About Politics

For some reason this is really pissing me off!  I was going to try and write something about politics today.   As a matter of fact I actually started two different posts on the subject and could not finish either. I asked myself what that said about me as a citizen, that I couldn't even write about our political system, but then I thought, Now listen, just because you can't write anything intelligent about the monster we now call out political system doesn't mean you are an idiot that should be better informed, it actually means that, although you may be an idiot in this regard, you are among many very talented idiots that don't seem to understand the system any better then you do.  Unfortunately they are the idiots we voted into office.

Now I'm not talking about knowledge of how the political system is set-up, or how it is supposed to work in principle.   I'm talking about the fact that most political candidates seem to spend a lot of time telling everyone how screwed up their opponents are and not a lot of time telling everyone how they recognize the real problems in our society and how they intend to realistically work to fix those problems.

I hear candidates make a lot of promises like, "I will fix all our economic problems, but I won't raise taxes, I will just say abracadabra and the money will fall from heaven because it says, 'In God we Trust' on it, or 'I promise to work with congress, get them to agree with all the other promises I am making right now and solve all the countries problems!  If they don't agree and make the changes I am promising to make, then I will hypnotize them and then they will'."  What obviously follows here is that since that probably won't work with congress they will hypnotize us with so much bull shit we won't know whether we are coming or going by the time they are done.

It seems to me that  our political system has become so ridiculous that we citizens have no idea what to do about it any more.  Our politicians are so busy slinging so much crap at each other that they have not only forgotten why they are where they are (you know, like Florida or Hawaii at a conference we are paying for!  How come they never have a conference in North Dakota in December?) but they've forgotten who the boss is around here.  You can't really blame them, we have evidently forgotten who the boss is as well (it's us stupid).

We citizens have got to take responsibility for what has happened.  Not only were we stupid enough to think we could vote for someone, send them to Washington DC (or never-never land as I like to refer to it), give them the power to change peoples lives and then act surprised when they don't change anything but their annual income.  For some reason we seem to want to think we have sent Jesus to Washington DC and then we are dumb enough to act surprised when they are not performing miracles.

My vote is to completely change the entire political system.  We can base it on the merit program.  When a politician creates livable housing for their constituents, they can move from the tent we have them staying in to an apartment of our choosing.  When they have come up with a workable health care plan we can let them enroll in it and use what everyone else is using, be it a witch doctor or a medical doctor, they can choose whom ever they like.  And when they get the national debt to a workable level that's in the black, they can start drawing a paycheck.

When these and many other changes happen, maybe then Jesus will return, although it's my bet that he will still level the place just to get rid of the smell.  I did not solve any of the countries problems with this post, but I really don't feel to guilty about it.  No one else has solved any of the countries problems either.  Maybe if we required every graduating class of every university in this country to come up with a workable solution to at least one legitimate problem before they could graduate it would have an impact.  I doubt it, Jesus doesn't go to any of those schools...............that we know of!

About The Price Of Gas?

Gasoline prices are on the rise again and this time I would like to make a few observations:

So let's look at some facts (or at least some common misconceptions that someone who really doesn't know the facts tosses around).

Number one: the big oil companies don't raise prices in the summer when everyone is driving to grandma's house. To hear the oil companies tell it they are non profit, and apparently charitable organizations kind of like the catholic church (I was raised catholic so the rest of you just cool it). Since the catholic church doesn't have to pay taxes then it's just not fair to ask those poor oil companies to do so either.

Number two: we invaded Iraq just to get their oil. Oh please, everyone knows we invaded Iraq because the leader of Iraq was a very mean person who should have been removed from power years ago when he raised the price of crude, oh wait...crap!

Number three: If you buy an ugly, hybrid car your gas mileage will be significantly reduced. This is true! What they don't tell you is that your self image will also be significantly reduced probably due to the fact that you have saved money driving around your hybrid, but you have lost all your friends because they don't want to ride around with you any more in your ugly hybrid car (and I have news for you, your wife doesn't want to ride around with you any more either but she has to because she is married to you).

Number four: if there is a flood on the east coast, a refinery fire on the west coast, or a war in the Middle East your gas prices are going to go up. This is true also! Its based on the laws of supply and demand which I will try and explain. So, let's say your a big oil company and you just finished paying a bunch of money to clean up the gulf after one of your oil rigs burned and sank. I am the guy who needs to buy some oil from you but since you now need to replace a bazillion dollar oil rig you tell me that oil now costs twice as much as it did yesterday because there was a fire that sank your oil rig and spilled a lot of your oil in the gulf. Since the oil is now swimming with the fishes my SUPPLY is now lower, and since your government is DEMANDING that I clean up my mess, which I don't want to pay for, I am going to charge you to clean up my mess by calling it a cost increase based on your need for fossil fuel.

This model can also be applied to war in the Middle East, or war any where for that matter. Instead of supply and demand you need to change the model name to, "Since you blew up my shit with your bombs, you need to make me feel better by paying for all the damage you caused and, by the way, I'm going to sell my oil to somebody else if I can find someone that isn't afraid your going to blow up their shit as well".

What it all boils down to is this, if I have it and you want it, I am going to make you pay for it! If I screw up and break something or destroy the environment, since you needed what I had and what I had did the damage it's your fault and you are going to pay for it! If you look at me in a manner that makes me uncomfortable and I have what you need you are going to pay for it, and last but not least; if you are going to drive a hundred miles to grandma's house and I find out about it, you are going to pay for it because you know you can't say no to grandma! I guess you could fly to uncle Charlie's instead but you are going to really pay for that I will try to control myself when it comes to lobbying for tax breaks, since I'm non profit and your not....