It's Unwinding...Our Culture Of Entitlement

In March 2016, Rob Dreher reported the following in his article, “You Can See It All Over. It’s Unwinding”: “Honestly, I’ve had it with people. I’ve had it with Trump supporters who think their anger and their outrage gives them the right to punch people in the face. I’ve had it with Black Lives Matter and other Social Justice Warriors who think the so-called righteousness of their cause gives them the right to silence those who disagree with them. I’m sick and tired of people who think everything wrong in their lives is because somebody, somewhere, has wronged them. Guess what? You can’t screw whoever you like, have as many kids as you like, or as many partners as you like, walk away from your marriage (if you ever marry), and expect everything to be okay. You can’t drink, drug, party, “keep it real,” make excuses for your children, make excuses for yourself, allow our degraded popular culture to raise your kids, and expect good outcomes. You can’t throw money at problems and expect them to go away (e.g., pay to send your kids to a Christian school, and assume that your tuition fee contractually entitles you to opt out of the moral and spiritual formation of your children), or assume that being a Nice Middle-Class Person is sufficient. It’s not. I’m tired of the rich and the middle class who expect everything to be handed to them, and fall to pieces when it isn’t. I’m tired of the working class and the poor who live as if their relative material deprivation gives them a pass from having to live by basic standards of conduct that most everybody understood and affirmed within living memory, but which are all but forgotten today. Above all, I’m tired of a culture in which so many people have no idea how to tell themselves no, to anything, ever. A culture of entitlement.”

I know this is a lot to take in all at once. It’s a pretty epic rant about life here in America, but if you take a deep breath, keep an open mind, regardless of your political views, regardless of your views on religion, marriage, sexuality, race, and the many other very human things we are arguing about day in and day out, then go back and read this little rant again, I am sure there are at least a couple points with which you will agree. It definitely struck a chord with me.

We need to put aside our political bias and political agendas for a few minutes and address the items in this rant as facts about life in America today because sadly, no matter how you look at it, these are facts. This is an apt description of the America in which we live – an America that is far different from the America that was envisioned by the hard working idealists that founded her – an America that has lost her way because she has abandoned the core values upon which she was built. And I am not talking about religious values – I am talking about the very human-centric values of common sense, accountability and personal responsibility. If we were on a large ancient ship powered by one hundred rowing people, only sixty-six of us would be rowing. Thirty-three of us would rowing one way and the other thirty-three would be rowing the other way, each of us refusing to stop and agree on a direction, resulting in our large majestic ship no longer moving at all.

The only way to get our ship moving again is for us to pause and address the issues that are keeping it from moving forward. It’s time for us to start working together again. It’s time for each of us to expect more of every single one of us – time for each of us to expect each and every one of us to row, not just some of us, because in the end, there is absolutely no excuse for any able-minded and able-bodied American to not be rowing.

Honestly, I’ve had it with people. I’ve had it with Trump supporters who think their anger and their outrage gives them the right to punch people in the face. I’ve had it with Black Lives Matter and other Social Justice Warriors who think the so-called righteousness of their cause gives them the right to silence those who disagree with them.

While this article was written in March when the establishment media’s coverage was laser-focused on some very shitty deeds by a few people at Trump rallies, the point it makes about resorting to physical confrontations is quite spot on. I do, however, find it interesting that the establishment media’s microscope-like analysis of every sneeze made by Trump supporters seemed to fade into a blurred, high-level, spend a few seconds on it look at violence surrounding the primary elections once the tables turned and thugs and anarchists were pelting Trump supporters with eggs, rocks and bricks in the streets, hunting them down in mass, roving gangs.

No American, regardless of any trait, should be subjected to a physical confrontation due to their beliefs on a subject or no matter how contrary those views may be to a single person, or a mob of thugs who call themselves protestors. March peacefully all you want to, but as soon as the protest march you have organized spirals out of control, take responsibility and root out those factions. Work with authorities to stop your protest marches from having a negative impact on the community. Don’t turn and look the other way when vandals and criminals take over your march or your movement by simply throwing your hands up in the air and saying there was nothing you could do to stop it.

And most importantly, we have to realize that no single one of us has a right to silence the opposing views of another. We are human enough to have civil discourse on the issues, in peace, without being human enough to resort to violence and personal attacks, which accomplish absolutely nothing. Our civic and political leaders, especially our president, should never support groups or people who resort to these tactics of intimidation, fear and violence.

I’m sick and tired of people who think everything wrong in their lives is because somebody, somewhere, has wronged them.

America has become a nation of deflectors. For every ailment in life, all someone has to do is blame someone or something else for that ailment and they are instantly forgiven for not taking the personal responsibility necessary to correct or address it. In other words, nothing is ever anyone’s own fault – it is always someone else’s fault. No money for college? Not your family’s fault for not saving, not your fault for not being willing to work in the university cafeteria to pay your way because you are too far above a job like that. Clearly, the hard-working American taxpayer should have to foot the bill for your education instead. Not getting hired for a job? Must be because school didn’t prepare you enough, or the hiring managers must be racists, or it must be the fault of those fat cat Wall Street pigs, or someone or something else, right? And it’s not your fault you’re a smoker or a drinker. I am sure it is genetic, or perhaps the fault of the companies who produce cigs and booze for using their slick advertising to force you to buy them. It is amazing how people will ardently demand free will, but then once they have it, everything they do to harm themselves, those around them, or their livelihoods, is clearly a result of every other outside influence except their own free will.

Guess what? You can’t screw whoever you like, have as many kids as you like, or as many partners as you like, walk away from your marriage (if you ever marry), and expect everything to be okay.

