Euphemisms and The Occupy Movement

Note: some of this content may be offensive. If you think it is over the line, please let me know. Young readers should be reading Dr. Suess and not this. Older readers, but not yet adults, may find enjoyment in the Crazy Horse Electric Game, Stotan, S.E. Hinton's books, starting with the Outsiders, or other books for Young Adults-i.e Teenagers. Those trying to get into college, should read prose with bigger vocab words, such as books, by Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Kurt Vonnegut, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, among other serious novelists Those that only need to retake the SAT score, out of bets that they can repeat their perfect score and others with a B.A. can continue to read. Those still working on a BA or BS degree may should read with the following with discretion. And should stop if they feel melancholic or disenchanted.

First off, a lot has happened in my life over the past several months. At one point, I wanted to be a blogger-well really, I wanted to be a writer-who aspires to just blog? A writer that would write about anything and everything that has happened to him, to be able to write about the thoughts that if said, would make me cool, but if unsaid, make me awkward. (At least that's what I tell myself.) But since I realize, I may never have the guts to say things, at least I can write about... what I would say, if I was actually cool. I guess at my age, with my hairline, cool might be too high an aim. What's between being cool and a total loser? Alright? Ok, I hope to be alright.

So first the euphemism. You know why Macs are better than PCs? Well as Avenue Q says, "the Internet is for %&#". Well in a moment of weakness, during my finals week, while home with a project due and a final to study for, I put the web browser on private and... Low and behold caught some malware. I had thought you know with the internet at least you can't catch anything. Lo and behold, I caught, a virus. Hopefully, it is one that is curable.

 

 

All this time, I've been doing my "private" web viewing on a Mac and thought that all "private" red-district web browsing was safe, no harm no foul-safer than a bar. Who would know that you are probably less likely to catch a virus going to a bar and picking up some random woman, as long as you use protection, rather than visiting the "red-light district" on your PC. Pay $500 dollars more for a Mac to visit adult sites on a Mac without even needing to thing about safe procreation. They should put that in a Mac ad- at least in Playboy and other adult magazines. Buy a Mac and surf the internet's red-light districts and back alleys without fear or need of protection! The web on a Mac is like your (STD-free) girlfriend or wife on birth-control! No Protection needed!

 

 

Secondly, the occupy movement. Don't these people have jobs! Or they must have had them and are now living off their savings? I don't have savings, I've got schoolwork and I need to find a job. Yes, things aren't fair. But I've got to establish myself (at least financially, and maybe socially) in our society, and I don't have time to camp in a city park. If I'm going to go camping, I'm probably going to somewhere peaceful, serene, with good views. The only reason I'd go to the occupy camps would be to hook up with hippie chicks, but I've got a girlfriend. But, I do hear there is a lot of adult-only type activities going on in those camps.

 

 

The real positives about the occupy movement is that people are not talking about the tea party movement, at least as much. There is a Yang to the Tea Party's Yin. So, for this reason, I think the occupy movement has done a good job.

 

 

But stopping shipments to the port of Oakland, and other ports, really? I hope you aren't hurting a lot of people by doing that. You think the 1% can survive, a day without a port to unload packages? so do I. It is the 99% people that might be hurt- the small business owners. When you smash a Men's Warehouse window- you think George Zimmer, President of Men's Warehouse has to clean the glass and put in a new window? Or you think the store salesman, who makes less, and is paid based on commission-i.e. his own production, or the cleaning people- who might be illegals and are paid maybe minimum wage, clean up the broken glass and are affected by your attempt to harm the 1%. As if men in the 1% buy their suits at the Men's Warehouse!

 

 

I know what you'll say in response to this. That wasn't the occupy movement, that was the anarchists. They just see this as an opportunity for violence.

It's too bad the anarchists are smart enough to avoid getting pepper sprayed, unlike the UC Davis students. Just because the authority figures are wrong though. I.e. the police using too much force to distrupt the movement, doesn't make the occupy movement right. Two fools fighting are still two fools. One bad guy (authority figures using pepper spray unnecessarily) doesn't make the other good (the occupy movement).

But two movements on the opposite side of the political spectrum, does gives us some balance. A Yin and a Yang, no taxes vs. equal income, which is a good result of the occupy movement.

 

 

As I mentioned early, I've been too busy, completing my school work and looking for a job. But I guess in my self-interest, I should be happy about the Occupy movement, besides just on principle. People in the occupy movement, are not competing for the jobs I'm applying to, so for that I am thankful. Maybe I should hope more people join the occupy movement, at least until I, and every one else who would rather work, rather than camp in a city park and pretend they are part of a commune, occupy jobs.

 

 

As you probably guess, I will try, but not suceed in writing another blog before 2012, so on that note: Happy 2012! Obama in 2012! My wish for 2012 is the that Obama gets bigger..., hmmm. is a euphemism, really needed here, or does every Democrat know what Obama needs? I don't care which way Obama goes, center or left, as long as he goes there big.

