WORLD STARVATION
2500 children each day die of starvation each day according to the television commercial featuring the actor who used to play 'Trapper John MD'. He sits there in the squallier of the same type of village that Sally Struthers used to visit and tells you how your dollar can help prevent this tragedy. Where do I begin with this one? If we propagate this system they live in they just breed like flies and the problem gets bigger not less. We have been throwing money and missionaries at these situations for literally centuries and it has done no good. The British missionaries started trying to educate and help them as early as the late 1590s. Some people have lived their time and as a culture have stagnated and need to move aside for something new. Seriously does anyone remember the Etruscans, or the original Nordic settlers in Vineland or the Rapa Nu. What about those chaps that originally lived on Easter Island or the Peruvian culture that built Machupichu. Then there were the original Romans whose culture fell to the Gauls, or Lemuria-mu, the Vikings, Incas, Aztecs, Picts, and many, many more. All of their societies ceased to exist. They either adapted or died
out. Some were changed through breeding with other cultures, as was the case with the Vikings, while others were sublimated into a bigger conquering culture or in some instances they just plain DIED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Red Cross wasn’t there to keep their stagnant, non-productive, miserable lives and culture going. Our universe is an ever-changing one and if you can’t learn to adapt you will die. I speak from experience having been on missionary trips to some of these god-forsaken, mud-pit-fly- infested pestholes. These people have no desire to get ahead or improve their lot in life. They just expect the rest of the world to support them in their never-ending quest to laze around and make more babies. I have been to South Africa and Chili, Peru and even supposedly civilized countries like Czechoslovakia and everywhere the problem is the same. Human apathy. Even here in the USA it is a huge problem. You will either have the verve and will to get ahead in life and support yourself and make something of your miserable existence or you don’t. It can’t be taught or given to someone; you are just born with it.
Now let’s get back to the 5 hundred thousand per year children who starve with 'Trapper'. There are not 2500 kids a day in the Far and Middle East that die of starvation. According to World Health Organization there are not that many people dying of starvation worldwide each day let alone this little rat pit 'Trapper' is in. According to Matthew White in his book 'The Historical Atlas of the 20th Century' there were a total of 44 million people who died of starvation for the whole century. He has all the deaths for the whole century broken down into specifics such as war, murder, accidents, self-inflicted wounds and so on. According to him and the World Health Organization this comes out to be about 1205 deaths a day worldwide due to starvation. That’s worldwide. Robert Gilliam in his article 'Can we Find Peace in a World with Inequitable Distribution of Wealth Among Nations', points out that as the gross national product rises the death rate due to infant mortality and starvation drops proportionally. What’s this all mean? It means that the liberal agenda is to create a problem or a crisis and then propose a way for your money to fix it. By giving them your money you ensure that the system keeps going and receiving all of its government assistance. While Wacko, Liberal Enviro-nuts can set back and soak up the power and glory and feel good about doing something by using your money. What we should be concerned about is the poverty and hunger in our own country. When we have all of that solved then we can go sticking our noses into other countries and making up statistics about how bad off they are.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Andrew's Rants.
RAIN FOREST DESTRUCTION
Give me a break. When I was a kid we called it the Jungle and it would eat you alive in a second. Now the Enviro-Nazzies have prettied it up and it's all friendly with that sure fire cure for cancer just hanging on the vine like the Garden of Eden and it's called "The Rain Forest". Bullshit, it’s still the wild dangerous Jungle with Tarzan and all the Bomongani. Also, they make it seem that the countries involved are just bull dozing the Jungle down for the hell of it for fun every afternoon. Let's just all have a big party and just burn it all down, we got nothing else to do but piss off the rest of the world. I’m afraid not. That is nowhere near what is happening. They are practicing land management and harvesting select trees and then replanting. Even those '3rd World Morons' know that if you just cut it all down it is gone. No, they go in and sometimes clear cut for construction but in 99 % of the cases it's selective cutting and replanted after they have moved on. The same is true in North America. Everyone screams about virgin timber. Let me tell you something, if this group doesn’t know a thing or two about trees by this time, considering the amount of time we have spent among them each year, then it’s a sad thing. Every tree dies. There are no ‘Ents’ in the woods, no eternal trees, and No Virgin Timber. Get it - 'No Virgin Timber'. It has all been burned down by natural causes at one point or another or stricken by blight bugs or diseases. Hell, even our precious Gorge with all its magnificent trees has
been clear-cut in entirety several times in the past 150 years, just go to the Ranger Station and ask to see the photos or look in any book documenting the Red River Area. Virgin timber? Baaahumbug! Trees are not eternal. They live 3 or 4 centuries in the best of cases more often much less. They die fall down and new ones grow in their place.
In fact, if you go to the US Department of Forestry and Agriculture you will find that there is more land under forestation at the present time than ever before in the last 1500 years in North America due to forest fire fighting practices and land management that promotes wetland and forest preservation. All the Enviro-Nazzies bitch that we are destroying the oxygen producing trees and that we will all suffocate in a hundred years, which is, once again, leftist, Marxist, lying, liberal bullshit. Remember, that the Earth's surface is covered 2/3 by salt water and all that supports the largest living ecosystem on the planet the root of which is algae. According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Aeronautic Association, algae creates 97.8 percent of the Earths’ oxygen supply, not the freaking oak tree in your back yard. It’s the millions of square miles of photosynthetic algae blooms that number in the quin-trillions and form the base foundation for all of life as we know it here on Earth, that are responsible for keeping that precious 15 % oxygen content supplied to the mixture of gasses we breath. Do you want to know what the best thing you can do with a tree is? Chop it
down and make something out of it like a baseball bat to smack a Hippie or Liberal with. Guess what, it will grow back. That’s why it’s called a 'Renewable Resource'. If the Enviro-Nuts want to bitch let them go off about Non-Renewable Resources like Coal that really damages the land when they Strip Mine. You don’t find Tree Huggers out there chaining themselves to rock faces chanting save the coal now, do you? You know why? It's because it’s harder to anthropomorphize anthracite coal. You can identify with a graceful tree, gently swaying in the wind easier than with a mere rock under your feet. Think about it. Oh, there’s also the fact that coal miners wouldn’t
give a shit if they killed a few Hippies in the process of mining. All of these and more factors keep them from looking at the environment logically and protesting the true damaging aspects of our consumption based society.
Give me a break. When I was a kid we called it the Jungle and it would eat you alive in a second. Now the Enviro-Nazzies have prettied it up and it's all friendly with that sure fire cure for cancer just hanging on the vine like the Garden of Eden and it's called "The Rain Forest". Bullshit, it’s still the wild dangerous Jungle with Tarzan and all the Bomongani. Also, they make it seem that the countries involved are just bull dozing the Jungle down for the hell of it for fun every afternoon. Let's just all have a big party and just burn it all down, we got nothing else to do but piss off the rest of the world. I’m afraid not. That is nowhere near what is happening. They are practicing land management and harvesting select trees and then replanting. Even those '3rd World Morons' know that if you just cut it all down it is gone. No, they go in and sometimes clear cut for construction but in 99 % of the cases it's selective cutting and replanted after they have moved on. The same is true in North America. Everyone screams about virgin timber. Let me tell you something, if this group doesn’t know a thing or two about trees by this time, considering the amount of time we have spent among them each year, then it’s a sad thing. Every tree dies. There are no ‘Ents’ in the woods, no eternal trees, and No Virgin Timber. Get it - 'No Virgin Timber'. It has all been burned down by natural causes at one point or another or stricken by blight bugs or diseases. Hell, even our precious Gorge with all its magnificent trees has
been clear-cut in entirety several times in the past 150 years, just go to the Ranger Station and ask to see the photos or look in any book documenting the Red River Area. Virgin timber? Baaahumbug! Trees are not eternal. They live 3 or 4 centuries in the best of cases more often much less. They die fall down and new ones grow in their place.
In fact, if you go to the US Department of Forestry and Agriculture you will find that there is more land under forestation at the present time than ever before in the last 1500 years in North America due to forest fire fighting practices and land management that promotes wetland and forest preservation. All the Enviro-Nazzies bitch that we are destroying the oxygen producing trees and that we will all suffocate in a hundred years, which is, once again, leftist, Marxist, lying, liberal bullshit. Remember, that the Earth's surface is covered 2/3 by salt water and all that supports the largest living ecosystem on the planet the root of which is algae. According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Aeronautic Association, algae creates 97.8 percent of the Earths’ oxygen supply, not the freaking oak tree in your back yard. It’s the millions of square miles of photosynthetic algae blooms that number in the quin-trillions and form the base foundation for all of life as we know it here on Earth, that are responsible for keeping that precious 15 % oxygen content supplied to the mixture of gasses we breath. Do you want to know what the best thing you can do with a tree is? Chop it
down and make something out of it like a baseball bat to smack a Hippie or Liberal with. Guess what, it will grow back. That’s why it’s called a 'Renewable Resource'. If the Enviro-Nuts want to bitch let them go off about Non-Renewable Resources like Coal that really damages the land when they Strip Mine. You don’t find Tree Huggers out there chaining themselves to rock faces chanting save the coal now, do you? You know why? It's because it’s harder to anthropomorphize anthracite coal. You can identify with a graceful tree, gently swaying in the wind easier than with a mere rock under your feet. Think about it. Oh, there’s also the fact that coal miners wouldn’t
give a shit if they killed a few Hippies in the process of mining. All of these and more factors keep them from looking at the environment logically and protesting the true damaging aspects of our consumption based society.
Andrews Rants
OVERCROWDING
Now this one is so easy that a child should be able to see the fallacy of the statement. The eggheads who write all the articles about overcrowding all live in big cities and fight that rush hour traffic and have to make dinner reservations 3 weeks ahead of time just to get into McDonalds. Sure to them the world looks crowded as they jostle a million other people for a space on the subway. Ask a farmer in Kansas if it’s overcrowded. His nearest neighbor lives farther away than the entire city of New York. I have driven across this country from coast to coast several times. When you do that you get a perspective that flying doesn’t allow you. If you fly its bam and there you are 6 hours or less and you are across the entire continent. Try driving it. After a few days you realize that you have been driving for about 5 hours and all you have seen are trees and shrubs but not a single human being. We have more land and food than we can use it’s just that people like to crowd into large groups and clan together.
Most times this happened throughout history the black plague or some other disease would come along and attack the areas with the worst living conditions and bingo about ¾ of the earth’s population would die out. Now with the modern miracle of treated water and sewer systems and antibiotics we can stuff more people than ever before into ever-smaller spaces thanks to high rise buildings. New York, Tokyo, Saul Palo, Kuala Lumpur, and more. Literally billions crammed into housing that is so small and tight that our southern bathrooms are spacious by comparison. Sure to these fools the world seems crowded because it is but I have been to places where there was no one in sight nor any indication of another human at all. Once on a
trip to the western part of the USA I drove through the cornfields of what seemed most of Kansas. It was literally hundreds of miles of either corn or just flat land as far as you could see. In New Mexico and Arizona I saw tracts of land where the road signs would say next gas 300 miles and they were not kidding. I have been to other countries like Australia where we went to Ayers rock. It was a 6-hour drive over empty moonscape land and swamps, jungle and desert to reach it and the only sign of human habitation was the tourist rest areas along the road. In Europe there are areas in the Black Forest that stretch for thousands of miles where no one lives and has not for thousands of years since the Picts moved out to become civilized.