But, with the social safety net that is forever increasing in cost and relying on a forever-decreasing percentage of the population who is burdened with paying for it, they really seem to think they can. The more kids you have, the more money they put on your gub’ment debit card. The more kids you have, the less society seems to expect you to pay for raising those kids. It’s not enough that you can keep them on your government-mandated health insurance until they are 26 years old, but apparently, they are soon going to have a civil right to a college education as well, of course, at someone else’s expense. Government is paying people to have more kids, not raise them, and then insists that society coddle them later and later in life. Remember when you were an adult at 18? Now, it’s 26. When will adulthood begin eight years form now? 35?

This misguided incentive to breed carelessly and coddle the resulting “young”, society’s newfound lack of necessity for the family unit, regardless of its makeup, and the acceptance and proliferation of the “baby-daddy” all have us on our way to the same ruin as every other prolific empire in the history of mankind that allowed itself to become too dependent on the productivity of an ever-decreasing amount of producers that eventually end up becoming a minority of the population, then, finally, one day, say, “Enough is enough!”

You can’t drink, drug, party, “keep it real,” make excuses for your children, make excuses for yourself, allow our degraded popular culture to raise your kids, and expect good outcomes.

Did our grandparents who told us that things used to be safer sell us a false narrative about that past? Did television, the movies and the history books all lie to us when they told us that things were simpler, less dangerous and less complicated in the past? Is there no relation between the break down of the family, again, regardless of its makeup, and increases in crime, poverty, drug use, etc.?

And at the same time, how is the rise of reality television and all of the horrible people that it turns into role models for the young not going to have an effect on the moral fiber of our society?

In our rush to be our children’s best friend and make sure they have the same material luxuries our neighbors are providing their kids, we’re forgetting to raise the little bastards! And not raising your little bastards properly is what is leading to the increase in crime, decrease in safety, and a good deal of the social tension we are experiencing as a society and as a nation.

You must get a license for just about everything you do in this country, but bringing a human being into this world that society must then clothe, feed, shelter, and keep from killing us one way or another is not one of them.

Yet, this never-may-care attitude and no-consequences-ever lifestyle that we are continually promoting to our youth and making completely acceptable for their parents and other adults in this country is a self-perpetuating monstrosity that doesn’t seem to have a cure. Until the people of this country who engage in and promote this lifestyle change their way, this train is only going to approach the cliff at a faster and faster rate. Good luck stopping it!

You can’t throw money at problems and expect them to go away (e.g., pay to send your kids to a Christian school, and assume that your tuition fee contractually entitles you to opt out of the moral and spiritual formation of your children), or assume that being a Nice Middle-Class Person is sufficient. It’s not. I’m tired of the rich and the middle class who expect everything to be handed to them, and fall to pieces when it isn’t.

And not only are the ills of this modern, devil-may-care society in which we find ourselves ruining this country, the people perpetrating it seem to feel they are playing no role in its existence. Parents are so concerned with being a slightly older version of their kids’ generation that they are forgetting what got them where they are in life, a strong upbringing by their parents, not a special friendship with “Joe” and “Suzy” as their kids call them because they are cooler than all the other kids’ parents.

Spend, spend, spend, buy, buy, buy, smile and wave at the neighbors, buy your kids every little material thing they whine for, and bam, you are a great parent and a productive member of society. Meanwhile, you’re not teaching these kids the true value of life, the true value of hard work, the true value of America. When did we all achieve the automatic entitlement to things that past generations had to work for?

I’m tired of the working class and the poor who live as if their relative material deprivation gives them a pass from having to live by basic standards of conduct that most everybody understood and affirmed within living memory, but which are all but forgotten today. Above all, I’m tired of a culture in which so many people have no idea how to tell themselves no, to anything, ever. A culture of entitlement.

While there is not rioting and looting in the streets everyday, some of us have definitely witnessed it firsthand at least a couple of times. And this behavior is a prime example of the mentality that is beginning to plague this nation more and more. The rioter and looter believe they have somehow been wronged by a society that has more than they do. They believe they have some inherent right to go out and obtain material items they will not pay for or work for by stealing them from someone who has. The worst part is that they believe they are not actually stealing those items, but, in fact, are owed those items by society. Other people can afford a big, flat screen TV, and even though I can’t, I deserve to have one, too, so when people are looting the Best Buy, I’m gonna go and get what’s mine.

Again, while the physical act of rioting and looting is rare, this same entitled mentality occurs each and every day in this country in a perfectly legal manner, silently, hidden behind the guise of social welfare. For those of us who produce, when we earn income, poof, there goes a portion of it to the government. After legally and quietly looting our income via electronic debit, the government then doles that money out to the people who apparently deserve it more than the people who actually worked for it.

People who, for whatever reason, cannot afford the same material luxuries as others feel they are entitled to the same as those who can. Why do they feel that way? Why should I be entitled to things that are not mine, things that I have not earned or worked for? It is because we, as a society, have made them feel that this entitlement is perfectly acceptable. Too many people are saying, “Yes, I agree, you deserve these things,” instead of, “If you want these things, get off your ass and get out there and earn them.” This message of entitlement is being relayed loud and clear to far too many.

All of these ills can be traced back to one simple thing: In America, we used to applaud and reward hard work and dedication and look down upon freeloading, laziness and entitlement. Today, we are continually scoffing more and more at those who work hard and embracing the so-called “plight” of those who do not. It is time for everyone to contribute – time for everyone to pay their “fair share”, not just some of us.

It is time for everyone to row. It is time for those of us who are rowing to no longer accept the excuses of those who are not rowing. It is time for us to stop rowing for them. It is time for us to work together to pick a direction and get this large majestic ship moving again.

Photo via Pixabay

Taxation Without Representation Across Time

We continually hear from politicians and political commentators that they are worried about the debt and other problems that we are currently creating for future generations.

