Elected Idiots

It really butters my biscuits to see GM & Chrysler asking the US taxpayer for "another" $25 Billion, that's right, BILLION, with a B B B B B B B. I hear ads on the radio lately, encouraging small business. "Small business is the backbone of our economy, you're not the problem, you're the solution." So, why do the big businesses get bailouts? Not only does my father own, and operate a small business, but so do I. I can't speak for him, but I know that my business could sure use some bail out money.
When I was in high school, ( not gettin any younger either,) economics was a required course. I'm not talking about using a measuring cup. Economics - how the economy works, ok! What we have is called the "trickle down effect." Let me explain, cause apparently, our elected officials don't get it.
I'm an electrical contractor. I'm an electrician, you call me when a light won't turn on, or you want to put in that hot tub. So, you call me, I look at the work involved, give you a proposal. You accept my proposal, then WE, sign a contract. That contract basically says, I do the work, you pay me.
In order for me to do the work, I have to hire other men, cause I have more hot tubs and lights to fix. I also have to buy materials to do the job. Copper wire, and light bulbs don't grow on trees either.
Generally, in a service based industry, I do the work to your satisfaction, then you pay me. Then I in turn pay my help, put more gas in my truck, pay my contractors general liability insurance, worker's compensation insurance, state withholding tax, federal withholding tax, state unemployment insurance tax, federal unemployment insurance tax, are you getting tired yet? Pay for the phone that you called me on, the paper I printed the proposal and invoice on, the bookkeeper who keeps uncle sam off my ass, the electricity that runs the computers, the phonebook ads, the radio ads, the speeding ticket I got, cause you had to have your hot tub working for tomorrow nights 3 some in the spa. You get my picture?
Ok, I do have a point in all of this. So, most service based companies work on credit. Mostly, because those wholesale supply distributors know, that we don't get paid till the work is done. Still follow me here? Good. So, the work is done, I have bills to pay. You whine about the price you previously agreed to. I don't get paid without a big legal pain in my ass. In that big legal pain in the ass, I lose out on 35% - 45% of what the original bill was. Now, how the fuck am I supposed to pay my bills? Oh, I forgot, I like to work for free, cause I need the practice right? In the words of Jay Z - "Fuck you, Pay me!"
Now that you understand that scenario, back to "trickle down economics." So here, I did work, put out money, to do you a service, then you don't pay me. I then, can't get the few nickels that I would have gotten from your work. Then I can't pay my bills. Then the people I owe money too, say the same thing. "Fuck you, Pay me!" The cycle continues. The people I owe money to, owe money to someone else, they in turn owe money to someone else, each of those people have to pay their employees. They can't, cause you didn't pay me. So, some poor secretary gets the ax, managers have to answer their own phones. So, now someone else can't pay their bills either.
It's called the "trickle down effect," cause that's what it does. The same way heads roll down hill at work. Your boss gets mad, who's gonna catch the shit? You! Wanna hear it again? "Fuck you, Pay me"
Now, this will also work the other way. No one ever really hears the phrase "Trickle up." Cause the idiots that we have elected, choose to be just that, idiots. So, lets work on this "Trickle up" theory, shall we. Yeah, we will. Cause this is my blog. You can change the channel if you like, this is America!
The government has pumped way too much money in after bad. Lets start with the first 'bail out.' This was supposed to be $750 Billion, turns out more to the tune of $800 Billion, ( that's 9 more zeros). Then, the auto makers want some. So we add $50 Billion ( again, another 9 zeros) for the big auto makers. Now, Obama wants to bail out 9 million (only 6 zero's on that one) homeowners. Again, another $700 Billion or so. In total, nearly $2 Trillion, (way bigger now, 12 zeros!!!) Holy shit! What the hell are they thinking!
So lets go back to 3rd grade. When you first learned that Billion and Trillion really are numbers, not just thoughts in your head for astronomical numbers that didn't really exist. They do. Lets assume there are some 220 Million, tax paying, American citizens. Key words here are, taxpaying, and citizens.
Let's give each taxpaying family $1 million dollars, you pay taxes, cause it ain't free! So my house would get, about $500,000. Not bad. I think we can get our asses out of debt with that. Shit, I don't know anyone who couldn't. Not only could we get out of debt, but we could probably buy a starter home with cash. See, cause we don't really live beyond our means. Not terribly anyway. Total household debt is estimated at about $35,000. Now, subtract our assets, and hell we come out on top of that one. So that leaves us with about $465,000. Hey, fuck the starter home. I'll just build my dream home. With cash.
Now, if everyone did just that. Got a million bucks, paid their bills and squandered the rest, then where would our economy be. Not in a whole lot better shape. What? Let's face it, if we all had a million dollars, a loaf of bread would cost $12. Inflation baby! Gotta love it.
Then again, maybe it wouldn't be that bad. If we all paid our debt. The credit cards, the auto loans, the mortgages, and what have you. Then who would be in trouble still? Well, half of the people. Cause half would use it wisely, the other half would squander it thoughtlessly.
What a great idea. A great way to solve this problem, cause everyone could pay their bills, get caught up, and start spending again. That's what it's all about right? Consumer confidence. Make us believe that everything is gonna be ok, and we spend money instead of saving it. With that whole plan in mind, how about just a small piece of that pie. Let's say $25,000. Tax free! That really should stimulate the economy. People with debt pay it, people without, spend it! Stimulates me just thinking about it!