We got space on this planet, we got more space than we can use. It’s just all the monkeys no longer live in the jungle but decided to move to the zoo and the zoo is crowded believe me I been there too and the zoo is definitely crowded. So my solution is move out if you don’t like it. Stop bitching about it and look further away than a Jersey suburb and think about those vast uninhabited tracts of land available to anyone who wants to live there. Hell, look at Vegas it was once a piece of flat desert with nothing more than scorpions and buzzards. Now thanks to the Mob, it’s one of the largest vacation spots on the planet ranking right up there with Disney World and the famous Black Gold Festival in Perry County KY. A few facts here to
back up my statements as provided by http://www.nemw.org/popdensity.htm the states of NY and NJ have a population density of 1134 peopleper square mile. But if you think that’s crowded its nothing to Washington DC where the density sits at 9317 bureaucratic monkeys per square mile. On the other hand North Dakota boasts a 9, Montana a 6 Wyoming a 5 and Alaska has 1 person per square mile on the average. We got space people just move out of the freaking cities and live in the country. Hell with satellite you can still get your broadband and 200 high def video channels no matter where you are.
Now this one is so easy that a child should be able to see the fallacy of the statement. The eggheads who write all the articles about overcrowding all live in big cities and fight that rush hour traffic and have to make dinner reservations 3 weeks ahead of time just to get into McDonalds. Sure to them the world looks crowded as they jostle a million other people for a space on the subway. Ask a farmer in Kansas if it’s overcrowded. His nearest neighbor lives farther away than the entire city of New York. I have driven across this country from coast to coast several times. When you do that you get a perspective that flying doesn’t allow you. If you fly its bam and there you are 6 hours or less and you are across the entire continent. Try driving it. After a few days you realize that you have been driving for about 5 hours and all you have seen are trees and shrubs but not a single human being. We have more land and food than we can use it’s just that people like to crowd into large groups and clan together.
Most times this happened throughout history the black plague or some other disease would come along and attack the areas with the worst living conditions and bingo about ¾ of the earth’s population would die out. Now with the modern miracle of treated water and sewer systems and antibiotics we can stuff more people than ever before into ever-smaller spaces thanks to high rise buildings. New York, Tokyo, Saul Palo, Kuala Lumpur, and more. Literally billions crammed into housing that is so small and tight that our southern bathrooms are spacious by comparison. Sure to these fools the world seems crowded because it is but I have been to places where there was no one in sight nor any indication of another human at all. Once on a
trip to the western part of the USA I drove through the cornfields of what seemed most of Kansas. It was literally hundreds of miles of either corn or just flat land as far as you could see. In New Mexico and Arizona I saw tracts of land where the road signs would say next gas 300 miles and they were not kidding. I have been to other countries like Australia where we went to Ayers rock. It was a 6-hour drive over empty moonscape land and swamps, jungle and desert to reach it and the only sign of human habitation was the tourist rest areas along the road. In Europe there are areas in the Black Forest that stretch for thousands of miles where no one lives and has not for thousands of years since the Picts moved out to become civilized.
We got space on this planet, we got more space than we can use. It’s just all the monkeys no longer live in the jungle but decided to move to the zoo and the zoo is crowded believe me I been there too and the zoo is definitely crowded. So my solution is move out if you don’t like it. Stop bitching about it and look further away than a Jersey suburb and think about those vast uninhabited tracts of land available to anyone who wants to live there. Hell, look at Vegas it was once a piece of flat desert with nothing more than scorpions and buzzards. Now thanks to the Mob, it’s one of the largest vacation spots on the planet ranking right up there with Disney World and the famous Black Gold Festival in Perry County KY. A few facts here to
back up my statements as provided by http://www.nemw.org/popdensity.htm the states of NY and NJ have a population density of 1134 peopleper square mile. But if you think that’s crowded its nothing to Washington DC where the density sits at 9317 bureaucratic monkeys per square mile. On the other hand North Dakota boasts a 9, Montana a 6 Wyoming a 5 and Alaska has 1 person per square mile on the average. We got space people just move out of the freaking cities and live in the country. Hell with satellite you can still get your broadband and 200 high def video channels no matter where you are.
Andrews Rants
EL NINO
OK, do I have to say it again? We live in an active environment. Nothing stays the same. If ocean currents change it is not the end of the world, nor is it caused by anything we did. Our opinion of ourselves is highly overrated. We think so much of ourselves just because we can think; but, in the grand scheme of things we don’t matter one whit to the environment. Sure if we set off a couple of Nukes every week or so it would adversely affect things but we don’t do that. The fact is that all of the pollution put out by the entire human population during the past 500 years and that includes the coal burning industrial revolution does not even begin to equal the amount of toxic gasses ash dirt radioactive elements and just pure trash that Mount St Helens spewed into the upper atmosphere over a week’s time. Yes, that’s right; the Earth pollutes itself perhaps we should regulate that as well. No more Volcanoes, it’s causing global warming and killing life as we know it. Stupid 'Environazzies' go to the United States Department of Geology web site and read up on just how much junk is ejected into the air on a really big Volcano.
We as humans don’t matter anymore than a flea on an elephant to the Earth at our present rate of pollution. So go ahead smoke a cigarette, burn your trash, dump your sewage in the creek the Catfish love it.
OK, do I have to say it again? We live in an active environment. Nothing stays the same. If ocean currents change it is not the end of the world, nor is it caused by anything we did. Our opinion of ourselves is highly overrated. We think so much of ourselves just because we can think; but, in the grand scheme of things we don’t matter one whit to the environment. Sure if we set off a couple of Nukes every week or so it would adversely affect things but we don’t do that. The fact is that all of the pollution put out by the entire human population during the past 500 years and that includes the coal burning industrial revolution does not even begin to equal the amount of toxic gasses ash dirt radioactive elements and just pure trash that Mount St Helens spewed into the upper atmosphere over a week’s time. Yes, that’s right; the Earth pollutes itself perhaps we should regulate that as well. No more Volcanoes, it’s causing global warming and killing life as we know it. Stupid 'Environazzies' go to the United States Department of Geology web site and read up on just how much junk is ejected into the air on a really big Volcano.
We as humans don’t matter anymore than a flea on an elephant to the Earth at our present rate of pollution. So go ahead smoke a cigarette, burn your trash, dump your sewage in the creek the Catfish love it.
Andrew's Rants.
THE OZONE HOLE
The Ozone Hole is another of those things that’s been here long before us. You can go to the US Department of Agriculture’s site and find some astonishing facts that will make you wonder why doesn’t anybody take this information and shove it down the Environmental-Wacko-Liberal-Goose-Stepping Gender-Bending-Left-Wing-Nutso-Democratic-Enviro-Nazis throats. From tree ring growth patterns which we have records of back as far as 80,000 years we can see certain weather patterns and growth cycles from all over the Earth We can tell if a climate was hot, cold, dry, or wet. We can see if there were fires and how long growing seasons were. We can tell what kind of bugs lived on or in the trees and what kind of fungi thrived. Both of which have an abundant range of knowledge associated with their respective fields of study.
What I’m getting at is there is clear irrefutable evidence that there was an ozone hole 80,000 years ago and we sure as hell weren’t spraying CFCs into the air back then or using cars with those Ohhhh Sooooo Evil Exhaust Fumes. It’s a Crock. We got rid of CFC use almost completely over 20 years ago and it didn’t make a bit of difference. In fact if you want to know the truth every electric motor on earth produces ozone as a byproduct of its operation. That’s right every refrigerator out there is helping the Ozone by running that compressor 24 hours a day. RF11 is a less effective gas than Freon and yet we don’t use it because some Enviro-Nazzi said we were destroying the Ozone Layer so now we’ve got to use something more expensive and less effective so people can feel good about themselves. Just another prime example of how it’s more important to feel good about your convictions than be actually right about them. It’s the intent that counts not the truth. So yes, there is a Seasonal Ozone Hole. It’s always been there and always will be. It’s affected by the Toridoral Rotation of the Earth and the Van Allen Electromagnetic Field around the Earth. It’s also affected by Sunspot Activity and Background Solar Winds. Not Cow farts and hair spray. I think we should take all the Environut Hippies to the South Pole and make a little Commune right under where the Hole appears and force them to live there so they can feel justified in their panic.
The Ozone Hole is another of those things that’s been here long before us. You can go to the US Department of Agriculture’s site and find some astonishing facts that will make you wonder why doesn’t anybody take this information and shove it down the Environmental-Wacko-Liberal-Goose-Stepping Gender-Bending-Left-Wing-Nutso-Democratic-Enviro-Nazis throats. From tree ring growth patterns which we have records of back as far as 80,000 years we can see certain weather patterns and growth cycles from all over the Earth We can tell if a climate was hot, cold, dry, or wet. We can see if there were fires and how long growing seasons were. We can tell what kind of bugs lived on or in the trees and what kind of fungi thrived. Both of which have an abundant range of knowledge associated with their respective fields of study.
What I’m getting at is there is clear irrefutable evidence that there was an ozone hole 80,000 years ago and we sure as hell weren’t spraying CFCs into the air back then or using cars with those Ohhhh Sooooo Evil Exhaust Fumes. It’s a Crock. We got rid of CFC use almost completely over 20 years ago and it didn’t make a bit of difference. In fact if you want to know the truth every electric motor on earth produces ozone as a byproduct of its operation. That’s right every refrigerator out there is helping the Ozone by running that compressor 24 hours a day. RF11 is a less effective gas than Freon and yet we don’t use it because some Enviro-Nazzi said we were destroying the Ozone Layer so now we’ve got to use something more expensive and less effective so people can feel good about themselves. Just another prime example of how it’s more important to feel good about your convictions than be actually right about them. It’s the intent that counts not the truth. So yes, there is a Seasonal Ozone Hole. It’s always been there and always will be. It’s affected by the Toridoral Rotation of the Earth and the Van Allen Electromagnetic Field around the Earth. It’s also affected by Sunspot Activity and Background Solar Winds. Not Cow farts and hair spray. I think we should take all the Environut Hippies to the South Pole and make a little Commune right under where the Hole appears and force them to live there so they can feel justified in their panic.
Andrew's Rants.