I was thinking today that while that is a valid concern, we ourselves are already part of a “future” generation that is saddled with the legislation of the past.

I didn’t vote to elect the people that passed the laws that enacted things like the income tax, social security, and medicare, yet I am impacted by those laws every other week when I send a nice chunk of the money I have worked for to the federal government to blow a good chunk of on stupid, wasteful spending.

The biggest problem with this is that I have no way to go back in time to see how things were before income tax, social security, and medicare were enacted.

Is the country a better place with these things in place? I’ll never know firsthand and for sure, will I? Well, at least not until one of us builds a time machine and starts selling tickets.

Just as I am sure that a baby born tomorrow will feel taxed without representation when they are forced to have healthcare coverage whether they like it or not when they roll off mommy and daddy's plan at the young age of 26, I sit here today, feeling that I was taxed without representation when the income tax, social security and medicare were passed long before I was born.

Happy Two Days Before Black Friday!

You know when I don’t work? Nights and weekends. Well, actually I do, but I’m not required to go into the office at that time. You know why, America? Because I found a job that doesn’t require me to go into work on nights and weekends. You know why I found a job like that? Because I used to have jobs that required me to go in on nights and weekends, and I didn’t like that so much.

Yet, as Black Friday grows near, I am seeing news reports and reading articles about a lot of the folks who work in retail during the holiday season complaining about having to work long hours, nights and weekends, and in particular, during the later hours of Thanksgiving Day, and frankly, I am puzzled.

I’m not trying to be heartless here, but the plight of these folks takes me back to my thoughts on the debate about working part-time at Wal-Mart with no health insurance. At any point when you were applying for the job did they tell you that you were going to have health insurance, then all of the sudden, take it away? No, they did not. I am sure they told you all along that your part-time job at Wal-Mart did not come with health insurance. So, why, then, are you sitting there with a part-time job at Wal-Mart, surprised that you do not have health insurance?

You work in retail. That is the job you have. For whatever reason, that is a fact of your life. And in case you are wondering, I spent the first three years of my working life in retail, full-time while going to high school, and even had to join a union for my first job, so that’s where I get off talking about working in retail.

The store at which you work is open on Black Friday. You can’t, at this point, sit there and be surprised that the store wants you to work crazy hours on Black Friday. Are you going to honestly tell me that you didn’t see that coming? 

You work in retail, yet somehow do not understand what Black Friday is, and never took notice that the starting gates open earlier and earlier each year? You are still somehow surprised? Really? The 5:00 AM sale that became the 4:00 AM sale that became the 3:00AM sale? You didn’t see where that was going?

Ask all the folks who are not in retail about a job that requires them to work crazy hours once or twice a year, and trust me, you probably won’t get a lot of sympathy from them. Just to clarify what I am getting at, most of us non-retail employees, especially those on salary instead of hourly, end up having to work crazy hours more than once or twice a year.

Ask us about overtime pay and our 15 minutes breaks throughout the day too, so we can laugh at you. Do I even need to bring up the whole you work in retail and are lucky to be one of the 85% of people who do that actually still have a job in this economy?

And don’t get me wrong, I get it’s a holiday. I missed many a holiday, birthday, etc., when I was working retail, but I also understood that it was part of the job I had at the time. Again, you can’t take a job working retail and be surprised when you are working nights, weekends and holidays.

And while I’m on the soapbox, I have a little message for the consumers who are complaining on behalf of these retail workers. Really? So, year after year, you buy into the whole Black Friday concept, allowing these retailers to bait you into the store in deplorable, dangerous, and in some cases, deadly conditions, allow them to bait you into stampeding over each other to save some money on let’s face it, crap you don’t need to survive anyway, yet you draw the line at the store making employees miss part of Thanksgiving Day so they can work that night? If there was no one willing to show up to shop at 10:00 PM on Thanksgiving, the stores wouldn’t be opening at that time, so consumers are in no position to complain about when the stores are opening.

Again, America, we cannot sit here and be surprised that this year some of our largest retailers are opening as early as 10:00 PM on Thanksgiving night, expecting their employees to work, and expecting consumers to come in, risking life and limb, to save some money on all the stuff that they simply cannot live without. Like you didn’t see that one coming, America.

Maybe It's Time To Start Learning Chinese

Well, folks, that's it. According to the International Monetary Fund, the era of America will end in just five years when the economy of China becomes the most dominant player on the world stage. American politicians will tell us that we are still #1, economists will tell us where we went wrong, even though we already know what the problem is, and the percentage of Americans who pay no taxes won't care as long as they still get what society owes them.

We can already see cracks forming in the once respected U.S. dollar and U.S. treasuries markets, but when we slide to #2 behind China, the world economy and the world's international security system will have a very different landscape than what we all have known through our lifetime.

According to the IMF, whoever wins the Presidential election in 2012 will be the last U.S. President to preside over the largest economy in the world. How are most Americans handling the news? The way that we always do. Instead of buckling down, making real changes, and addressing the problem, most of us will put our heads in the sand and tell ourselves that it won't make a difference in our lives, and the so-called experts are going to fuel that view by saying that the IMF figures are inaccurate and that we have at least a decade until this is going to happen.

According to a MarketWatch article, "Under PPP, the Chinese economy will expand from $11.2 trillion this year to $19 trillion in 2016. Meanwhile the U.S. economy will rise from $15.2 trillion to $18.8 trillion. That would take America’s share of the world output down to 17.7%, the lowest in modern times. China’s would reach 18%, and is rising."

