So, its no surprise to any living, breathing American that our government officials and private corporations are far too cozy.
Republicans might be the most egregious offenders, but Democrats work hard to keep pace. After all, how else could Rahm Emmanuel leave his job in the Clinton administration and get a job that paid him millions at a bank, with absolutely no banking experience?
Merely the latest in a steady stream of politicians cum lobbyists is the now-former FCC Commissioner Attwell Baker. She is leaving her position to join Comcast's lobbying group based in Washington DC.
Nice, so the person who previously was in charge of regulating companies like Comcast, now works on their behalf pressuring congress and presumably whoever takes her old position.
I'd love to just rail away at Ms. Baker for being a person with no principles, and to a degree I feel that way. But why attack one person? The entire system is so hilariously broken its not even funny.
We have ex-Congressmen and staffers stepping into jobs at the companies they passed legislation in favor of. We have countless government employees, both appointees, and rank and file who leave their government jobs to then lobby the very people who took their place. We have ex-military getting hired by arms companies and "security" companies to cajole their still in service pals to buy their new weapon or hire their mercenaries, er, contractors to help defend the next "humanitarian" mission.
As if it isn't bad enough that corporations can now donate with impunity to elections we allow those who make policy decisions to step away from their jobs and instantly step into their counterparts role.
Our government needs moratorium periods on certain workers before they can take certain jobs. If you want to leave your post to go run a college, or a company, ok. But if you are leaving your post to take a job where your sole purpose is to use your insider information to unduly influence a decision in your new employer's favor? I'm sorry, you'd need to wait at least 2 years MINIMUM before doing that. I'd prefer a waiting period of 5 years.
Go get a real job for a bit. Actually produce something possibly. Or, am I asking too much out of the money machine that is federal politics?
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The system worked, but no one won
So the verdict came down in the Michael Dunn case. Convicted on three counts of attempted murder and one count of illegal firearm discharge Mr. Dunn is going to be going to jail for a long time. The first degree murder charge against him for the death of Jordan Davis resulted in a hung jury and mistrail. It will most likely be retried.
The case came about after Mr. Dunn approached a Dodge Durango filled with 4 black teens complaining their music was too loud. Mr. Dunn was carrying a weapon as allowed by Florida law. The teens, being teens, ignored Mr. Dunn's request and probably said some things that were rude and they shouldn't have said.
Mr. Dunn then thought he saw a gun in the vehicle which prompted him to pull his weapon and fire 10 times into the car, three of the bullets striking Jordan Davis killing him.
No gun was found in the vehicle, though it did initially leave the scene (I'm fairly certain I would've as well if some crazy person was shooting at me.) They did return to the scene and if a gun was ever in the vehicle, there was no evidence of it. All there was evidence of was a dead teenager and a man who ruined many lives, including his own.
We'll never know if there was a gun in that Durango and honestly I feel it doesn't matter. Mr. Dunn was not a law enforcement officer. He had no official capacity to enforce gun laws. If he felt threatened, he probably should have done what most people would do and back down from a hostile situation.
But no, not in our modern American. Not in a land where "Stand Your Ground" laws exist because those pesky criminals have too much power.
We have guns and we should be able to carry them where we wish and we can protect ourselves when we feel threatened.
Except, doesn't that kind of leave a lot of open space? I mean, "feeling threatened." That's pretty damn vague. So vague that it led a man carrying a gun to fire into a vehicle with four teenagers inside. It also allowed a man to fire at another in a theater who was texting and threw popcorn at him.
I don't mean to make my blog about guns or gun violence, but its been weighing on me heavily lately.
Lives are being ruined all over this country by America's blind love of guns in any and all situations.
Do I think Michael Dunn is some monster? Someone who was just looking for an excuse to kill? Of course not. I think he was probably a pretty normal person. However, pretty normal can change when you're carrying a gun. Its unfortunately, but too many people view guns as some kind of panacea.
I have to wonder, as I do in most of these situations, if Mr. Dunn would have approached the Durango if he had not been armed. Why he felt the need to be the enforcer of public decency, I'm not sure. Were the kids being disrespectful with their loud music? Quite possibly, they're kids, it happens.