THE RANT and RAVE
Several weeks ago my lovely wife brought to my attention that what I do on this site is not Rant and Rave it’s more like a Madman let loose on an unsuspecting Innocent Society and was the 100 percent raving of a Mad Lunatic. I got to thinking about it and realized she was WRONG and that what I have to say is so important that many of you might feel a sense of loss of direction if I was to stop (Allow me my fantasies OK). So for the next few weeks I decided to touch upon some Politically Correct Topics that the Liberal Left likes to push upon us. The Environmental Wacko Groups will tell us all sorts of salacious lies to further their own causes regardless of the facts. It's more important to have good intentions than actually be right and if you happen to contradict them with facts or hard scientific proof why then you’re a Hate Monger and want all the Children to die and want to Poison the Atmosphere and see the Environment destroyed. It’s a Blind Fanatical sort of Knee Jerk Reactionary Force they rely upon to further their agenda. It’s ingrained into the Children in the Schools where the Teachers are predominately Liberal. The Children don’t know enough to question the outrageous claims they are being fed without a shred of evidence. After a while they become Little Brainwashed PC Zombies spouting the party line out of rote memory their Little Skulls full of Mush Twisted by the lies of the Leftist Enviro-Nazzies.
It’s become socially acceptable to just believe in this tripe and feel good about your support rather than question the nonsense that can be spouted by supposedly intelligent learned people. In the next few weeks I will address the following hot topics. Sort of like Myth Busters for the Leftist Commie Liberal Propaganda Machine.
Tell me if you have ever heard of any of these:
1. The Earth is Warming up due to our Pollution.
2. There’s a Hole in the Ozone Layer and it’s caused by CFCs and we are all going to die.
3. El Nino is caused by Automobile Pollution and Cow Farts
4. We are running out of Land and Overcrowding is a Problem
5. We are destroying all the Rain Forest at Millions of Acres a Day
6. Over 1500 Children die each Day from Starvation in 3rd World Countries
Lets take a look at a few of these outrageous claims. Over the Next few 'Rants' I will address them with hard science and facts, putting to rest the Populist Feel Good Crap the Al Gore’s of our country would have us believe. Trust me there is No 'Star Wars Force', No Santa, Easter Bunny or Gaea Mother Earth about to wreak death and destruction on us for taking a piss in the woods. My favorite is the Earth warming up and we are all going to bake to death in a hundred years. Well of course the Earth is getting warmer. Remember that Ice Age thing. In fact remember the past 3 Ice Ages. There is a Cycle to the Earth’s Climate. It gets hot then cold. It doesn’t stay the same; we do not live in a Static Environment. It changes daily. People freak out because the Oceans have warmed 3 degrees over the past 100 years. Well guess what 'Snapper Head', it’s going to get warmer with or without you no matter what you do or don’t do. We are still coming out of the last Ice Age and will continue to do so for the next twenty three thousand years before the Next Cycle starts to reverse itself and slide back towards the cooler temperatures. It will actually get colder a lot faster than it got warmer. It will only take about three thousand years for Ice to once again cover the Earth down to Ohio if the last few times have been any indication. It will then stay 'ass cold' for the next 80,000 years and slowly warm up again. It’s a Cycle and there’s nothing we can do about it. So deal with it and Stop Bitching. The first Ice Age lasted almost 200,000 years and had almost 10 million before the next one. The intervals are getting shorter and the Ice Period quicker. It's all based on the Sun and the Solar Radiation we receive and how it affects the Global Temperature not Car Emissions. People who worry about Global Warming are the same ones who worry that the Sun will go Nova and eventually shrink to a small White Dwarf in about 15 billion years. Geez, give me a break. Do they plan on being here that long? The fact of the matter is that we have just recently come out of a Mini Ice Age in the last 50 years. These are Short Periods of Brief and Very Cold Climate Spurts that last 3 to 4 Hundred Years. This was recently documented and The Discovery Channel did a Wonderful Episode showing its effects on our recorded history in a series called the MINI ICE AGE. It lasted from the 1600 to the late 1870s. That’s why things like Washington crossing the Delaware depicted on our currency with Ice Flows is not a Fictional Situation it really was that cold but nowadays that never happens. Remember when we were kids and it snowed a foot or more every winter several times a year. Remember when our Grandparents talked about the snow so deep it came up to the horse’s ass. My kid has never seen more than 2 inches on the ground. People, we are coming out of an Ice Age - deal with it and adapt. It's nothing we caused - it's Natural. God made it happen and there is nothing you or Anyone Else can do about it.
Next time we address the Myth that Man caused the Ozone Hole with Hair Spray and CFCs.
Several weeks ago my lovely wife brought to my attention that what I do on this site is not Rant and Rave it’s more like a Madman let loose on an unsuspecting Innocent Society and was the 100 percent raving of a Mad Lunatic. I got to thinking about it and realized she was WRONG and that what I have to say is so important that many of you might feel a sense of loss of direction if I was to stop (Allow me my fantasies OK). So for the next few weeks I decided to touch upon some Politically Correct Topics that the Liberal Left likes to push upon us. The Environmental Wacko Groups will tell us all sorts of salacious lies to further their own causes regardless of the facts. It's more important to have good intentions than actually be right and if you happen to contradict them with facts or hard scientific proof why then you’re a Hate Monger and want all the Children to die and want to Poison the Atmosphere and see the Environment destroyed. It’s a Blind Fanatical sort of Knee Jerk Reactionary Force they rely upon to further their agenda. It’s ingrained into the Children in the Schools where the Teachers are predominately Liberal. The Children don’t know enough to question the outrageous claims they are being fed without a shred of evidence. After a while they become Little Brainwashed PC Zombies spouting the party line out of rote memory their Little Skulls full of Mush Twisted by the lies of the Leftist Enviro-Nazzies.
It’s become socially acceptable to just believe in this tripe and feel good about your support rather than question the nonsense that can be spouted by supposedly intelligent learned people. In the next few weeks I will address the following hot topics. Sort of like Myth Busters for the Leftist Commie Liberal Propaganda Machine.
Tell me if you have ever heard of any of these:
1. The Earth is Warming up due to our Pollution.
2. There’s a Hole in the Ozone Layer and it’s caused by CFCs and we are all going to die.
3. El Nino is caused by Automobile Pollution and Cow Farts
4. We are running out of Land and Overcrowding is a Problem
5. We are destroying all the Rain Forest at Millions of Acres a Day
6. Over 1500 Children die each Day from Starvation in 3rd World Countries
Lets take a look at a few of these outrageous claims. Over the Next few 'Rants' I will address them with hard science and facts, putting to rest the Populist Feel Good Crap the Al Gore’s of our country would have us believe. Trust me there is No 'Star Wars Force', No Santa, Easter Bunny or Gaea Mother Earth about to wreak death and destruction on us for taking a piss in the woods. My favorite is the Earth warming up and we are all going to bake to death in a hundred years. Well of course the Earth is getting warmer. Remember that Ice Age thing. In fact remember the past 3 Ice Ages. There is a Cycle to the Earth’s Climate. It gets hot then cold. It doesn’t stay the same; we do not live in a Static Environment. It changes daily. People freak out because the Oceans have warmed 3 degrees over the past 100 years. Well guess what 'Snapper Head', it’s going to get warmer with or without you no matter what you do or don’t do. We are still coming out of the last Ice Age and will continue to do so for the next twenty three thousand years before the Next Cycle starts to reverse itself and slide back towards the cooler temperatures. It will actually get colder a lot faster than it got warmer. It will only take about three thousand years for Ice to once again cover the Earth down to Ohio if the last few times have been any indication. It will then stay 'ass cold' for the next 80,000 years and slowly warm up again. It’s a Cycle and there’s nothing we can do about it. So deal with it and Stop Bitching. The first Ice Age lasted almost 200,000 years and had almost 10 million before the next one. The intervals are getting shorter and the Ice Period quicker. It's all based on the Sun and the Solar Radiation we receive and how it affects the Global Temperature not Car Emissions. People who worry about Global Warming are the same ones who worry that the Sun will go Nova and eventually shrink to a small White Dwarf in about 15 billion years. Geez, give me a break. Do they plan on being here that long? The fact of the matter is that we have just recently come out of a Mini Ice Age in the last 50 years. These are Short Periods of Brief and Very Cold Climate Spurts that last 3 to 4 Hundred Years. This was recently documented and The Discovery Channel did a Wonderful Episode showing its effects on our recorded history in a series called the MINI ICE AGE. It lasted from the 1600 to the late 1870s. That’s why things like Washington crossing the Delaware depicted on our currency with Ice Flows is not a Fictional Situation it really was that cold but nowadays that never happens. Remember when we were kids and it snowed a foot or more every winter several times a year. Remember when our Grandparents talked about the snow so deep it came up to the horse’s ass. My kid has never seen more than 2 inches on the ground. People, we are coming out of an Ice Age - deal with it and adapt. It's nothing we caused - it's Natural. God made it happen and there is nothing you or Anyone Else can do about it.
Next time we address the Myth that Man caused the Ozone Hole with Hair Spray and CFCs.
Andrew's Rants.
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
I saw the movie with a sense of dread going in. I had read the book and to date it was the only one by JK Rowling that was boring. In fact, I am of the opinion that it was "ghost-written". The book was nothing like the ones that came before it stylistically and failed to hold my interest. The one that came after it called "The Half Blood Prince" is a much better work and back up to her usual writing standards. This along with the fact that the critics panned the movie made me even consider waiting for the DVD rather than shilling out the 9 bucks to sit in a crowded theatre at midnight to see a sneak preview of the movie.
As it is I only have two problems with the film, but first let me say this, it was a Good Movie. Not great, not bad, but good. It held my interest and really further developed the Potter story and characters rather than resolve any world shaking issues other than Voldemort is back, which we all already knew. I think the critiques are so trained for car-chases and explosions they wouldn’t understand suspense and drama if it bit them on the ass. They still expect the Harry Potter of the past and what they don’t realized is that Mrs. Rowling is ageing her characters and story composition to match the age of her original readers. Harry isn’t like the Hardy Boys and doesn’t live in a static world and never age. He is growing up on film right before our very eyes. Just like the readers who are now in their late teens and early 20s. The last movie saw some serious moments with Cedrick's death but still had the frivolity of the Quiddich matches and the Tri-Wizard tournament. This time around there is no mention of Quiddich and its some serious stuff going on with a lot of political shuffling and under-handed dealings along with downright murder and sorcery battles and a major character's death. This along with a load of character development bring us closer to the figures in this movie than ever before. It is not a stand-alone movie and sets the stage for further story line development in the next film which should end with a Bang! - Dumbledore’s Death at the Hands of Snape as Harry watches. So my impression is not bad, not great but a good movie that leaves you wanting more.
Now the two problems I had with the movie. One was the Giant that looked like a Harryhausen creation not the CGI creature it was supposed to be. It was as lifeless and plastic looking as Claymation. And second and more importantly were the 12 commercials lasting a half an hour I was forced to sit through before we even got to the movie previews. What the hell am I paying 9 dollars for when they are selling a half an hour of add space before the movie. I can’t change the channel or get up because someone will steal my seat. I am a captive audience forced to watch one stupid product endorsement after another. I don’t mind the previews at all but the forced 'crappy' Coke ads and the 'Newest Car' they are trying to convince me is 'Cool' are not something I give a Damn about. I would love to play Roshambo with the Marketing Director that was responsible for the add-placement & quantity and kick him "right Squaaah inna nut sack".