While this is just a prediction, all signs point to the fact that the U.S. economy will no longer be #1 within our lifetime. America took over as top economic power in the world in the 1890s and unless you're pushing 120 years old right now, you have lived in a time when our nation was the #1 power on the world stage. Imagine what the world will be like when this is not the case. While we may have our ills, we have led the world with the very best of intentions. Do you think that China will do the same?
也許是時候開始學中文

Taking The Day Off At The Taxpayer's Expense

Just like a Reese's peanut butter cup, Wisconsin has recently seen the coming together of my two favorite things...protestors and teachers...

As Milwaukee Public School teachers left their classrooms to march in Madison Friday, they likely earned more than $3 million to not teach students in Wisconsin’s largest school district.

In Madison, the school district was closed for three days after hundreds of teachers engaged in a mass sick-out so they could attend protest rallies at the State Capitol. That could cost the district $2.7 million.

Late Sunday night Madison Metropolitan School District administration announced their schools would be shut down yet one more day, at a possible cost of more than $900,000.

Many of the absent teachers converged on the Capitol to protest a bill which would alter their compensation packages and make changes in government employee unions’ ability to collectively bargain on issues other than wages.

While some have speculated that the absent teachers will see their pay docked, that may not be the case if they provide a doctor’s note. Due to collective bargaining rules currently in place, the absences could be considered excused and the teachers would be paid for their protesting.

That possibility took on added significance as the MacIver News Service broke the story Saturday that several doctors in lab coats were handing out medical excuse notes to passers by, without examining their so-called patients.

If all the teachers in Milwaukee and Madison are paid for the days missed, the protest related salaries for just the state’s two largest districts would exceed $6.6 million dollars.

Using a figure of $100,005 for average teacher compensation in MPS and an average yearly workload of 195 days, these teachers cost approximately $513 per day in salary and benefits to employ. Spread over 5,960.3 full-time licensed teachers in the district, this adds up to $3,057,634 in daily expenses.

The average teacher’s total compensation in Madison is $74,912, according to the Department of Public Instruction. Each day costs $384.16 per teacher. The district has 2,370 teachers.

These figures don’t include administrators and support staff, many of which got an unexpected paid days off thanks to the week’s protests .

Let Rahm Run...So We Can Kick His Ass!

I have never liked Rahm Emanuel, and I truly hope he loses his bid to become the mayor of Chicago. I am glad that he is gone from Washington and will not miss him, though his replacement, William Daley is just another Chicago politican in the White House, a former Chase Executive Committee member, who while the President hates bank executives, obviosuly loves this freakin' guy!

I do, however, as much as I think he's a total DB, think that Rahm Emanuel should be allowed to run in that mayoral race. See, in order to run for mayor in Chicago, you are supposed to have lived in the city in the past year. Well, Emanual was living in Washington, working at the White House. Two voters have brought a suit against Emanuel, stating that he is not eligible to run for mayor due to that "lived in the city in the past year" clause, but I think while well-meaning, that clause was put in place for obvious reasons and should also be nullified in certain circumstances.

If someone has shown that they have a history of living in the city, but have not lived there in the past year because they have been serving in a higher office, or serving in the armed forces, or serving a worthwhile cause that has taken them out of the city, the should still be allowed to run for mayor.

Again, while I don't like this guy, he quite clearly has earned the right to run for mayor of the city of Chicago. We should let him on the ballot and then kick his ass, not pursue this chicken-shit way of winning. We are better than that.

These Are The Days When I Am Proud...

I had a post all ready to go for today, but with the events that occurred this weekend, I would think it remiss of me to not to divulge that the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords is weighing heavily on my wind when I think about politics. In the wake of such a tragedy, how amazing is it that the system does not break down and the whack-job who perpetrated this act of terrorism in his own backyard is going to walk into a courtroom and begin the long process of bringing him to justice. While I personally am anxious to see that justice enacted much more swiftly that it will occur, I just had to comment on how this is one of the wonderfully right things in America. No matter how bad the mob wants to enact vengeance, cooler heads prevail and the justice system is looked to instead.

In another shining example of something that is right with America, just a week ago, the transfer of power in the House of Representatives went off without a hitch. Again, another blatantly right thing with America and our system of government. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot that we need to fix, but there are some things that are still working just as wonderfully as they were centuries ago.

This heartbreaking story of tragedy and heroism is also sadly, so very American. This story embodies the wonderful rights that are granted to us by the constitution - the right to have access to our government, the right to assemble, freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms - gone so horribly wrong at the hands of one of our own. It is so hard to see such promising and accomplished lives cut short by such an unaccomplished, waste of a human being.

These are the times, however, when America shows her true colors. When the accused, no matter how heinous the crime, still gets their day in court. When we come together, despite the beliefs that may divide us, to comfort, honor, and respect. When we put aside our differences, even if just for a short while, to do the right thing. These are the days when I am proud of you, America.

An America Where We Watch A Man's Home Burn Over A $75 Tax Bill

You'd expect King George to let one of the colonists' homes burn over money owed to the crown in 1773, but a local American government letting a constituent's home burn over $75 in unpaid fire taxes in 2010?

I was truly at a loss for words when I read about this happening. Imagine the sight...in an America where since 9/11, we have elevated the firefighter up to a well-deserved position of heroism and the embodiment of all that is good with America, firefighters literally standing and watching a home burn over $75. A man lost his home, all of his possessions, and even worse, witnessed his three dogs and cat burn to death as his home went up in flames. Again, all over $75.

Gene Cranick, who lives in a rural area outside the city limits of South Fulton, Tennessee is required to pay $75 per year to be covered by the South Fulton Fire Department. While Gene had paid the $75 for the previous two years, he claims to have forgotten to pay it this year. So, when Gene's home caught fire and the South Fulton Fire Department arrived on scene, the "firefighters" literally refused to fight the fire that was engulfing his home. They laid a water line around a neighbor's home, who had paid the $75, to ensure that Cranick's fire did't spread, but as for Cranick, he was on his own.