 

 

Not trying to be cool, just trying to be alright.

GCNOF

Occupy This

What is everyone's take on the Occupy Wall Street Movement? I checked out the Chicago chapter, OccupyChi, and found it fascinating. Growing up in a College town, there were many protests going on, but I never bothered to join any. I went on a lhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifunch brake this week, and biked down to the protest, as I work Downtown, it is not a long ride. There is a lot of energy going on at the protest, and I was able to bask in it. I did not have a sign of my own, so almost felt out of place, but watching was itself very enjoyable.
People are dissing the movement for not having one coherent message or leader, but that is not really a negative in my perspective. First, the Tea Baggers had no coherent message other than anger at first either. Second, the movement is young, but growing, and I feel it will distil a more unified message at some point. I plan to visit the protest more next week, and encourage everyone else to visit one as well. The most impressive aspect I think, is the technological organization. You can check out the Chicago website at www.Occupychi.org

Writing-Weather Fantasy Baseball

My summer resolution is to write more. Things are going well. but I've got to start working on a final for my class, so now I hope to just write a few notes.

No real news, except "Crazy Weather". Please feel free to share in the comments your crazy weather. Usually it doesn't rain in California during the summer. Once every 30 years or so.

lso I may need to write about fantasy baseball. I know you expect me to write about important or interesting things. But I am in first place in my fantasy baseball league. My draft strategy really paid off. I researched. But when the draft came, I didn't really have a "plan." I just took the best player that was available. Four of my first five picks were outfielders, this is usually a mistake, as outfield is a fairly deep position and usually it is important to take scarcer positions first, but for me is has paid dividends.

Off to studying. More posts to follow.

GCNOF.

Nothing

Dear Readers,

For the last two months, I've had nothing to say. What can I say? I guess you could call it writer's block. But that entails that I've have this stream of "writing" that was blocked. Maybe... who knows? Maybe there was nothing to be blocked. The well was just dry. Even tonight, I have nothing to write about now. So stop reading. I have nothing to say.

Most of my thoughts are very simple. I wonder why I like the smile and hello of the girl working behind the counter at my gym. I wonder if people full of sh-t like global warming deniers will be ever called out in this lifetime. I wonder what it says about America and our educational system that Rush Limbaugh is the most popular radio broadcaster and that Howard Stern is the second most popular radio guy. (Unfortunately, my fact-checker has left me- unsurprisingly considering I haven't written in two months- so the veracity of this blog should be questioned.)

I wonder if people will start buying electric cars and how that will work out for everyone involved: car makers, urban air breathers, electric companies, oil producing countries. I wonder how, when we can produce and iPad2 or an iPhone4 or an Android or fly into space, (the latter, something we've been doing for 40 years), but we can't give global warming more of a fight (by seriously reducing our CO2 emissions). I realize we are going to get there (reducing our CO2 emissions). It just seems we are taking the slow and cautious approach.

I can envision a world, in which a lot more people drive electric cars.

But, I hope they don't break down all the time. That would suck. If you run out of gas, someone can just put more gas in your tank, so you can make it to the nearest gas station. When you run out of electricity, what do you do? Get towed to the nearest (electric) outlet?

Even with issues bound to happen, I hope electric cars (just like the Israelites that came before them) become as numerous as the Toyota Pri (at least the Toyota Pri in California). Not just to decrease the atmosphere's capacity to store heat, but also and maybe more importantly for the air we breathe.

I love it, because some people doubt global warming, or hate people, or hate people that understand the science of global warming, some people are actually for polluting the air. I can't believe there are people, Dick Cheney, I'm think of you that say, that air you breathe, it isn't dirty enough, not enough inner city kids are getting asthma.

Exactly, how do they (global warming deniers know global warming is a sham? I am including global warming agnostics in my h-te list. The ones that say, yes the world is warming, but I'm not sure it's caused by us, human beings. Not all people can really handle the world as is, so they filter out thoughts that don't confirm their world view.

I understand that life in America can be hard. There are a lot of different TV shows on at one time, and my DVR only can record four of them (at once). Really I understand, the real issue is that there just aren't that many middle class jobs left in our economy anymore. You have to work real hard to become wealthy, even if you just wanted middle class. Otherwise it's being a high school math teacher or working at McDonald's. It's either that, or we could have socialism, pick your misery!

I think people will look back at this time period, and think what f--==g id--ts this guys were. Caring so much about stupid computer tablets, which allow them to play games as the world they live in both politically and environmentally was heading towards the brink. Hey, at least we/they enjoyed ourselves until the very end. Playing games on our little computers, while the real world's issues were a bit more challenging to be called a game or warrant our attention.