I saw the movie with a sense of dread going in. I had read the book and to date it was the only one by JK Rowling that was boring. In fact, I am of the opinion that it was "ghost-written". The book was nothing like the ones that came before it stylistically and failed to hold my interest. The one that came after it called "The Half Blood Prince" is a much better work and back up to her usual writing standards. This along with the fact that the critics panned the movie made me even consider waiting for the DVD rather than shilling out the 9 bucks to sit in a crowded theatre at midnight to see a sneak preview of the movie.
As it is I only have two problems with the film, but first let me say this, it was a Good Movie. Not great, not bad, but good. It held my interest and really further developed the Potter story and characters rather than resolve any world shaking issues other than Voldemort is back, which we all already knew. I think the critiques are so trained for car-chases and explosions they wouldn’t understand suspense and drama if it bit them on the ass. They still expect the Harry Potter of the past and what they don’t realized is that Mrs. Rowling is ageing her characters and story composition to match the age of her original readers. Harry isn’t like the Hardy Boys and doesn’t live in a static world and never age. He is growing up on film right before our very eyes. Just like the readers who are now in their late teens and early 20s. The last movie saw some serious moments with Cedrick's death but still had the frivolity of the Quiddich matches and the Tri-Wizard tournament. This time around there is no mention of Quiddich and its some serious stuff going on with a lot of political shuffling and under-handed dealings along with downright murder and sorcery battles and a major character's death. This along with a load of character development bring us closer to the figures in this movie than ever before. It is not a stand-alone movie and sets the stage for further story line development in the next film which should end with a Bang! - Dumbledore’s Death at the Hands of Snape as Harry watches. So my impression is not bad, not great but a good movie that leaves you wanting more.
Now the two problems I had with the movie. One was the Giant that looked like a Harryhausen creation not the CGI creature it was supposed to be. It was as lifeless and plastic looking as Claymation. And second and more importantly were the 12 commercials lasting a half an hour I was forced to sit through before we even got to the movie previews. What the hell am I paying 9 dollars for when they are selling a half an hour of add space before the movie. I can’t change the channel or get up because someone will steal my seat. I am a captive audience forced to watch one stupid product endorsement after another. I don’t mind the previews at all but the forced 'crappy' Coke ads and the 'Newest Car' they are trying to convince me is 'Cool' are not something I give a Damn about. I would love to play Roshambo with the Marketing Director that was responsible for the add-placement & quantity and kick him "right Squaaah inna nut sack".
Andrews Rants
CURRENT DATA COMPUTED
Well it’s been a while since my last post and there is a reason why. I was challenged by a reader to objectively look at global warming and seriously study both sides of the argument. I started looking into it and the more I studied the more controversy there was. After nearly a year and a half I have accumulated nearly 300 gigabytes of data including reports for and against global warming. The myriad theories of every possible nature and from well respected scientist to idiot Hollywood actors and stupid politicians. Just because you play a doctor on TV doesn’t mean you are one.
Anyway I was going to write a long dissertation on my findings but as I wrote it citing sources and studies it became bigger and bigger. As it passed 30 pages I realized this was going to be bigger than my dissertation in Graduate school and this forum was not the place for such a lengthy article. So I will condense my findings down to a single paragraph and anyone who wishes to discuss it with me in a rational manner may call and do so at length. I don’t want knee-jerk reactionary groundless arguments I want to hear some actual facts to support your point of view. OK so here it is.
Yes the earth is warming. It is not caused by man. Its nature. The sun contributes more than anything else to this cause. Global warming and cooling cycles are normal. For example the three ice ages one of which we are still on the tail end of. Man does have an impact on the environment in a localized nature but not enough to affect a global scale. We just don’t make that big of a difference.
So yes were warming, deal with it, there’s nothing we can do. If it’s any consolation in about 17,000 years it will all be under ice again and I am sure people at that time will guilt themselves into believing that their teleporters and Bertol Ray devices are causing the current changes. Just remember people that this fantastic planet we live on is not a static environment. It changes daily whether we are here are not. It’s had massive temperature changes and as few as a single continent on more than one occasion in addition to ice ages and massive volcanic obliterations and total global eradications of all life on 3 documented occasions of which the dinosaurs were not one or even close. We even had polar shifts where the North Pole used to be at the equator on 2 separate instances. Provable by magnetic north in the rock strata.
It’s the weather guys and there’s not a thing you can do about it.
Well it’s been a while since my last post and there is a reason why. I was challenged by a reader to objectively look at global warming and seriously study both sides of the argument. I started looking into it and the more I studied the more controversy there was. After nearly a year and a half I have accumulated nearly 300 gigabytes of data including reports for and against global warming. The myriad theories of every possible nature and from well respected scientist to idiot Hollywood actors and stupid politicians. Just because you play a doctor on TV doesn’t mean you are one.
Anyway I was going to write a long dissertation on my findings but as I wrote it citing sources and studies it became bigger and bigger. As it passed 30 pages I realized this was going to be bigger than my dissertation in Graduate school and this forum was not the place for such a lengthy article. So I will condense my findings down to a single paragraph and anyone who wishes to discuss it with me in a rational manner may call and do so at length. I don’t want knee-jerk reactionary groundless arguments I want to hear some actual facts to support your point of view. OK so here it is.
Yes the earth is warming. It is not caused by man. Its nature. The sun contributes more than anything else to this cause. Global warming and cooling cycles are normal. For example the three ice ages one of which we are still on the tail end of. Man does have an impact on the environment in a localized nature but not enough to affect a global scale. We just don’t make that big of a difference.
So yes were warming, deal with it, there’s nothing we can do. If it’s any consolation in about 17,000 years it will all be under ice again and I am sure people at that time will guilt themselves into believing that their teleporters and Bertol Ray devices are causing the current changes. Just remember people that this fantastic planet we live on is not a static environment. It changes daily whether we are here are not. It’s had massive temperature changes and as few as a single continent on more than one occasion in addition to ice ages and massive volcanic obliterations and total global eradications of all life on 3 documented occasions of which the dinosaurs were not one or even close. We even had polar shifts where the North Pole used to be at the equator on 2 separate instances. Provable by magnetic north in the rock strata.
It’s the weather guys and there’s not a thing you can do about it.
Andrew's Rants.
MUSH MOUTH REVISITED
Following up on the popularity of the 'Mush Mouth' article I got to thinking about other things that people do with the English language that really irritates me. One of the big issues I have is the mispronunciation of common words. I’m not talking about some obscure ingredient in a food preservative like ethylchloroisothiazolinone, but more commonly used words like 'Mexican' which is pronounced here as 'Messican'. Following is a list of these words that come readily to mind, perhaps you can think of a few more.
Tater = Potato
Hollar = Hollor
Chimbley = Chimney
Ideal = Idea Incidentally my favorite pet peeve is this one. As in "Hey, I have got a great ideal on how to get rich"
It makes me want to slap someone silly
Yallow = Hello
TB or Telebision = TV or Television
Mullion = Million
Mater = Tomato
Ears = Years
Bassily = Basically
Tor = Tire
Etchtible Gordon = Vegetable Garden
Bobby Q = Bar-B-Q
Arr Codishnin = Air Conditioning
Mode = Commode
Electorial = Electoral
Mote = Remote
Squarsh = Squash
Ketch = Catch
Ressirant = Restaurant
MMMBI = Bye, as in good bye on the phone they build up to it with a long MMMM
Bout Dat = How about that
MoooBe = Movie
Dribe = Drive
Oh, I could go on and on, but think about it. What are some of the phrases or words that irritate you the most?
Following up on the popularity of the 'Mush Mouth' article I got to thinking about other things that people do with the English language that really irritates me. One of the big issues I have is the mispronunciation of common words. I’m not talking about some obscure ingredient in a food preservative like ethylchloroisothiazolinone, but more commonly used words like 'Mexican' which is pronounced here as 'Messican'. Following is a list of these words that come readily to mind, perhaps you can think of a few more.
Tater = Potato
Hollar = Hollor
Chimbley = Chimney
Ideal = Idea Incidentally my favorite pet peeve is this one. As in "Hey, I have got a great ideal on how to get rich"
It makes me want to slap someone silly
Yallow = Hello
TB or Telebision = TV or Television
Mullion = Million
Mater = Tomato
Ears = Years
Bassily = Basically
Tor = Tire
Etchtible Gordon = Vegetable Garden
Bobby Q = Bar-B-Q
Arr Codishnin = Air Conditioning
Mode = Commode
Electorial = Electoral
Mote = Remote
Squarsh = Squash
Ketch = Catch
Ressirant = Restaurant
MMMBI = Bye, as in good bye on the phone they build up to it with a long MMMM
Bout Dat = How about that
MoooBe = Movie
Dribe = Drive
Oh, I could go on and on, but think about it. What are some of the phrases or words that irritate you the most?
Andrews Rants
MUSH MOUTH
I grew up in Hazard Kentucky as did most of you reading this rant and I have never had much trouble understanding the speech and various dialects of different regions in this country until I moved to upper east Tennessee. I have lived in Arkansas, Louisiana, Arizona, Kentucky, and briefly in California. But never have I had such a communication problem as I now have in Johnson City, TN. I am serious I have visited nearly every state in the union and have been to 11 different countries, I even lived in Indonesia for a while but the inability of the natives of this area to speak intelligibly is amazing.
What I'm referring to is what I call the 'Mush Mouth'. And now my kid has it. Half the time I have no idea what the hell he is saying. For instance I will say Ethan are you hungry and the response is “ imdunnofo wannambrgr “. What the hell does that mean? When I answer the phone at work I say “Thank you for calling the Sleepzone this is Thomas can I help you” Short to the point and it tells the caller where they have reached, who they are talking to and that I am there to assist them in clear concise English enunciated as best as that old bat Mrs. Bassie could train into me in the 7th and 8th grade. But if I call Lowes for instance I get some slack ass that is so tired of answering the phone for the millionth time that they just slur the words out in an unintelligible garble. “ thnkfrclnglwscnihlpu” What the crap is this, a disease of the brain, and mouth. Have they no gumption to care if they sound like a Neanderthal or not.
I ride my kid about it constantly and won’t even respond to him unless I can understand him. My wife says that I need to relax and try to realize that people here are a little more lax in their diction. I think if they got any more lax they would regress to a primordial state and use pseudo feet to ambulate rather than walk.
Speak up America so I can understand you, don’t fall victim to the mush mouth. Remember people judge you on how you sound no matter if it’s fair or not. If you sound like a moron then they will treat you like a moron.
I grew up in Hazard Kentucky as did most of you reading this rant and I have never had much trouble understanding the speech and various dialects of different regions in this country until I moved to upper east Tennessee. I have lived in Arkansas, Louisiana, Arizona, Kentucky, and briefly in California. But never have I had such a communication problem as I now have in Johnson City, TN. I am serious I have visited nearly every state in the union and have been to 11 different countries, I even lived in Indonesia for a while but the inability of the natives of this area to speak intelligibly is amazing.