I cannot think of a more un-American story that I have read in a long time, though I must say, America, my definition of you is rapidly changing because of stories like this.

I would like my America to have firefighters like the men and women who risked their lives on 9/11, like the men and women who risk their lives day in and day out in this country everyday. I do not want my America to have firefighters that make me think of Fahrenheit 451 and a government that would let your home burn to the ground, let your pets burn to death, all over $75...all over what you owe the government.

I'll spare you the tirade over America's changing landscape and how if we keep on this course, the government will one day tell us when we can go to the bathroom, but you can see what I am getting at here.

$75? Firemen standing around, watching a man's home burn to the ground and his animals being killed. Here? In my America? Over $75?

The only good part of the story is that Gene's son, Timothy, went down to the fire house to lodge a complaint and ended up punching Fire Chief David Wilds in the face. Sorry, Chief, you had that one coming. Let's hope the judge goes easy on Timothy and takes into consideration the special circumstances of the case.

I also take issue with what City Manager Jeff Vowell had to say about the situation: "I have no problem with the way any of my people handled the situation. They did what they were supposed to do. It's a regrettable situation any time something like this happens."

I am really hoping that City Manager Jeff Vowell lives outside city limits at one point and forgets to pay his $75 so we can see how "regrettable" he feels that situation ends up being.

I tried to send a comment to the city on their website, but it seems server traffic may be keeping the messages from getting through. Or, the city has grown tired of criticism and disabled certain methods of contacting them.

The message I wanted to send was: "I hope that you relish in the negative publicity and public outcry that your city and its local government have earned from the rest of America. The first question that popped into my head is whether or not your "fire" department would have acted to extinguish the fire had Mr. Cranick paid you in cash there on the scene. Had I been standing there, I'd have paid the $75 for him. To allow the destruction of Mr. Cranick's property and the deaths of his animals over $75 is absolutely ridiculous. Your city, it's local government and your policies are a wildly apt example of what is wrong with America today. You should all be very proud of yourselves. You embody everything that America should NOT be."

I still find this all so unbelievable and wrong.

Why I Oppose The Mosque Near Ground Zero

I must admit that I agree more with the people who do not want the Muslim Community Center and Mosque built near Ground Zero than those who do. I do see Mayor Michael Bloomberg's point about being able to build what you want on the land that you own, and I do see the Master and Commander's view on religious freedom in America and the message it might send, though as I said yesterday, I highly disagree with his invocation of the Founding Fathers to make his point, and more importantly, disagree with his position on the issue.

But, do you know what else I see? I see why if your loved one was killed on 9/11/01, you might not want to have to walk by a Muslim Community Center and Mosque with a questionable background on the way to the "hallowed ground" of the World Trade Center to visit the 9/11 memorial, or just to spend some time in the general area that you know your loved one spent the last few minutes of their life.

Do some research, and you will find that there were, in fact, a number of Muslims that died as victims of the attacks, but even the highest most trustworthy estimates put that number at well under 100 of the almost 3,000 victims that perished that day. A much larger number of the victims were believers in Christ-based faiths and Judaism. While the conspiracy theorists, far-leaning thinkers, and honestly, U.S.-haters, do not want us classifying them as such, the 19 men that caused 9/11 considered themselves to be Muslim. Regardless of the merits and beliefs of Islam and how the religious beliefs of most Muslims (especially those here in the U.S.) greatly differ in belief from what was carried out on 9/11, all the evidence seems to point to the fact that these 19 guys considered themselves to be Muslim and considered themselves to be waging a holy war against America and its Christians and Jews. All that being said, you really can see how the families of the victims and a large number of Americans might not want that Muslim Community Center and Mosque built right there, just a couple blocks from Ground Zero. I tend to find myself agreeing with this point.

What I would like to know more about, however, in light of this debate that I am hearing, is the background and financing trail of this group that wants to build this Muslim Community Center and Mosque right there next to Ground Zero. So, show me that this is a 100% completely upstanding group of Muslims who do not believe in violence, and do not believe that the September 11th attacks were something that we had coming, and maybe you will sway me. It just seems right now, that the jury is still out on that.

Do they have ties to terrorist groups and does their money have ties to terrorist groups? It seems no one is able to give us a straight answer on that, including the people that want to build the mosque. The people who want this mosque most definietly do not seem to be able to prove without a reasonable doubt that absolutely none of their money and support comes from extremist groups with an agenda. I do see that as a huge problem and a major part of this story, and my decision, which as I said, leans more towards the fact that this mosque should not be built there.

Yes, Mr. Bloomberg, they own the land and should be able to build what they want to on it by the letter of the law, and yes, Mr. Master and Commander, in that perfect little world that seems to only exist in your mind, we should live by the letter of the law in regards to religious freedom and what that means in America today, however, there are times when you need to look at things subjectively, regardless of what the laws say on paper. Isn't that what you believe about illegal immigration, Senor Obamos?

So, for now, I oppose the building of this mosque that close to Ground Zero. I understand the New York City Mayor's position, but disagree with it. I understand the President of The United States of America's position, but disagree with it, and will go as far as to say that I think he is speaking prematurely and has made a mistake that will cost him and his party some support from the American middle.

I understand what the separation is between the average everyday Muslim and these fanatical extremists, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that there are not extremist Muslims with agendas still living and working in this country. And let's not forget what a small group of dedicated, like-minded people out to kill as many Americans as they can are capable of doing.

"Work," I Said...

Teresa asked me what I used to do during Spring Break. She wasn't surprised at the answer..."Work," I said.

What Is Wrong With This Country?!