Home of the free, land of the poor!

Sports fans

I'm sure you have noticed that you are surrounded by sports fans. They are all around us. Some are closet sports fans, and some are the fanatical sports fans. The closet types, in my opinion, (which by the way, on this blog is the only one that counts), are the ones who will watch one or two sports, have a favorite team. However, they don't sport any of their teams gear, auto decals, license plate frames, etc etc. Most of these folks don't watch the games unless they just so happen to notice it's on. They don't read newspaper articles about their teams, or the games, or really even follow the rules of the sport much. Most of these folks really couldn't even name a player on their favorite team. Unless it was Dan Marino or John Elway or someone like that.

Then you have the fanatical types. You know the ones I'm talking about. The guys who paint their chests, and go shirtless in 10 degree weather at the Green Bay Packers game. Won't miss a game. Ever. The guys who have bumper stickers and tee shirts with the phrase "We interupt this marriage to bring you the football season!" These guys spend way too much money on their teams gear. They have everything in team colors, and logos. The diner table is set with plates that alternate Yellow and Green! (Packers colors), During Easter diner! They won't leave the house without wearing something team related.

Somewhere in the middle though, are the sport nerds. I have known a few of them over the years. These guys know every player on every team, of every sport. They know who won on July 7th, 1973, where the game was played, how many fans can the venue hold, how much a cup of beer costs, what brand of beer, and how big the cup was. You know someone like that too. These guys crack me up. Mostly because they seem unlikely candidates for the type. I work with a guy like that. He's is kinda weird if you ask me. He has the coke bottle glasses, cause he is legally blind without them. Wears black socks with long shorts, and has the whitest legs I have ever seen. The poster child for pasty nerd! However, this guy fits the bill. He can tell you any stat you every wanted to know, and 100 of the ones that you didn't even care about. But you would never know by lookin at him.

Now, that's not all. There is one more catagory. This is one of my favorites, and sometimes the most surprising of all. Women. I'm not saying that women shouldn't be sports fans. I'm not saying that women don't know anything about sports either. I just find woman sports fans amusing. They have their own "fan" style. My wife for instance, only likes to watch NFL football. She only likes to watch the Chicago Bears, and the Denver Broncos. She was born in Chicago, and we live in Colorado. Makes perfect sense to me. She couldn't name a single player on the Bears, except for "refrigerator" Perry, and Walter Payton. Both, long time retired. Sweetness of course, has since passed away. As for the Denver Broncos, she can name a few, both past and present. She has a great eye for the yellow flag, and can often call the penalty right. However, she doesn't understand the rules of the game very well. Her mother is the same way. My mother is pretty much the same way, only with the Buffalo Bills. My sister is a little more like me. I know alot about the sport or sports that I watch. I only watch football. She watches football and Hockey, with her husband.

The point that I was making about women sports fans is that they really can be the crazed lunatic of sports fans. My wife will knock the crap out of you, if you say that Denver Sucks! She can be down right violent about her sports team. She have some gear, that she wears proudly. Winning season or losing season. She, like many women, have very strong opinions about their sports teams, and will defend them to the death, and by god, don't disagree with them, or you're gonna be scrappin with 'em. And you know what I mean!!!