What I'm referring to is what I call the 'Mush Mouth'. And now my kid has it. Half the time I have no idea what the hell he is saying. For instance I will say Ethan are you hungry and the response is “ imdunnofo wannambrgr “. What the hell does that mean? When I answer the phone at work I say “Thank you for calling the Sleepzone this is Thomas can I help you” Short to the point and it tells the caller where they have reached, who they are talking to and that I am there to assist them in clear concise English enunciated as best as that old bat Mrs. Bassie could train into me in the 7th and 8th grade. But if I call Lowes for instance I get some slack ass that is so tired of answering the phone for the millionth time that they just slur the words out in an unintelligible garble. “ thnkfrclnglwscnihlpu” What the crap is this, a disease of the brain, and mouth. Have they no gumption to care if they sound like a Neanderthal or not.
I ride my kid about it constantly and won’t even respond to him unless I can understand him. My wife says that I need to relax and try to realize that people here are a little more lax in their diction. I think if they got any more lax they would regress to a primordial state and use pseudo feet to ambulate rather than walk.
Speak up America so I can understand you, don’t fall victim to the mush mouth. Remember people judge you on how you sound no matter if it’s fair or not. If you sound like a moron then they will treat you like a moron.
Andrew's Rants.
TODAY'S MUSIC
Every time I turn around my kid has his stupid I-Pod strapped to his fool head. I took a look at his music and listened to some of it. What was I listening to? Sure every generation has music that the previous generation hates. It’s a form of rebellion and I can understand and appreciate that. There was a time when listening Bo Diddley and Jerry lee Lewis was thought to send kids to hell. Heck if you go back far enough that crazy Mozart was the equivalent of Oozier in his day. But as I listened to my kid’s music I realize I couldn’t understand
any of the words and the music was a disjointed sound like a train wreck. I skipped around to several different artist and songs and it was an airplane crash with mutilated geese or a concrete truck impacting an orphanage. At least our music and that of preceding generations had a tune you could follow and words you could understand unless you were listening to Bob Dylan who no one could understand no matter how hard they tried. I tried to be open minded and asked Ethan what they are saying in this song. He honestly couldn’t tell me. We had a long discussion on why he liked it and it turns out it’s because it’s what is out there on the air and it’s what all his friends listen to, it didn’t matter if he liked it or not.
I had him listen to some ZZ Top from the Eliminator album and he informed me that this was old and sad music. I played several different things for him from Frank Sinatra to Buffett to Black Sabbath, and he sneered at all of it preferring to listen to the unintelligible linguistics of his own generation’s music. Perhaps I’m getting old but at least growing up our generation appeared to be open minded enough to listen to the music from other eras and evaluate it with an open mind. I remember the first time I heard Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings in C minor and thought it was the saddest and one of the most beautiful pieces I had ever heard. How about Mel Torme singing Fly Me To The Moon, Jimmy Buffet with One Particular Harbor, or Led Zeppelin with the classic Stairway to Heaven. I could ramble on and on like this, but needless to say we never came to an accord. I guess good music is only to be found on the oldies channel on the radio dial. The other stuff just plain scares me.
Every time I turn around my kid has his stupid I-Pod strapped to his fool head. I took a look at his music and listened to some of it. What was I listening to? Sure every generation has music that the previous generation hates. It’s a form of rebellion and I can understand and appreciate that. There was a time when listening Bo Diddley and Jerry lee Lewis was thought to send kids to hell. Heck if you go back far enough that crazy Mozart was the equivalent of Oozier in his day. But as I listened to my kid’s music I realize I couldn’t understand
any of the words and the music was a disjointed sound like a train wreck. I skipped around to several different artist and songs and it was an airplane crash with mutilated geese or a concrete truck impacting an orphanage. At least our music and that of preceding generations had a tune you could follow and words you could understand unless you were listening to Bob Dylan who no one could understand no matter how hard they tried. I tried to be open minded and asked Ethan what they are saying in this song. He honestly couldn’t tell me. We had a long discussion on why he liked it and it turns out it’s because it’s what is out there on the air and it’s what all his friends listen to, it didn’t matter if he liked it or not.
I had him listen to some ZZ Top from the Eliminator album and he informed me that this was old and sad music. I played several different things for him from Frank Sinatra to Buffett to Black Sabbath, and he sneered at all of it preferring to listen to the unintelligible linguistics of his own generation’s music. Perhaps I’m getting old but at least growing up our generation appeared to be open minded enough to listen to the music from other eras and evaluate it with an open mind. I remember the first time I heard Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings in C minor and thought it was the saddest and one of the most beautiful pieces I had ever heard. How about Mel Torme singing Fly Me To The Moon, Jimmy Buffet with One Particular Harbor, or Led Zeppelin with the classic Stairway to Heaven. I could ramble on and on like this, but needless to say we never came to an accord. I guess good music is only to be found on the oldies channel on the radio dial. The other stuff just plain scares me.
Andrews Rants
SKIPPING ROCKS
A week ago I took my kid Ethan to the shooting range for a few hours to knock over pop cans and practice gun safety. When we got home I realized he was sun burned. Now keep in mind we were there for perhaps two hours and were under the same conditions. Ethan has in years past tanned as brown as a nut while I being a red head will burn at the drop of a hat. I’m the proverbial Twinkie when it comes to sunlight. We hadn’t stayed out long enough to even get me slightly red while he looked like a cooked lobster. That’s when I realized he was spending way too much time behind that fool x-box playing Halo 3. I decided to start getting him outdoors more. We tried fishing and that was a bust. I’m the world’s worst fisherman and couldn’t teach anyone else how to fish to save my life. So we tried a nature walk at the local historic park complete with a recreation log fort and a winding trail along the riverbank. I noticed all the smooth stones on the bank and thought here is something we can do. I tried to show him how to skip rocks across the water. Making a competitive game of it would help him understand a small aspect of sportsmanship along with developing hand eye coordination. At the end of an grueling hour of not losing my temper Ethan had mastered the art of flinging the rock directly at the water and exclaiming how this was gay and he wanted to go home and play on line with his little knotty brained friends.
Once again perhaps I’m getting too old but when I was 18 I was outdoors with guns and riding around the county with my best friend George in his pickup or my nova, looking for excitement in a very dull town. Sure we played our share of video games I was a Galaga champ but we also went hiking in the woods, went cruising, blew things up, and lusted after girls among many other things our mothers would have rather we not done. All healthy activities for young boys who were bored. But no, not my kid and evidentially most of the other little numb skulls out there today. If it isn’t on the computer flat screen they are not interested. Today’s youth is so wound up in technology they are losing contact with others of their own age. For instance text messaging, for god’s sake just pick up the phone and talk to someone. I really don’t understand a form of communication that is slow and cumbersome and requires learning a whole new form of language that fails to impart emotion, and tonal inflections. They communicate by e-mail, online, in blogs, chartrooms and forums but they never meet one another. If it keeps up like this we might be looking at our last generation because the little turds will never actually meet in real life and I will never have any grandchildren.
I finally gave up at the riverbank and called it quits. My plan to acclimate the child to the real world rather than the virtual world failed. I guess he will become a pail computer zombie with a large set of thumbs to work the x-box controls. By the way I got 21 skips, pretty darn good don’t you think?
A week ago I took my kid Ethan to the shooting range for a few hours to knock over pop cans and practice gun safety. When we got home I realized he was sun burned. Now keep in mind we were there for perhaps two hours and were under the same conditions. Ethan has in years past tanned as brown as a nut while I being a red head will burn at the drop of a hat. I’m the proverbial Twinkie when it comes to sunlight. We hadn’t stayed out long enough to even get me slightly red while he looked like a cooked lobster. That’s when I realized he was spending way too much time behind that fool x-box playing Halo 3. I decided to start getting him outdoors more. We tried fishing and that was a bust. I’m the world’s worst fisherman and couldn’t teach anyone else how to fish to save my life. So we tried a nature walk at the local historic park complete with a recreation log fort and a winding trail along the riverbank. I noticed all the smooth stones on the bank and thought here is something we can do. I tried to show him how to skip rocks across the water. Making a competitive game of it would help him understand a small aspect of sportsmanship along with developing hand eye coordination. At the end of an grueling hour of not losing my temper Ethan had mastered the art of flinging the rock directly at the water and exclaiming how this was gay and he wanted to go home and play on line with his little knotty brained friends.
Once again perhaps I’m getting too old but when I was 18 I was outdoors with guns and riding around the county with my best friend George in his pickup or my nova, looking for excitement in a very dull town. Sure we played our share of video games I was a Galaga champ but we also went hiking in the woods, went cruising, blew things up, and lusted after girls among many other things our mothers would have rather we not done. All healthy activities for young boys who were bored. But no, not my kid and evidentially most of the other little numb skulls out there today. If it isn’t on the computer flat screen they are not interested. Today’s youth is so wound up in technology they are losing contact with others of their own age. For instance text messaging, for god’s sake just pick up the phone and talk to someone. I really don’t understand a form of communication that is slow and cumbersome and requires learning a whole new form of language that fails to impart emotion, and tonal inflections. They communicate by e-mail, online, in blogs, chartrooms and forums but they never meet one another. If it keeps up like this we might be looking at our last generation because the little turds will never actually meet in real life and I will never have any grandchildren.
I finally gave up at the riverbank and called it quits. My plan to acclimate the child to the real world rather than the virtual world failed. I guess he will become a pail computer zombie with a large set of thumbs to work the x-box controls. By the way I got 21 skips, pretty darn good don’t you think?
Andrews Rants
THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY SCAM
Now as many of you know my very own mother is a doctor so this little rant is not some uninformed tirade about the medical industry by someone who is completely ignorant of how it works. I recently received a bill from an ophthalmologist for a procedure performed in his office. The bill was for $775.00 of which my insurance paid $281.10 and I paid my deductible of $70.27 the remaining balance of $423.63 was written off by the doctor’s office. Now here is the problem. I had a skin tag on my eyelid it was a small flap of skin about the size of a pencil lead and about 1/16 of an inch long about the size of a small wart. I would have removed it myself but I thought it might cause scar tissue and cause my eyelid to funk up so I went to a doctor. He came into the room I explained that I wanted it removed he took a pair of small scissors and clipped it off. Pressed a cotton swab to it and then used a little soldering iron to lightly touch it and cauterize the spot. Total time from when he walked into the room 6½ minutes. Yes, I timed it. Then I was back out the door and signing paperwork. If I had known that was all it was going to be I would have done it myself. No pain shot or bandages or fancy freezing solutions just snip dab and there you go. Their expense was the cotton swab and an autoclave round for the scissors. When I saw the bill I freaked out and called their billing department to argue the charges. They told me in no uncertain terms that this was a fair and usual charge. At nearly 100 dollars a minute I find this hard to believe. I was not able to get them to modify the bill and my insurance company upon hearing my story didn’t seem too concerned either. This unconcern and lack of business acumen is why my insurance premiums are so damn high. I personally would not go back to the Johnson City Eye Clinic ever again just because of their business practices. A redeeming quality of the entire thing was that the doctor was nice. Even though he practices there he has no control over the billing on every item that goes through the place. They were willing to bite the write off of $423.63 just to get what they did get. It just goes to show you that the bill was overly inflated with padded prices so they could sucker as much as they could from the insurance and the patient.