What is wrong with this country? The three main headlines today are as follows – 1.) John Edwards Admits He Fathered Rielle Hunter’s Child - 2.) Conan Signs $45M Deal To Leave Network and - 3.) The New Heidi Montag. While most days when I pop open MSN for the first time (it’s my home page), I shake my head and think to myself, “…and we wonder why religious fundamentalists want us dead”, but today takes it to entirely new level.

The man who would have been Vice President and just as much a single heartbeat away from the Presidency as Sarah Palin had an affair while his wife was battling cancer, fathered a child with his mistress then took some very politician-like steps to cover up the whole thing, including a very Willy Jeff-esque denial with later denial retraction. It seems as if he even went as far as to have one of his staffers ready to take on the role as the baby’s father. 

While John Edwards is the latest in a long line of disgraced politicians from both sides of the aisle, this again leads me to ask the question, “Why do we tolerate this type of behavior from our politicians? Why do they feel that they can continually get away with being on the very bottom step of the moral ladder?”

This behavior is unacceptable and we should hold our politicians to a better standard in this country, yet it seems there will be a good percentage of people out there who will not only defend this behavior but try to convince us that a politician’s actions in their personal life have no bearing on the job they do, or the person that they are. I, for one, beg to differ.

What has gone on with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and NBC is a fantastic example of how we view agreements and honesty in this country. While it is our right to change our mind here in America, I also think that we are too easily ready to let people out of their agreements. Bankruptcy is a fine example of this. You get to run up debt, promise to pay it, but then get to say, “Oh, no, I don’t want to pay it after all,” and come up with an excuse as to why you can’t. We, as a society, and as an economy, should be holding people to better standards than that.

If you look at the history of our government, you will see time and time again, this same type of back-tracking and revisionist history that we as Americans should not allow to be forced upon us. I, for one, do not believe that agreements are made to be broken. America, however, seems to feel differently. We allow people, businesses, and our entire government to back out of agreements that we have made way too easily.

Who do you think that Al Qaeda is thinking of when they form their description of the average American? Heidi Montag, that’s who. Poor troubled, vain, oblivious and self-centered Heidi, whose coming out party with her new ten plastic surgeries is taking up valuable space on my news page.

While I will be the last to condone the efforts of our enemies, we also must take a few minutes to try to understand where they are coming from. Think if every morning you had to wonder how you were going to eat, or how you were going to get medicine for your kids, whether your house would be standing when you got home from a job that paid you pennies a day, and/or if a rebel army, or even your own government was going to come and take you away, drag off your family, etc. etc. etc. – and then you turn on the TV and there is poor little Heidi Montag, the picture of America, talking about how she was teased as a child and how hard it was for her growing up, and how hard is to be poor little Heidi Montag. You’d want to wipe her off of the face of the earth, too, America. Don’t lie and tell me that you wouldn’t.

We have reached such a level of complacency in this country because we don’t have to fight for anything anymore. We have truly lost sight of what is important and what should be the main focus in our lives, and honestly, what should be the focus of our free press. Your children should be learning about all the wonderful things the world has to offer from arts to music to literature, but instead, the best that we can offer up as a nation is a two-part interview with Heidi Montag so that she can explain to us why she felt she needed a new look to the extent of spending 10 hours under the knife. Go America!

We can really do better as a nation and as a people…

Why The U.S. President Should Not Bow To World Leaders

I know I am about a week late, but I feel the need to chime in on the picture of The Magician bowing before Japanese Emperor Akihito that is floating around on the Internet, and the grumbling over the image that is going on across America.

The picture shows The Magician bowing, almost at a 90-degree angle with his head down before the Japanese Emperor. The proper way to bow to a peer is to keep your head up, look forward with your eyes looking directly at the person you are bowing to, both of you bowing at the same time, both of you bowing to an equal level, and in this case, regardless of height difference. If the other person chooses to not look up at you or bow down further than you, then that is their choice, but you should not do so under any circumstance, especially if you are the President of the United States of America. Make no mistake about it. The bow in this picture is how you would bow to show respect to someone above you, or to show your submission.

I think that someone in his staff should have briefed The Magician on this beforehand, and maybe even practiced it with him. The briefing should have touched on ensuring that he sent a message that he is on a level playing field, but I am afraid that The Magician was probably briefed with more of a stance that ensured proper respect was shown, even to the extent of it erring on the side of submission. That, my friends, was the mistake in this situation.

Let's bear in mind that a lot of what is circulating around the web is a still image, so we must be considerate of the fact that this is one frame in what was a fairly quick action, but the fact remains, these still images do now exist and are making their way around the world, and they show, unmistakably, the President of the United States of America bowing submissively before the Japanese Emperor.

I think most Americans are not necessarily bothered by the fact that The Magician would bow to a world leader out of respect, but it is the interpretation of him bowing so low in front of another world leader that is causing the uproar, especially among folks on my side of the aisle. Any sitting U.S. President should show respect to the Queen of England, but not take a knee before her. These pictures show the President of the United States of America making a very similar gesture as kneeling before the Queen in bowing in that manner before the Japanese Emporer.

You take this incident in conjunction with the already infamous bow before the King of Saudi Arabia and the infamous exchange with Hugo Chavez at the U.N., and you have the makings of a very strong case that the United States of America no longer considers itself to be a world leader, the world's sole remaining Super Power, but in fact, an America that is not only possibly on a level playing field with all of the world, but on its way to being someone's whipping boy. I, for one, do not like this message.

These, in my opinion, are prime examples of why the arguments were being made that The Magician was not ready for this post. Call the Great Satan George Junior all that you want to, but that man never put this country in a position of submission at any point during his eight years in office, even with the King of Saudi Arabia, who for all intents and purposes was one of his father's peers and associates.