Then, you have me. There are alot of sports fans like myself. I'm too small to play, too old to try now, and wouldn't survive the first pile-up if I did play. However, I have a favorite team, have some gear that I only wear on game day, and if I leave the house. I am a football fan. Only the NFL though. Don't follow college, mostly because I don't have time, and I feel that the BCS is unfair, and a very poor setup. I have been to the Gator Bowl, and I will watch a bit of college ball if it is on, and I'm in the mood. College ball is much better than Professional ball. The players still have 20 million dollar salaries at stake, so they play like there is no tomorrow. Makes for a good game if you ask me.

I don't know every player on every team. I'm lucky if I can name every team. I can, but not quickly, and likely will miss one or two. I can't name every player on my team either. In fact, Because I live in Colorado, and I'm a Jacksonville Jaguars fan, I don't even get to see my team play except when they play Denver, Monday nights, Thursday nights, and Play-offs. Therefore, it would be proposterous for me to even attempt to closely follow my team. The best I can do, is look at the sports page, and watch the AFC standings.

I am the type of football fan who will go to a game occasionally, if I can afford it. I'm going to dress comfortably, and will not be the guy on tv. I'm not gonna carry a "D" or the "fence" in either. I do however, know all the rules well, I can generally tell you who will win a game, and be relatively close with a score estimate. I do follow the NFL. I love football. I don't watch the draft. I really don't care. I love the game, not the players. I am a good mix of the sports nerd and the closet sports fan, and the lunatic. Friends often ask me for rule clarification, who they should bet on, if they should bet the spread, etc. etc. I do not look the part though. I'm kind of a "sleeper." If I ever get the time, and energy, I would like to be an NFL referee. Although, I would have to start with my local High School leagues probably, and as of yet, haven't even begun to look into the "how to."

This concludes my rant on sports and sports fans. I hope you have enjoyed it. Whether or not you agree with me. I do enjoy your comments. I enjoy them even more if you don't agree, cause I like to argue anyway! Thanks and have a great day!

I can talk, Can you fly?

I can talk, can you fly? This is the phrase that we are trying to teach my birds to say. My family is large if you count all of our pets. We have 2 dogs, 3 parrots, and 6 cats. It's a good thing that I have a fairly big house.
It's difficult most of the time to give the kids the attention that they need. Add on top of that 3 African Grey Parrots, supposed to be the smartest birds in existence, and the other 4 legged variety of pets. The six cats of course are not much of a problem. Everyone has seen the bumper sticker that reads " Dogs have Masters, Cats have Staff." This phrase is very true. When the cats want attention, they come and demand it. The two dogs, both black lab mixes, are very attention oriented, and jealous. You can't pet one without the other sticking his nose in. Although, some of the cats are like that sometimes too. Today, however, I want to talk about my birds.
African Grey Parrots, are supposed to be the smartest birds in existence today. They can accumulate a vocabulary of around 2,000 words. The average adult human, has a vocab of about 5,000 words. For those readers who don't know much about birds, these birds have the equivalent intelligence, and neediness of a two year old human. Yes, they will have "terrible two's" until they die at a ripe old age of about 80 years or so. Luckily for me, one of the birds, Oscar, (aptly named from Oscar the Grouch) is about 25, and the other two, Samantha & Dorian, egg-mates, are about 15.
Oscar can say many things, and make many sounds, and whistles many recognizable tunes. Sam and Dorian, on the other hand are different. Dorian only seems to make sounds, soft cooing, and some occasional whistling. Sam on the other hand is very outgoing. He will talk all day long, in many different voices. We are Sam and Dorians third owners. Most of what Sam says sounds much like what he has picked up from an answering machine. Otherwise, he just mimicks phrases that have been spoken to him over the years. "What are you doin?" "No Bite" "Quit That" etc.. etc.. etc.. You get the picture.
As a general rule of thumb, you must repeat the word or phrase to be learned several times. Slowly and clearly spoken so that when the bird repeats it, it will come out clearly. My wife and I have been trying to get all three to say "I can talk, can you fly?" since we brought them home this past spring.
These birds are very smart, and I enjoy spending time with them and teaching them tricks. They learn tricks and commands very quickly and easily. They seem to learn much faster even than dogs do. It does help that I have read books, and joined online forums in relation to my birds. I have videos and training manuals, even owners manuals if you will. I am happy that because of their longevity in captivity, that they will be my friends probably until I die. It is likely that they will outlive me and my wife, and my children will inherit them. Oh well. At least my kids like them too!