Another incident happened at Sycamore Shoals Medical Center last New Year’s Eve. I woke up with a horrible pain in my mid section. I honestly thought I was dying it was so severe. Upon reaching the hospital, they drew blood and x- rayed me and came back with the conclusion that I was passing kidney stones. The whole ordeal was soon over and I hope I never have to go through it again. When I got my bill several weeks later I was concerned about the cost. I requested a detailed billing and when it arrived I received quite a shock. There were two pregnancy tests on the bill in addition to everything else. I called the billing office and was informed that this was standard procedure before an x- ray. Now, for a female, I can understand. You don’t want to zap a growing fetus in the womb without a really good reason. But as most of you are aware, I am a man, one hundred percent ugly, hairy, deep-voiced, mustached, and sometimes bearded man. Sure, I’m fat and got a big belly but I hope that most people can tell that I’m not a lady. The billing department would not budge and I refused to pay the portion of the bill equal to the two pregnancy tests. Weeks later I received a statement from my insurance where they had paid their part of the bill. I was outraged! I called and argued with them and was met with the most nonplussed, I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude that could ever be imagined. I went to the hospitals’ billing department in person and argued my case with the man- hating lesbian in charge and she refused to remove the two tests from my account. I offered to prove to her in a pique of rage that I was a man by showing her I had the right plumbing but she threatened to have me thrown out. I went to the hospital administrator’s office and spoke to a secretary there who assured me that my concerns would be passed on the administrator. That was 3 weeks ago and I have not heard a word but I have received a late notice from the billing department of the Sycamore Shoals Hospital threatening collections action if the bill is not paid in full. Monday, I am going to the Court House and filing a small claims case against them. I will ask that the bill be dismissed and depending on how hard it is for me to find a parking place at the Court House, I might ask for compensation for missed hours of work in trying to resolve this as well as compensation for damage to my credit history if they have reported it. If I get much grief, I might ask for about a bazillion dollars in mental anguish for causing me to doubt my gender and giving me an identity crisis!
On the flip side, I have to look at it from the hospitals’ point of view. The hospitals are out to make a buck just like any other business but unlike other businesses they have to serve everyone regardless of their ability to pay for services rendered. In other words, if John Doe deadbeat goes to Wendy’s and wants a burger he doesn’t get one unless he can pay. This also goes the same at the local Ford dealership or any other business. But he can get a cold, go to the emergency room and they cannot legally turn him away. The result is he gets seen for ‘free’. Sure, they will bill him but he won’t pay and quite frankly there is nothing they can do about it. So their solution is to really stick it to the paying customers to make up the loss. As a result the insurance rates go up, up, up and the cost of medical care escalates beyond control. I don’t think government regulation is the answer though. Sure Canada is supposed to be a prime example of government-managed health care that’s why all the flop headed Canucks come here and pay cash to have their important time sensitive procedures done. They can’t wait 5 years on a list to have a gall bladder taken out or a heart transplant. No the government screws up any sort of business it touches. I don’t know what the answer is but from now on I will refuse to pay any bill that is too high or wrong and before anyone in my family has a non emergency procedure performed it will be agreed upon before what the price is after I have researched the cost and accounted for a reasonable profit margin. For example in Brookes (My Wife) last surgery on her ears where they restored her hearing they charged us 750 on the detailed billing for a disposable set of surgical gloves that the doctor wore during the operation. Using their own stock invoice number I matched it up to the same item in Baxter pharmaceuticals supply catalog from my mom’s office. A case of 100 of these gowns is 22.00 dollars. They are a plastic backed paper gown meant to be used once and then thrown away. Let’s be generous and include another 20 dollars for shipping and ignore the fact that the hospital most likely gets a bulk price which is much less than what a small private practice like my mother has to pay for the same item. That places the cost of each gown at 2.38 if we add in an unreasonably high profit margin say 1000 percent it brings the cost of one gown to 23.80 which covers the cost of the entire order of gowns. How on earth then could they justify 750.00 for this item? I went through the itemized bill spending most of my Christmas vacation cross-referencing prices from various manufacturers. And came up with a revised bill that allowed for a 300 percent profit margin. Their original bill of 47,000 dollars for an afternoon outpatient surgery was adjusted by me down to 11,600 which I thought was still extravagant. I refused to submit the bill to my insurance because those idiots would pay the thing and then raise my rates. After 3 weeks of arguing in which I refused to budge a single cent they capitulated and agreed upon the new billing. Mind you this was not for the physician’s bill it was for the hospital only. The physician charged 975.00 for the entire surgery which I found to be quite acceptable and paid without a complaint. I think the fact that I had their suppliers cost and was allowing for a 300% profit margin and it was still 80% less than what they were charging me made them feel like the thieves they were in trying to slide that bill across. What I wonder is how many people actually question these non summarized bills and just bite the bullet and pay what is asked? I mean who in their right mind pays 12 dollars for an aspirin. You wouldn’t go to the pharmacy and pay 1200 dollars for a 100-count bottle of aspirin why then should you let the hospital charge you that price. Remember my saying “YOU ARE THE CONSUMER NOT A VICTOM” Question the prices and practices of those bills and get them to agree upon beforehand the price for certain procedures if possible. Do not give them your insurance info until after the price is settled upon. Otherwise they will just bill the living hell out of those fools and they will gladly pay it. You can show them you have proof of insurance but that you are not paying until some things are agreed upon first. I mean you don’t go grocery shopping and guess what the price of a can of beans is or go to buy a car and have to wait until after you drive off before you are hit with the bill. Demand satisfaction. If more people will fight back then perhaps the medical industry will do something to correct itself.
Now as many of you know my very own mother is a doctor so this little rant is not some uninformed tirade about the medical industry by someone who is completely ignorant of how it works. I recently received a bill from an ophthalmologist for a procedure performed in his office. The bill was for $775.00 of which my insurance paid $281.10 and I paid my deductible of $70.27 the remaining balance of $423.63 was written off by the doctor’s office. Now here is the problem. I had a skin tag on my eyelid it was a small flap of skin about the size of a pencil lead and about 1/16 of an inch long about the size of a small wart. I would have removed it myself but I thought it might cause scar tissue and cause my eyelid to funk up so I went to a doctor. He came into the room I explained that I wanted it removed he took a pair of small scissors and clipped it off. Pressed a cotton swab to it and then used a little soldering iron to lightly touch it and cauterize the spot. Total time from when he walked into the room 6½ minutes. Yes, I timed it. Then I was back out the door and signing paperwork. If I had known that was all it was going to be I would have done it myself. No pain shot or bandages or fancy freezing solutions just snip dab and there you go. Their expense was the cotton swab and an autoclave round for the scissors. When I saw the bill I freaked out and called their billing department to argue the charges. They told me in no uncertain terms that this was a fair and usual charge. At nearly 100 dollars a minute I find this hard to believe. I was not able to get them to modify the bill and my insurance company upon hearing my story didn’t seem too concerned either. This unconcern and lack of business acumen is why my insurance premiums are so damn high. I personally would not go back to the Johnson City Eye Clinic ever again just because of their business practices. A redeeming quality of the entire thing was that the doctor was nice. Even though he practices there he has no control over the billing on every item that goes through the place. They were willing to bite the write off of $423.63 just to get what they did get. It just goes to show you that the bill was overly inflated with padded prices so they could sucker as much as they could from the insurance and the patient.
Another incident happened at Sycamore Shoals Medical Center last New Year’s Eve. I woke up with a horrible pain in my mid section. I honestly thought I was dying it was so severe. Upon reaching the hospital, they drew blood and x- rayed me and came back with the conclusion that I was passing kidney stones. The whole ordeal was soon over and I hope I never have to go through it again. When I got my bill several weeks later I was concerned about the cost. I requested a detailed billing and when it arrived I received quite a shock. There were two pregnancy tests on the bill in addition to everything else. I called the billing office and was informed that this was standard procedure before an x- ray. Now, for a female, I can understand. You don’t want to zap a growing fetus in the womb without a really good reason. But as most of you are aware, I am a man, one hundred percent ugly, hairy, deep-voiced, mustached, and sometimes bearded man. Sure, I’m fat and got a big belly but I hope that most people can tell that I’m not a lady. The billing department would not budge and I refused to pay the portion of the bill equal to the two pregnancy tests. Weeks later I received a statement from my insurance where they had paid their part of the bill. I was outraged! I called and argued with them and was met with the most nonplussed, I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude that could ever be imagined. I went to the hospitals’ billing department in person and argued my case with the man- hating lesbian in charge and she refused to remove the two tests from my account. I offered to prove to her in a pique of rage that I was a man by showing her I had the right plumbing but she threatened to have me thrown out. I went to the hospital administrator’s office and spoke to a secretary there who assured me that my concerns would be passed on the administrator. That was 3 weeks ago and I have not heard a word but I have received a late notice from the billing department of the Sycamore Shoals Hospital threatening collections action if the bill is not paid in full. Monday, I am going to the Court House and filing a small claims case against them. I will ask that the bill be dismissed and depending on how hard it is for me to find a parking place at the Court House, I might ask for compensation for missed hours of work in trying to resolve this as well as compensation for damage to my credit history if they have reported it. If I get much grief, I might ask for about a bazillion dollars in mental anguish for causing me to doubt my gender and giving me an identity crisis!