The bottom line is that in just his first year in office, The Magician is sending a very clear message to leaders around the world, and yes, our enemies around the world, that the United States of America is no longer a power to be reckoned with; that we are no longer a shining beacon on a hill, but simply another suburbanite in the world's neighborhood.

I'm Not The Only One Calling Him A "Magician"!

During commentary on Tuesday's election results, political pundit Charles Krauthammer called our president a "magician". He said that Americans somehow thought that Barak Obama was a magician who sold them on his ability to somehow solve all of their problems, which is why they voted for him, yet, a year later, as reality is setting in, they are seeing that campaign promises and actual implementation of these promises are two entirely different things.

These comments put a particularly large smile on my face. I have called this president, first The Leader, which was not necessarily my doing, but a reference to a cult leader from The Simpsons, and now secondly, The Magician.

I call him The Magician because I think the only way for his Healthcare initiatives to work as he is selling them would be through magic. He says that he is going to find and cut all of the existing spending necessary to pay for $1 trillion in new spending after the money has already been spent (a common practice of politicians who end up never cutting the existing spending after the fact), cram people who have no money to pay for services into the healthcare system without increasing its capacity, and somehow reduce the cost of care to the people who are paying for the system, and somehow still increase the quality of care that everyone is receiving. There is only one way that this can be achieved...magic!

Barak Obama's win a year ago had a lot to do with people who don't normally vote getting out and voting. They, unlike the rest of us who vote all the time, were not able to filter out the campaign promises from what he would actually be able to achieve. So many of these first-time, or seldom-time voters saw him as someone who would fix all of the problems in their lives that they had been unable to fix for themselves.

Now, after a good ten months in office, I think they are seeing that this is just not the case. They are seeing that The Magician is not going to be able to wave his wand and somehow magically fix Taxington, D.C., the politicians, the economy, and their own personal problems.

If they would vote once in a while, they would know that this is what the rest of us deal with on a regular basis...politicians that make campaign promises that they just simply will never have the power to deliver on.

We investigate the facts, read the bills, read the platforms, and do not simply just get caught up in the political whirlwinds like the perfect storm that got The Magician elected last year. We recognize that a Presidential Election is a far more important thing than a road show to take an interest in for a couple of months every four years.

I think the honeymoon is over, which is why you are seeing The Magician's numbers turning. When the excitement about this man's youthfulness, his lack of tarnishing years as a Taxington politician, his desire to shake up the system, and yes, even his race, all wear off, we as Americans are seeing that despite all of the campaign rhetoric, there is still a politician in the White House.

For the life of me, what I cannot figure out, is why all of the first-time and seldom-time voters out there thought it would be any different. Oh, yeah, that's right, it is because despite living in this country and reaping its benefits, this is the first time that you actually got involved with the rest of us in the political process and took the time to vote. Well, welcome to American politics, where you are seldom happy with the results of any election. Now, go crawl back into your hole of political oblivion and let the rest of try to fix the mess that you have created.

There is not an easy solution to the problems that this country is facing, and we should all be suspect of anyone who tells us that they have the formula to fix it all. We all have a duty to vote for someone who will do what is in the best interest of the nation, not just simply promise to provide us with the things that we do not have, have always wanted, yet somehow, have never found the means to provide for ourselves.

Money will be borrowed, money will be printed, services that we cannot afford will be provided, yet one day, the bill will come due and we may see the first time in the history of this nation where the bill is just so overwhelming that it drags the entire country down with it, and no amount of magic will be able to save us when that happens.

No "Mercy" Rule!

When I was growing up, sports were a competition. You won some, and you lost some. You won some really big, and because we tried not to swear in front of our parents, we really got "creamed" sometimes.

I learned from sports that you can't win all of the time, but if you try your hardest and do your best, even when you lost, you still had something to be proud of because you didn't give up.

I also learned that if you're not ready to compete and give it your all, you need to stay out of the arena. I have applied all of these principles to my business life as well. I truly feel that I am a better businessman because of the principles that sports taught me at such a young age.

That, my friends, is why I do not believe in the "mercy" rule. I don't think you should intentionally do physical harm to an opponent, especially one that is mismatched, but if you are not ready to step out onto that field, or that court, and take some lumps and be blown out if you're having a bad game, then you should never walk out onto that field or court in the first place.

Not everyone is #1 and not every team is going to be #1, and dealing with that is a lesson that America's children need to learn, not just simply never be exposed to. Leagues where every kid has a #1 jersey, and gets a first place trophy, and no one keeps score are detrimental to America's youth, not beneficial.

I am disappointed that so many Americans do not realize the harm that we are doing to these kids with the "everyone wins" mentality. How is your little slugger who played in a league where everybody won going to take not being hired for a job they really wanted, interviewed for, but just didn't get?

Will they persevere, move on, and get the next job, or will they simply give up because they've never had to deal with losing?

A company who places an employment ad is not going to hire everybody so that it is fair, they are going to weed out candidates, and one of them is going to win. If the first time your child deals with losing is when they're in their early 20s, just out of college and looking for their first job, you will have done them a great disservice as a parent and as an American, and they will not be as well off as they would have been with some healthy winning and losing when the stakes were just a game, not their ability to provide a good lifestyle for themselves.

Unchecked School Administrators

Well, here we go again with school...

Shiba Pillai-Diaz is a middle school teacher in New Jersey. She decided to decorate her classroom’s bulletin board with an American theme. So, she put up an American flag, a poster of the Declaration of Independence and portraits of several U.S. Presidents. Wanna hear why she had to take the bulletin board down?

There were enough parents and spineless school administrators who listened to those parents, that’s why!

What was their complaint? Well, one of the pictures of the U.S. Presidents was George W. Bush, the current sitting President, and whiny parents said that if this teacher was going to have a picture of George W. Bush up, she should have a picture of John Kerry up too, to be fair.

