact that being overly aggressive and confrontational just causes people to become entrenched and does NOT further the cause of logic and rational thinking.  Being aggressive and confrontational, without the effort of evidence, only contributes to the problem and does nothing to help it.

And of course, all of this begs the question: is it really worth being serially confrontational in the first place?  A true dick is out to correct (or at least point out for the purposes of knocking someone else down a peg) problems that, frankly, are none of his business.  Is it really necessary to set your life on a course of correcting the trivial wrongs of others?  Is that really a fulfilling life course?  If there is any true justice in this world, then these folks are just as lonely and miserable as they are toxic to those around them.  Do these people not recognize their own character traits in the movies where the know-it-all-make-everyone-feel-bad-around-me asshole is the villain or the moron who opens the door to let the real monster in?  Don't they realize that people don't want to hang around people like that for a reason?!

<sigh>  Unfortunately this seems to be a character trait that we can't seem to breed out of the population... although I would certainly be game to give it a try.  There always seems to be another whipping post with low self-esteem that is willing to couple with these egotistical jackasses.  Oh well.  But at least we can continue to ignore them to the best of our ability.  We do NOT have to be friendly to them, because they have already demonstrated that they have no interest in such niceties.  And they have proven time and again that they don't want our fellowship and comfort because they ridicule and look down on us at every turn.  So, let them have what they want.  Leave them alone and let them roil in their own self-loathing.  Eventually some of them will come around.  And for the others, good riddance...