On the flip side, I have to look at it from the hospitals’ point of view. The hospitals are out to make a buck just like any other business but unlike other businesses they have to serve everyone regardless of their ability to pay for services rendered. In other words, if John Doe deadbeat goes to Wendy’s and wants a burger he doesn’t get one unless he can pay. This also goes the same at the local Ford dealership or any other business. But he can get a cold, go to the emergency room and they cannot legally turn him away. The result is he gets seen for ‘free’. Sure, they will bill him but he won’t pay and quite frankly there is nothing they can do about it. So their solution is to really stick it to the paying customers to make up the loss. As a result the insurance rates go up, up, up and the cost of medical care escalates beyond control. I don’t think government regulation is the answer though. Sure Canada is supposed to be a prime example of government-managed health care that’s why all the flop headed Canucks come here and pay cash to have their important time sensitive procedures done. They can’t wait 5 years on a list to have a gall bladder taken out or a heart transplant. No the government screws up any sort of business it touches. I don’t know what the answer is but from now on I will refuse to pay any bill that is too high or wrong and before anyone in my family has a non emergency procedure performed it will be agreed upon before what the price is after I have researched the cost and accounted for a reasonable profit margin. For example in Brookes (My Wife) last surgery on her ears where they restored her hearing they charged us 750 on the detailed billing for a disposable set of surgical gloves that the doctor wore during the operation. Using their own stock invoice number I matched it up to the same item in Baxter pharmaceuticals supply catalog from my mom’s office. A case of 100 of these gowns is 22.00 dollars. They are a plastic backed paper gown meant to be used once and then thrown away. Let’s be generous and include another 20 dollars for shipping and ignore the fact that the hospital most likely gets a bulk price which is much less than what a small private practice like my mother has to pay for the same item. That places the cost of each gown at 2.38 if we add in an unreasonably high profit margin say 1000 percent it brings the cost of one gown to 23.80 which covers the cost of the entire order of gowns. How on earth then could they justify 750.00 for this item? I went through the itemized bill spending most of my Christmas vacation cross-referencing prices from various manufacturers. And came up with a revised bill that allowed for a 300 percent profit margin. Their original bill of 47,000 dollars for an afternoon outpatient surgery was adjusted by me down to 11,600 which I thought was still extravagant. I refused to submit the bill to my insurance because those idiots would pay the thing and then raise my rates. After 3 weeks of arguing in which I refused to budge a single cent they capitulated and agreed upon the new billing. Mind you this was not for the physician’s bill it was for the hospital only. The physician charged 975.00 for the entire surgery which I found to be quite acceptable and paid without a complaint. I think the fact that I had their suppliers cost and was allowing for a 300% profit margin and it was still 80% less than what they were charging me made them feel like the thieves they were in trying to slide that bill across. What I wonder is how many people actually question these non summarized bills and just bite the bullet and pay what is asked? I mean who in their right mind pays 12 dollars for an aspirin. You wouldn’t go to the pharmacy and pay 1200 dollars for a 100-count bottle of aspirin why then should you let the hospital charge you that price. Remember my saying “YOU ARE THE CONSUMER NOT A VICTOM” Question the prices and practices of those bills and get them to agree upon beforehand the price for certain procedures if possible. Do not give them your insurance info until after the price is settled upon. Otherwise they will just bill the living hell out of those fools and they will gladly pay it. You can show them you have proof of insurance but that you are not paying until some things are agreed upon first. I mean you don’t go grocery shopping and guess what the price of a can of beans is or go to buy a car and have to wait until after you drive off before you are hit with the bill. Demand satisfaction. If more people will fight back then perhaps the medical industry will do something to correct itself.
Andrews Rants
NATIONAL FINANCES REVISITED - THE GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS
Here we are in the worst economic situation the United States has been in since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. I wrote earlier about this almost a year ago and made some predictions. I don’t want to toot my own horn but Nyaaaa Nyaaaa Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa! Seriously this is getting ridiculous. The earlier estimate was based on the current figures at the time but now those have gone up. If all the funds given to the financial sector and different retail industries were divided up amongst the taxpaying populace the return would stand at almost $150,000 per person. If the 'Holey One' (Obama) gets his way and the new stimulus
package passes it will up the ante and raise that figure to almost $220,000 per taxpayer. I ask you again what would stimulate the economy more. Using the money to support these 'crack-headed' mismanaged banks who are not lending the money as they were supposed to, or letting us spend it to pay our bills and purchase
consumer goods, and reinvest into the economy by way of jobs, and savings. These financial institutions are using the money in mysterious ways and the Government will not report how it is being used. It’s all 'hush hush'. I honestly think that a lot of it is being kicked back into the campaign funds of the very politicians who voted the money be spent in the first place. The “Holey One” has promised us change while populating his cabinet positions with lifetime politicians from inside the beltway on both sides of the aisle. If you’re expecting a change there, keep on expecting. Buddy we are getting screwed and there is no doubt about it. We do need a change and it’s called fire all the politicians and get a new bunch in there who are not rich-lawyer-fat-cats who owe so many favors to the special interest organizations. How do we do that? I don’t know!!!!!!!
But I digress. Back on track here. The economy which is a capitalist based system is being propped up by the government using my tax dollars, and I get nothing in return but higher prices and inferior products. The whole system of Wall Street and the auto industry was never supposed to be backed by the good faith of the US Government Department of the Treasury. Why then are we doing it? Where does it stop? If Wal-Mart has a bad sales quarter do we bail them out to? Do we scale it down and support the corner market because they are doing badly because of poor management. Will they cover my power bill if I don’t have enough to pay it or just don’t feel like it?
Capitalism has a corrective measure built in already. It’s called FAILURE. If you don’t make it you go under and it’s no one’s responsibility to correct your bad management and poor decisions other than yourself. Let these 'snapper heads' go under and someone else will come along and pick up the pieces and fill the void
and more than likely do a much better job having learned from the mistakes of the previous example.
The expression 'Sink Or Swim' comes to mind. It’s apt and really does apply. Stop screwing my family, my friends and me. Perhaps the RRS can apply for a few million in Government bailout funds to help with our expenses. What do you think?
Here we are in the worst economic situation the United States has been in since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. I wrote earlier about this almost a year ago and made some predictions. I don’t want to toot my own horn but Nyaaaa Nyaaaa Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa! Seriously this is getting ridiculous. The earlier estimate was based on the current figures at the time but now those have gone up. If all the funds given to the financial sector and different retail industries were divided up amongst the taxpaying populace the return would stand at almost $150,000 per person. If the 'Holey One' (Obama) gets his way and the new stimulus
package passes it will up the ante and raise that figure to almost $220,000 per taxpayer. I ask you again what would stimulate the economy more. Using the money to support these 'crack-headed' mismanaged banks who are not lending the money as they were supposed to, or letting us spend it to pay our bills and purchase
consumer goods, and reinvest into the economy by way of jobs, and savings. These financial institutions are using the money in mysterious ways and the Government will not report how it is being used. It’s all 'hush hush'. I honestly think that a lot of it is being kicked back into the campaign funds of the very politicians who voted the money be spent in the first place. The “Holey One” has promised us change while populating his cabinet positions with lifetime politicians from inside the beltway on both sides of the aisle. If you’re expecting a change there, keep on expecting. Buddy we are getting screwed and there is no doubt about it. We do need a change and it’s called fire all the politicians and get a new bunch in there who are not rich-lawyer-fat-cats who owe so many favors to the special interest organizations. How do we do that? I don’t know!!!!!!!
But I digress. Back on track here. The economy which is a capitalist based system is being propped up by the government using my tax dollars, and I get nothing in return but higher prices and inferior products. The whole system of Wall Street and the auto industry was never supposed to be backed by the good faith of the US Government Department of the Treasury. Why then are we doing it? Where does it stop? If Wal-Mart has a bad sales quarter do we bail them out to? Do we scale it down and support the corner market because they are doing badly because of poor management. Will they cover my power bill if I don’t have enough to pay it or just don’t feel like it?
Capitalism has a corrective measure built in already. It’s called FAILURE. If you don’t make it you go under and it’s no one’s responsibility to correct your bad management and poor decisions other than yourself. Let these 'snapper heads' go under and someone else will come along and pick up the pieces and fill the void
and more than likely do a much better job having learned from the mistakes of the previous example.
The expression 'Sink Or Swim' comes to mind. It’s apt and really does apply. Stop screwing my family, my friends and me. Perhaps the RRS can apply for a few million in Government bailout funds to help with our expenses. What do you think?
Friday, September 4, 2009
A feature where I spout off on whatever intrigues me called Andrew's Rants.
This excerpt is titled,
The Religion of Green
Are you green enough? Do you make sacrifices on the alter of conservation. Do you feel better deep in your soul when you recycle? The movement of Green
is our modern God. Do you separate your waste and use natural products? If not, then you don’t care about our planet and our children, you’re a hate monger
who wants little babies to die choking on their own plastic diapers.
I just want to scream at all these sycophants that just because you bought into the marketing doesn’t make it so. They only follow along so that they can feel
like they are doing something constructive rather than exert themselves and actually do something that might take a little effort.
The fact is that every company out there is slapping that green ideology on their products so that DINK’s will buy their products. In most cases it takes
as much or more resources to produce the so-called green products as it does to make more traditional products. A prime example are the long life fluorescent
bulbs. To produce one of them takes 36 times as much energy and leaves a toxic burned out bulb when they expire. They are actually poisonous and contain
high levels of mercury and tungsten compared to a regular incandescent bulb. If you look into it, everything from so called natural soaps to hybrid cars all
produce more manufacturing waste in the long run than conventional products. But what the hell it makes us feel better.
What do hippies think runs those electric cars? Magic hamsters? No its electricity. The majority of which comes from coal in our country. They hate those
very same coal plants and the heavy metal high efficiency batteries in those very cars they tout as Green. What morons!
The terms in use also drive me mad. Things like Organic Cotton or natural spring water. All freaking cotton is organic and all spring water is natural.
What did they think? That regular water came from a spring flowing from plastic rocks or that regular cotton was made from 'Borg' plants.
Freaking hippies. It’s the new fashion to have the green label on a product regardless if it’s valid or not. Even when it is legitimate it doesn’t
necessarily mean what you think it does. Hell the cavemen lived a completely green lifestyle. Do you want to go back to that? DO YOU?? Scratching
at fleas and eating rotten food because you can't use pesticides or refrigeration. Green my ass!!!!!!!
Do I sound a little pissed off? Let me ask you what’s more natural than burning down a tree for warmth and crapping in a stream? Bambi doesn’t
use a septic system and have clean non-polluting nuclear power plants. I do, I evolved and I rule the planet. I developed opposable thumbs and if I
want to use the resources of this planet I will. The whole green movement is based on the assumption that we as humans are not a natural part
of the eco system and that anything we do has a negative impact on the planet. What a load of crap. Or I should say what a load of carbon.
And that’s another thing, the whole carbon footprint thing. They raise taxes to offset the carbon footprint. How does this work exactly? They use
the money to wave in the air and absorbed the carbon dioxide? No it’s just a created crisis by the 'hippy democrat hate mongers' to rationalize their
tax and spend agenda. They will try to make you feel bad about your carbon footprint and teach all the little brain dead numbskulls in the schools the
same guilt ridden pseudo science so that we will all willingly give up ever increasing revenues to them to help offset the damage we do by merely existing.
People we live in a carbon based world. By definition any organic compound must contain carbon. Volcanoes, ocean fumerals, rotting plant material,
and many other natural phenomena produce thousands of times the amount of carbon that we as humans do. What we add to the mix is just a drop
in the proverbial bucket. We vastly overate our contribution to the environmental change we observe around us. For more on that read my rant on
global warming. I wont even go into it here.
Unfortunately green is here for a while just like Radon gas was and that stupid El Nino crap. Until something more fashionable comes along we are
stuck with the feel good hippy greenie movement. Help combat the green movement by chopping down a tree, making a baseball bat,
and beating a hippy to a pulp with it.
A feature where I spout off on whatever intrigues me called Andrew's Rants.