But, so what? Its annoying. How many things in life are annoying? I could start a list that never ends. How many of them are worth killing or dying over? List just got a whole lot shorter.
However, the gun lobby has done an excellent job of instilling fear in Americans making them think that carrying a weapon is needed to live in safety.
One can only hope cases such as this, with one life lost, and other lives mangled, will be the aberration, not the norm going forward.
The case came about after Mr. Dunn approached a Dodge Durango filled with 4 black teens complaining their music was too loud. Mr. Dunn was carrying a weapon as allowed by Florida law. The teens, being teens, ignored Mr. Dunn's request and probably said some things that were rude and they shouldn't have said.
Mr. Dunn then thought he saw a gun in the vehicle which prompted him to pull his weapon and fire 10 times into the car, three of the bullets striking Jordan Davis killing him.
No gun was found in the vehicle, though it did initially leave the scene (I'm fairly certain I would've as well if some crazy person was shooting at me.) They did return to the scene and if a gun was ever in the vehicle, there was no evidence of it. All there was evidence of was a dead teenager and a man who ruined many lives, including his own.
We'll never know if there was a gun in that Durango and honestly I feel it doesn't matter. Mr. Dunn was not a law enforcement officer. He had no official capacity to enforce gun laws. If he felt threatened, he probably should have done what most people would do and back down from a hostile situation.
But no, not in our modern American. Not in a land where "Stand Your Ground" laws exist because those pesky criminals have too much power.
We have guns and we should be able to carry them where we wish and we can protect ourselves when we feel threatened.
Except, doesn't that kind of leave a lot of open space? I mean, "feeling threatened." That's pretty damn vague. So vague that it led a man carrying a gun to fire into a vehicle with four teenagers inside. It also allowed a man to fire at another in a theater who was texting and threw popcorn at him.
I don't mean to make my blog about guns or gun violence, but its been weighing on me heavily lately.
Lives are being ruined all over this country by America's blind love of guns in any and all situations.
Do I think Michael Dunn is some monster? Someone who was just looking for an excuse to kill? Of course not. I think he was probably a pretty normal person. However, pretty normal can change when you're carrying a gun. Its unfortunately, but too many people view guns as some kind of panacea.
I have to wonder, as I do in most of these situations, if Mr. Dunn would have approached the Durango if he had not been armed. Why he felt the need to be the enforcer of public decency, I'm not sure. Were the kids being disrespectful with their loud music? Quite possibly, they're kids, it happens.
But, so what? Its annoying. How many things in life are annoying? I could start a list that never ends. How many of them are worth killing or dying over? List just got a whole lot shorter.
However, the gun lobby has done an excellent job of instilling fear in Americans making them think that carrying a weapon is needed to live in safety.
One can only hope cases such as this, with one life lost, and other lives mangled, will be the aberration, not the norm going forward.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Boycott Coke? Really? This is the crushing issue facing you people?
I'll try to keep this post from degenerating to bitter and spiteful ad hominem attacks on those I disagree with. Its gonna be tough, but I'm pretty sure I can do it.
Apparently a slightly sappy, slightly touchy, seemingly out of place, yet overall innocuous Coke ad has the racists up in arms. I'll admit, I love when people get upset about stuff like this because it lets me know who I can pretty much write off their opinion about anything.
The ad, oh the horrible, terrible ad, featured "America the Beautiful" a song sung by Queen Latifa not more than 90 minutes prior to the commercial. Why the fuss? Because, HORRORS, the song was sung in many languages, NOT JUST ENGLISH!
Oh no! Whatever shall we do? How can we face the fact we're a multi-racial, multi-lingual, extremely diverse country? I know what we should do, we should take to Twitter and Facebook and blogs like mine nobody reads and react as racist and xenophobic as possible!
"In my 'Murkah we speak English gash darn it!"
Well, frankly America has never been a nation of one language, not should it be now. Prior to Europeans landing there was a plethora of Native American languages being spoken. The first European language spoken was Viking (yeah, I have no idea what language they spoke, some old form of Danish?), the second, Spanish. Then French, THEN English.