She was given a choice...put John Kerry up on the bulletin board, or take the whole thing down. So, when we put up pictures of the Presidents of the United States of America, do we now need to include the current Presidential Candidates as well?

According to these parents and this teacher’s bosses, we do. So, is this where we are at in America? Our teachers cannot put up a picture of a sitting President during his re-election without putting up pictures of the people running against him?

Now, hold on a second...understand what you just read? I said “people,” didn’t I? Yes, there is more than one person running against George W. Bush in this election, but there was only an outcry for John Kerry’s picture, not an outcry for pictures of each of the Presidential Candidates. What do we call that, boys and girls? We call that hypocrisy.

Parents claimed it was unfair for the teacher to put up just Bush’s picture and whined for Kerry’s picture. They did not, however, whine for pictures of all of the candidates...just their candidate. Why did they want Kerry up on the bulletin board? They said it was to be fair, but I must call them on the fact that it is just because it’s their candidate, not because they are looking for something to be fair.

My “Fellow” “Americans”...

So, I’m flipping channels the other night and come across a little TV show called “Are You Hot?”. Now, maybe I don’t see a yellow-tinted-glasses-wearing Lorenzo Llamas or a badly-aging Rachael Hunter judging the looks and sex appeal of the common idiot masses as entertainment, but apparently there are millions out there who do.

Please note that when I talk about America, it’s usually, “us,” but when it comes to reality television and the dramas we all just have to watch, folks, there’s usually me and everybody else. I’ve never watched a single episode of The Sopranos. Do I totally love real-life mobster stories? You bet. Do I totally love an intriguing mystery/action novel? You bet. Do I enjoy being the only one in the room that hasn’t seen a single episode of Survivor, Fear Factor, or Who Wants To Marry Some Dumbass Who Wants To Marry Someone On Live TV? See the pattern? You bet!

There was a time when I enjoyed going to a little Italian Restaurant/Irish Bar called BirraPoretti’s at South Coast Plaza. The law aside, I started going there when I was 15 and spent countless hours upon hours enjoying their wonderful Italian food, Guinness on tap, and conversation with the well-dressed, properly-mannered clientele that made up the crowd there for many-a-year. I actually wrote some of my best stuff at one of the tables in the back corner of the bar there.

Then, about four years ago, after decades of a prosperous business model, some dumbass decided to move the tables out of the corners and put big screen TVs in their place. I can call on over twenty witnesses that will tell you, when they put those TVs in, William said, “I give them five years, tops, then they’ll be out of business.” TVs led to the dress code, the dress code led to football jerseys and a slip in food quality, which led to the menu changing, which led to no where. Guess whose doors are closed forever? Thanks, TV! You ruined Birra’s for me!

Now, just when you thought reali-shitty TV could not get any worse, Fox is proud to bring you, “Married By America.” On this one, single folks who haven’t been able to find their significant other are going to be paired up in matrimony by their fellow idiots...sorry, I mean peers. So, these morons are going to let “America” pick their soul mate and then they are going to get married before even meeting each other while “America” watches.

No matter what we’re arguing about and no matter what position you are in during the argument, there seems to be two “Americas.” There’s a 98% and a 2% that used to be a 97% and a 3%. There’s a something-% and a something-% when it comes to every aspect of America. So, while there’s 98% who enjoy reality TV, there’s the 2% of us who do not. So, what’s wrong with those of us who think MTV should show some god-damned music videos once in a while and force those f-ing Real World kids to get lives and jobs? What’s wrong with those of us who aren’t shocked and amazed that some construction worker is experiencing guilt over lying to a group of gold-diggers who are after his fictitious money? Nothing, really, it’s just that we’ve made the choice to experience life ourselves, instead of relishing in other people’s triumphs and defeats (if you can even all them that) while we sit in front of an appliance.

There is so much wonder going on in my romantic life that I don’t need to worry about who J-Lo is screwing this month, even though whenever I watch a 24-hour news channel, I have to turn off the last 15 minutes of every hour because they want to tell me. There are so many wonderful and intriguing people around me that I’ve never had to watch “Friends.” There are too many wonderful things out there in the world to be learned and enjoyed and there is so much to be done in the short time we own this wonderful gift of life. Am I the only one whose life is so full that I don’t have time, nor care enough, to know who’s getting the rose and who’s getting booted of the island, or fjord, or whatever the hell it is this season?

All right, All right, now, I’m not just bashing reali-shitty TV for no reason here...I have a message. See, like I said, there is in America, always two “Americas,” and there is no exception here. How is it that I am able to recite the gist of these shows without every having watched a single one? Between advertising, the buzz, and the media, they’re bombarding the 98%. You don’t want to be the only one at the water cooler tomorrow who didn’t watch, do you?!

So, watch up, 98%, because that still leaves 2% of us that are going to look back and relish in our accomplishments. We’re going to smile, knowing we can’t tell you who won American Idol this year, but could tell you the socio-economic reasons Saudi Arabia backed the Taliban (both sets of information are coming from the same appliance, people). One group of kids will settle into couch-potato-ism and another set of kids will one day lead America. 2% is going to hand a generation’s worth of growth, industry, and prosperity over to the next generation, knowing that thanks to things like reali-shitty TV, they will have even less competition than we did. 98% is going to leave their next generation Yoga DVDs by actual Real World cast members and memories of Darvas, Richard Hatches, people who will put their heads in a box full of scorpions if the price is right, and sports fanatics who can’t turn the game off long enough to sing “Happy Birthday” to their wife or kids. And yes, I’ve even seen that. Grown men actually reading the closed captions on a game while they sang, one eye on their kid and one eye on the game!