This excerpt is titled,
National Finances THE GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS
Here we are in the worst economic situation the United States has been in since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. I wrote earlier about this almost a year
ago and made some predictions. I don’t want to toot my own horn but Nyaaaa Nyaaaa Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa! Seriously this is getting ridiculous. The earlier estimate
was based on the current figures at the time but now those have gone up. If all the funds given to the financial sector and different retail industries were
divided up amongst the tax paying populace the return would stand at almost $150,000 per person. If the 'Holey One' (Obama) gets his way and the new stimulus
package passes it will up the ante and raise that figure to almost $220,000 per taxpayer. I ask you again what would stimulate the economy more. Using the money
to support these 'crack-headed' mismanaged banks who are not lending the money as they were supposed to, or letting us spend it to pay our bills and purchase
consumer goods, and reinvest into the economy by way of jobs, and savings. These financial institutions are using the money in mysterious ways and the
Government will not report how it is being used. It’s all 'hush hush'. I honestly think that a lot of it is being kicked back into the campaign funds of the very
politicians who voted the money be spent in the first place. The “Holey One” has promised us change while populating his cabinet positions with lifetime politicians
from inside the beltway on both sides of the aisle. If you’re expecting a change there, keep on expecting. Buddy we are getting screwed and there is no doubt
about it. We do need a change and its called fire all the politicians and get a new bunch in there who are not rich-lawyer-fat-cats who owe so many favors to the
special interest organizations. How do we do that? I don’t know!!!!!!!
But I digress. Back on track here. The economy which is a capitalist based system is being propped up by the government using my tax dollars, and I get nothing
in return but higher prices and inferior products. The whole system of Wall Street and the auto industry was never supposed to be backed by the good faith of the
US Government Department of the Treasury. Why then are we doing it? Where does it stop? If Wal-Mart has a bad sales quarter do we bail them out to? Do we
scale it down and support the corner market because they are doing badly because of poor management. Will they cover my power bill if I don’t have enough to pay
it or just don’t feel like it?
Capitalism has a corrective measure built in already. Its called FAILURE. If you don’t make it you go under and it’s no ones responsibility to correct your bad
management and poor decisions other than yourself. Let these 'snapper heads' go under and someone else will come along and pick up the pieces and fill the void
and more than likely do a much better job having learned from the mistakes of the previous example.
The expression 'Sink Or Swim' comes to mind. It’s apt and really does apply. Stop screwing my family, my friends and me.
Perhaps the RRS can apply for a few million in Government bailout funds to help with our expenses. What do you think?
A feature where I spout off on whatever intrigues me called Andrew's Rants.
This one is titled
FINALLY GOING NUTS
Keeping in line with my medical tirade lets look at deadbeats. Now here you have Joe blow mid 30 something with 6 kids no job on welfare and has
the so-called bad back. He hasn’t put a single honest days work in his life and when he needs medical attention he fully expects the hospitals, doctors
and government to pay for the very best at no expense to him. For some reason there is a sense of entitlement in this society that needs to be squashed.
In reality it is my tax dollars that pay for Joe's lifestyle. His heat in his home his medication his food, his spending money are all supplied by the middle
and upper class by our taxes. Now a lot of people say well the rich can afford it they should be taxed more. Bull Shit. Where did that screw ball notion
come from. Let say you are in line at the market and you are charged twice the cost for a loaf of bread as the person in front of you based upon your
income bracket. I bet your point of view changes then. It shouldn’t matter how much you make the tax bracket should be the same for everyone with no
loopholes or exceptions. But that is another rant this is about the entitlements our brethren expect from us. The system sounds good and its there to assist
those who need help, but it seems that everyone needs help. My definition of deadbeat is that person who parks in the handicap spot with a legitimate handicap
tag and then gets out and sprints for the door to wall mart to get his oxycontion prescription for his drug habit filled. He can get a freaking job and get off the
government tit like the sucking human parasite he is. Those individuals I mentioned before with the so called bad back, which from my experience in my
mothers office is just about 50% of the population who are couch potatoes living for that welfare check and food stamps. My idea of someone who is entitled
is someone who worked all his life and when they get older and are suffering from some ailment that prevents them from continuing work. Or the old widow
lady who was a housewife whose husband always took care of her and is now living on a fixed income and needs assistance. I have several friends in our
group whose parents paid into the system all their life and were hard working upstanding citizens and are now suffering from various conditions that in
my opinion qualify them as disabled. Those are the people the system was designed for. NOT the deadbeats of the world. Sure its warm and fuzzy to
think that everyone would go without needing anything but this is reality people not Disney land. I pay 600 a month for health insurance for my family to
be covered by blue cross and blue shield insurance. I don’t expect someone else to do it for me. I work for that money. That’s why it burns me up that 43
percent of what I make is taxed away to give to various programs that I don’t approve of including the feeding, clothing and medicating of the
deadbeats in our country. And don’t even get me started on the illegal immigrants who receive full benefits and government unsecured loans to start
competitive businesses with legal Americans. The great-unwashed masses out there that expect me to support them have a right to my income
according to our government and the crooked legislators who make the laws. But what they will not get from me is caring or consideration. I have run out.
I made an obligation in my life by choice to provide for myself my wife and child. All else is in Gods hands and I tithe to the church more than
the suggested 10 percent. So when I see these scoundrels out getting narcotics at the pharmacy or cigarettes on my tax dollar living with 8 kids in a
trailer on food stamps I have no pity. Stop screwing and making more trash, get a job take a bath and contribute to society for gods sake and use
birth control. Get an education don’t drop out of school you crack smoking low lives. Get a clue and stop expecting me and all the other middle
class to support your lazy asses. I mean ooooohhhhhh the deadbeat’s gggrrrrrrrrrrrr welfare breeders aaarrrrrrrrrrrrr special interest group’s
spuuuuutttttter crack heads spitttt entitlements hiiiisssss AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Geeez now I gotta go shoot something
I am so pissed off and mad. Where the hell is my gun and that stray cat I saw earlier.
The Smell of Memories
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
That’s a line from one of my favorite movies. It got me to thinking about smells so I wrote down my thoughts on the subject.
Scientist say that one of the post powerful things we have associated with memory is smell. As a child I remember the smell of the perfume that
my baby sitter wore. It was always comforting to me when she was around. She was much more dependable than my parents were when it came to
being caring and sympathetic whenever I got those bee stings or scrapes and bruises.
Coconut oil brings back memories of long summer days on Sanibel Island in Florida where we spent every summer growing up. The sun screen I was
forced to wear as a red head to prevent my skin from broiling off always smelled of coconut oil.
The smell of old cracked leather reminds me of that 1971 Chevy Nova that was my first car. Its red leather seats faded and worn from too many years
hold memories that are priceless. From that first taste of freedom it afforded me the ability to go where and when I wanted, to my first experience
with a member of the fairer sex.
The smell of molten zinc although deadly in sufficient quantities always reminds me of happy moments in college casting bronze in the foundry trying
not to roast in the blinding heat and having a blast quite literally in the blast furnace while pouring liquid molten metal and avoiding the inevitable gaseous
zinc vapors. The same goes for burning wax. It always reminds me of one of my favorite Zen like activities. Carving wax and making new wax models for
casting. It is small tedious work that for some reason I find incredibly relaxing and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Conversely some smells have bad memories, such as rotten meat. It reminds me of the 2 weeks I spent in Czechoslovakia having to live on rancid dog
meat and radishes. Seriously this really happened. Or the smell of baby powder which one wouldn’t think would be objectionable but always brings back
horrifying memories of my grandmother known affectionately as the DREAD. She was always covered in a liberal coating of baby powder. One of the most
disagreeable and nasty human beings in the universe to say the least. Oddly enough the smell of Oreo cookies also holds a negative association for me. I have
no idea why I am sure it has something to do with my childhood that I have blocked out because it was so awful. But for some reason the smell of Oreos make
a cold shiver go down my spine and I want to just scream and throw up. Now isn’t that really weird.
But the smell I think I like the most is the actinic smell of the caustic chemical known as DEET. That’s right the active ingredient in most heavy duty
bug repellents. It always reminds me of my camping trips. It’s the one constant smell that carries over from year to year that brings back thoughts of
sitting around the campfire with all my friends. You would think it would be the smell of the burning wood in the campfire or roasting hot dogs or even
the ripe odor Greg gets after two days of camp setup with no shower. But no it’s the smell of that horrible bug spray that always brings back some
of my most cherished memories. Those golden weeks spending time with my best friends in the woods relaxing.
Smell is an odd thing and you can never tell what memory will flare up when you get a whiff of something.
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
That’s a line from one of my favorite movies. It got me to thinking about smells so I wrote down my thoughts on the subject.
Scientist say that one of the post powerful things we have associated with memory is smell. As a child I remember the smell of the perfume that
my baby sitter wore. It was always comforting to me when she was around. She was much more dependable than my parents were when it came to
being caring and sympathetic whenever I got those bee stings or scrapes and bruises.
Coconut oil brings back memories of long summer days on Sanibel Island in Florida where we spent every summer growing up. The sun screen I was
forced to wear as a red head to prevent my skin from broiling off always smelled of coconut oil.
The smell of old cracked leather reminds me of that 1971 Chevy Nova that was my first car. Its red leather seats faded and worn from too many years
hold memories that are priceless. From that first taste of freedom it afforded me the ability to go where and when I wanted, to my first experience
with a member of the fairer sex.
The smell of molten zinc although deadly in sufficient quantities always reminds me of happy moments in college casting bronze in the foundry trying
not to roast in the blinding heat and having a blast quite literally in the blast furnace while pouring liquid molten metal and avoiding the inevitable gaseous
zinc vapors. The same goes for burning wax. It always reminds me of one of my favorite Zen like activities. Carving wax and making new wax models for
casting. It is small tedious work that for some reason I find incredibly relaxing and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Conversely some smells have bad memories, such as rotten meat. It reminds me of the 2 weeks I spent in Czechoslovakia having to live on rancid dog
meat and radishes. Seriously this really happened. Or the smell of baby powder which one wouldn’t think would be objectionable but always brings back
horrifying memories of my grandmother known affectionately as the DREAD. She was always covered in a liberal coating of baby powder. One of the most
disagreeable and nasty human beings in the universe to say the least. Oddly enough the smell of Oreo cookies also holds a negative association for me. I have
no idea why I am sure it has something to do with my childhood that I have blocked out because it was so awful. But for some reason the smell of Oreos make
a cold shiver go down my spine and I want to just scream and throw up. Now isn’t that really weird.
But the smell I think I like the most is the actinic smell of the caustic chemical known as DEET. That’s right the active ingredient in most heavy duty
bug repellents. It always reminds me of my camping trips. It’s the one constant smell that carries over from year to year that brings back thoughts of
sitting around the campfire with all my friends. You would think it would be the smell of the burning wood in the campfire or roasting hot dogs or even
the ripe odor Greg gets after two days of camp setup with no shower. But no it’s the smell of that horrible bug spray that always brings back some
of my most cherished memories. Those golden weeks spending time with my best friends in the woods relaxing.
Smell is an odd thing and you can never tell what memory will flare up when you get a whiff of something.
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