Interesting Inheritance

It is interesting to see people as they grow from children into adults. My kids have been a blast to raise. I must admit that there have been times that I would've loved to choke the shit out of both of them. They do challenge me often, not in the authoritative sense, but in the thought process. If you don't have children of your own, or spend alot of time with or near others children, then you probably will not understand. This however, isn't what I would like to talk about today. I have some other observations that I would like to share, and discuss.
It is well known with my family and my friends that I do not like cheese, except for mozarella. That's also why I can't spell it! As far as I can remember, my distaste for cheese began at about 9 or 10 years old. It was an inherited distaste, as my father also does not like cheese. This inherited dislike is very understandable. It makes perfect sense. What doesn't make sense, is what is to follow.
I have 2 daughters, 1 biological, and one step daughter. My biological daughter is nearing 15, she has spent 14 years living with her mother, and has had very sporadic contact with me, not of any fault of my own. So, she did not know of my dislike of cheese as a child. What is strange, is that she has inherited my dislike for cheese. Exactly the same. There are other traits that she exhibits that are also inherited behaviors that she got from me. It was interesting to me that even though she had never known that I didn't like cheese, and she was exposed to it all of her childhood, that she picked it up.
My step-daughter on the other hand, should not have picked up these traits. She has however, picked up some of those, and a few strange ones, that I don't understand. My wife likes cheese, and therefore, there is cheese in the house, and occasionally she will make things with cheese in them, and make the rest of us something else. I say the rest of us because, my step daughter who is 9, also does not like cheese. I am half native american, which allows me to tan very well, and not burn often. My step daughter, having no indian heritage whatsoever, has the same uncanny tanning traits as I do. She shares my sense of humor, and my intelligence, as well as my temper. Some of the learned behaviors are understandable, knowing that she has been in my home and my heart since she was only 18 months old. However, her preferences with cheese, and her ability to tan as though she was my flesh and blood are a bit odd. Especially considering that I try very hard not to push my likes and dislikes of food, music, art, movies, and other stuff. I like to let them, and encourage them to try new things and to keep an open mind.
I just thought that this would be an interesting subject to discuss. The uncanny way in which my personal likes and dislikes, as well as abilities and disabilities have trancended to my kids, both with and without contact. This may have something to do with how twins have a strange sense of what is happining with the other, even when there is no indication that something is going on.
Huh... could be a scientific experiment here! Don't tell Dr. Mengala!

I wonder sometimes about people. I guess really 'sometimes' isn't the right word. I always wonder about people. Sometimes, I wonder about myself. I have recently had a chance to reconnect with my brothers blog. I have been away from the internet for some time. Mostly just lack of time. I, like my big brother, am the last of the gen 'x'ers. I have recently closed my business, due to the poor economic season. I started a new job, and was laid off a month later. I then started another new job. That one is going well, although I really don't like it much, or the pay. However, I do what is needed to keep food on the table. In this case, it is more than keeping food on the table, but more so, about keeping the table itself.
There are about 10 years or so between myself and my brother. There are also about 2000 miles. I am the black sheep of my family. While both my siblings have chosen to stay very near and dear to our hometown, I have ventured off into the wild blue yonder. Generally, in more ways than one. Although, we walk on different streets, the walk of life is really pretty much the same. Myself and my siblings, have great foundations in life. The folks taught us well that life sucks. All three of us make the most of what we have. In fact, it is my experience with them, that unlike most Americans, we don't bitch about what we don't have, but relish in what we do have.
My brother and I have different political views most of the time. You see, he is a New York Democrate, and I am a Colorado Republican. The strange part is, we both believe that society seems to be missing the same building blocks. The cornerstones, and keystones that have built American society since the founding fathers, seem to have crumbled in the last 75 years or so. I so rarely see in other people, the basic principles that our parents instilled in us. Manners, respect, responsibility, and above all else, accountability. I remember as a kid, (I'm gettin' old), that my dad would have kicked my ass, if I didn't use proper manners, especially with strangers.
It is my opinion, and I have a lot of those, that the vast majority of the worlds problems are due in whole or in part to the erosion of those four basic principles. The economy has crumbled because so many have failed to be accountable for their actions. Everyone is afraid to accept the blame for their own mistakes. Government is pointing fingers, Wall Street is pointing fingers. No one is solving the problem. I know that I am a part of the problem, but I'm also trying to be a part of the solution. I'm not thrilled to be working where I am, and I certainly don't like the pay scale. A detail, the landscape is food, and a roof over my families head.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a long day of work tomorrow, and need to get some rest you slacker.