Monthly Archives: October 2011

Monday’s Confession: Hopeless and powerless in the USA

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I have a confession: I feel hopeless and powerless when it comes to what’s going on in this country.

I probably read too much, or read too many stories of Americans who have fallen on hard times while the rich enjoy their lowest tax rates in 50 years. There’s a whole lot of wealth resting in the richest Americans’ hands. Well, not in their hands, actually, more like their brokerage accounts where it does little to grow this country.

Fox panicked when he read this post and rounded up all his cash, lest it be taken away by the government. Then he started screaming "FU, you socialist bastard." Now he's locked up in his cage and I'm cleaning the wounds on my arms. Never keep a fox as a pet. It will come back to bite you one day.

And then there’s our Congress who protects the rich like they’re endangered baby seals and heaven forbid someone club their bank account to shake loose a few dollars. The rich and large businesses own the congress and fund their careers so it shouldn’t be a surprise who they answer to. And to top it off, they serve up a load of crap about “Job Creators” being taxed creating fewer jobs. Here’s a nice op-ed on that:

\”Tax Rich More, Patriotic Millionaires Urge\”

I wish I had a new spin on all of this other than to say I once believed in Gordon Gekko‘s mantra: Greed Is Good. But I don’t anymore.

Greed is good for the few, but not the many. We need Captain Kirk to beam down and put a little hurt on the people in our government who protect Paris Hilton’s savings account over the welfare and well-being of middle class families hit hard by the recession (the one that never went away for a large portion of the population).

Years ago, I gave up watching the local news because I couldn’t take the bad news it served up each night. I may have to give up reading on the Internet. The “machine” built to convince people to vote against their own interests and protect the interests on the “machine” is just too great to fight. I don’t have the energy to argue anymore.

I know some people will disagree with me. That’s fine. I do have one question: If the rich, aka job creators, are enjoying historically low tax rates, why aren’t we overwhelmed with jobs in this country and why isn’t the economy booming?

I know it also has to do with companies outsourcing jobs and it’s a complicated issue, but that’s what I wonder everyday when I read a story of a middle-class couple with two kids, who lost their jobs, then their house, then their car and who now live in a homeless shelter. Why aren’t the job creators creating jobs with the money they’re saving in taxes?

Could the rich be lying to us about taxing the rich?

Ignoring WordPress’s suggested topic for post a day

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WordPress is kind enough to send suggestions for my October post-a-day marathon. Today’s is: Describe a dream you’ve had more than once.

As I would rather eat glass or have my head transform into a giant flaming tomato that explodes, leaving the walls of the kitchen covered in burning red pulp, than hear someone describe last night’s romp into their demented brain-space, I will spare you the same pain and suffering today.

Guess what I've dreamed about more than once

You’re welcome.

I do have a confession about dreams, my wife’s dreams. I can’t stand hearing those either.

You would think it would make a difference because I love her and am married to her. No, not a bit.

When she starts to tell me about one, which is often because she dreams a lot and remembers every excruciating detail of them, I can’t bolt the room fast enough, unless she’s trapped me while we’re driving in the car.  I sometimes contemplate jumping out of the moving car, a no-no for low insurance rates, or running away screaming while stopped at a light, a no-no for the long-term success of one’s marriage.

Listening to a spouse’s dreams has to be one of the most difficult parts of being married, right up there next to listening to them sing while they’re using an iPod and headphones, which is the vocal equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard or a knife slicing across a dinner plate. Enough to make you lose your mind, which explains a lot in my case.

My nugget of useless advice today: keep dreaming – but keep them to yourself.

I kissed a widget – and I hated it (post #2)

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F’ing widgets.

Argh!

I had great plans this morning to get a jump on post #2 in Post a Day 2011, which is already a beast of burden on day two. But I came at it with great positivity anyway. Then I took a trip to Widget Hell.

I clicked on my Post a Day widget and went nowhere. Dead link. Html error? Back to the widget instructions for 30 minutes of trial and error.

Oh, Hell!

This is exactly what happened when I tried to add Josh’s Joshland widget, which is still dead by the way because I’m still too lazy to fix it and all five of my readers (number cut almost in half by yesterday’s post) already know how to get to Joshland. And any stragglers who accidentally land on my site because they searched “wonders of Viagra and mohitos,” or something similar, can always google Josh’s most excellent site.

So, thanks to widget and html frustrations today, this is the post you get.

Work, widget, work. (Would Widget be a cute name for a dog?)

Be happy with it like the time you stopped at the roadside diner and stood out like a sore thumb because everyone knew you weren’t a local.

And you were just happy to be served the lukewarm coffee and the pancakes they made a little too thick and soggy.

And some odd-looking kid working there (yes, it could have been the child version of me), perhaps the son of the owner, (hmm, my dad owned a diner) kept mouthing “good tasting cakes, huh?” 

And you couldn’t help but take a nice big bite of the gooey mess with the extra syrup you devoted to it and smile back with batter stuck to your gums, then leave with your life still intact, only to have to stop 20 miles down the road at a rest-stop that had seen better days when the state government had a budget because that kid had put something in your breakfast. (Maybe, he did. Who’s asking?)

Why did I sign up for this?

Here’s your WordPress version of that experience. Have a nice day and y’all come back now.