My last thought. eh, you don't want to hear it. The thought was here (literally), just not good enough, even for this blog. I got nothing more to say.

Signing off (probably for March),

GCNOF

Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal

A senseless tragedy occurred on Saturday. A federal judge, a congressional staffer, and a nine year old girl died among others, in an assassination attempt of an Arizona democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who may or may not die, or be permanently brain damaged.

Lots of people rushed to politicize the event. Which of course is expected. It was a political event, and a politician was targeted. I personally do not hold the Tea Party or any of its members responsible in any way for this tragedy. However, being politically minded. I do have an angle of this story and maybe something good can come of this tragedy.

What I see as the central issue of this tragedy, is that the "suspect" of this shooting was either diagnosed or suspected of being schizophrenic. He had failed out of school and wasn't good enough for our desperate military.

I'll skip over the fact that he was allowed to buy a gun, given his background, five weeks ago. I guess you have to be a convicted felon not to get a gun. I'm sure if you are really a felon, you'll get one on the black market.

But really, that's not my point. My point is that this man, wasn't institutionalize or given good... wait for it.... Health Care. With good health care, this man wouldn't be out on his own, or given a gun, or been in a position to kill six people and change the lives of several more.

Until the 1980s and Republican hero Ronald Reagan, our country institutionalized a lot of mentally ill in hospitals. Since the 80s most of these people are mostly on the streets or in jail. Some people just can't take care of themselves. Most of the time, these people are harmless to others, some of these people, maybe that's true all the time. Unfortunately in our society, if one person "major objects" and uses his/her nuclear option he or occasionally she, can cause a noteworthy damage to society. And besides of a moral responsibility to our fellow human beings (Americans really), this makes it in our interest to take care of "everyone." (Moses, G-d and Jesus would agree). I know there is another particular prophet out there that would agree, at least I think, but I'm kind of scared to say his name, because a few of his followers are well... you know.

With good (mental) health care, we can prevent some of these senseless tragedies and the silent tragedies of people living on the streets, who really can't take of themselves. So let me simplify why the government is getting involved in the health care industry. Lots of people with the worst conditions can't/don't qualify for/can't afford treatment. This is either because Health Insurance Companies are greedy or that it simply isn't profitable (can't be done by private companies) to insure everyone. Either the market is inefficient or it's simply impossible to make a profit in the health care industry. Either way the government (with its responsibility to the people) intercedes. Which is what our president has already done. Obamacare!!! Listen Mr. Wall Street Journal... the Health Care Industry isn't working based on the free-market, whether because of Collusion of Companies or the unprofitability of the Industry (the latter is what I think). As far as I know, no one has proved that the free market works in every situation. Let alone most. So the government infers, and the next Jared Loughner, is treated before he goes on a killing rampage. Or at least the medical/mental health records get transferred, so he is denied the right to bear arms if say he refuses treatment. G-d bless the departed and wounded.

Sincerely,

George Costanza's Number One Fan

p.s. people are scared about government health care options because of "Death Panels." umm. please to tell me What happens now?... Let me guess our current health care is so good, that you actually don't ever... you know...and no one now is ever refused a life saving procedure, because it's too expensive. Right!

Dumb and Dumbererer

Sometimes I think pieces of information that are tangential to a story can be more revealing than the intentional focus. Reading between the cracks in the accepted narrative of this hard to believe NYT article on the pitfalls of negotiations in the Afghan war, two facts stood out more than the absurd fraud in the headline:

1. The man was paid to participate in the negotiations?!!! Even if he was the real McCoy, he would be just as likely to fake the talks just to receive more payments. A prerequisite to negotiation is that each side has something the other actually wants. If you have to pay the other side to show up, then its a safe bet that any resolution is DOA.

2. The real Taliban leadership is believed to be in Pakistan, hiding with the help of the Pakistani government?!!! At what point does Pakistan stop being our Ally? We invaded Afghanistan and unseated the Taliban in the first place because they were harboring our enemies. How is this very different?

Certainly our interests in the Middle East are very complicated, but it is not backwards land. Up is not down and pigs still don't take off from Kabul airport, yet these two facts that seem essentially like admissions of total failure are "background" to the story.

Hemingway had a simple rule for playing poker: if a hand is good enough to check, it is good enough to raise. If it isn't good enough to raise, then fold. If we can't win in Afghanistan, then there is no point spending another day, another dollar and another soldier's life trying not to lose. In the Middle East we are being strung along like suckers. Only the oil and defense companies will walk away with a smile.

Corrections Dept...

Apparently the TARP, which I have bad-mouthed repeatedly, is not really so bad after all. If it really didn't cost much or anything it was probably a pragmatic band-aid that served stability. However, I still am dubious about it's overwhelming moral hazard and it's favoring of large banks over smaller banks and credit unions that should have been rewarded for their prudence.