Sure, the English crown came to rule the 13 colonies who in a fit of tea party pique decided to rebel and instead of becoming more like Canada allowed us to become the joke we are today, but even then, all sorts of languages were being spoken, daily, across the continent.
Immigrant groups came, and came, and came and somehow America trudged along, getting along with these strange newcomers and their odd accents and culture. They slowly assimilated, keeping some traditions, sometimes keeping a langauge (rarely) but mostly becoming more or less American.
Now though, somehow this is a threat. All these people that don't look like me, don't talk like me and don't dress like me, they're dangerous and scary. And Coke is putting them in a commercial and goshdarnit Coke you gave me diabetus and made me require a Hoverround but I am quitting you over this. For good. Big KKK, er Big K is my drink of choice now. Or Shasta. Or a good American drink like Sam's Cola from them nice folks at Wal-mart (speaking of commercials to make you hurl....)
Get over it people. America has always been, will always been, and SHOULD always be diverse! And goodness, a multinational company selling things all over the world (including pretty much the only functioning factory in Somalia) is probably all about the diversity don't you think? Oh, but that only applies elsewhere. Got it.
If you want to get annoyed about anything, get annoyed by the faux patriotism tied to every sporting event now. I get it, most of the country is watching football (I love football), but there's nothing inherently patriotic about a sporting event no matter how many times we butcher the anthem, no matter how many flyovers we do, or how many times we show the troops in some far off country that don't need to be in watching the game at god knows what hour of the night instead of being home with their families watching it.
The Coke ad, which I found a bit sappy, was an accurate portrayal of America as it is now, as it has been and how it should and will be, regardless of how much you racist hillbillies want to pretend otherwise.
So, go buy your cheap beer brewed by a foreign company, purchase it at your local sprawlmart paying subhuman wages and importing everything possible from China, whine about how hard the white man has it in America and continue to believe giving more money to rich people and deporting everyone who doesn't learn English in a timely fashion is going to solve your problems. You are the anachronism and you are the problem. Not the person with the accent, the funny clothes or the different colored skin.
Apparently a slightly sappy, slightly touchy, seemingly out of place, yet overall innocuous Coke ad has the racists up in arms. I'll admit, I love when people get upset about stuff like this because it lets me know who I can pretty much write off their opinion about anything.
The ad, oh the horrible, terrible ad, featured "America the Beautiful" a song sung by Queen Latifa not more than 90 minutes prior to the commercial. Why the fuss? Because, HORRORS, the song was sung in many languages, NOT JUST ENGLISH!
Oh no! Whatever shall we do? How can we face the fact we're a multi-racial, multi-lingual, extremely diverse country? I know what we should do, we should take to Twitter and Facebook and blogs like mine nobody reads and react as racist and xenophobic as possible!
"In my 'Murkah we speak English gash darn it!"
Well, frankly America has never been a nation of one language, not should it be now. Prior to Europeans landing there was a plethora of Native American languages being spoken. The first European language spoken was Viking (yeah, I have no idea what language they spoke, some old form of Danish?), the second, Spanish. Then French, THEN English.
Sure, the English crown came to rule the 13 colonies who in a fit of tea party pique decided to rebel and instead of becoming more like Canada allowed us to become the joke we are today, but even then, all sorts of languages were being spoken, daily, across the continent.
Immigrant groups came, and came, and came and somehow America trudged along, getting along with these strange newcomers and their odd accents and culture. They slowly assimilated, keeping some traditions, sometimes keeping a langauge (rarely) but mostly becoming more or less American.
Now though, somehow this is a threat. All these people that don't look like me, don't talk like me and don't dress like me, they're dangerous and scary. And Coke is putting them in a commercial and goshdarnit Coke you gave me diabetus and made me require a Hoverround but I am quitting you over this. For good. Big KKK, er Big K is my drink of choice now. Or Shasta. Or a good American drink like Sam's Cola from them nice folks at Wal-mart (speaking of commercials to make you hurl....)
Get over it people. America has always been, will always been, and SHOULD always be diverse! And goodness, a multinational company selling things all over the world (including pretty much the only functioning factory in Somalia) is probably all about the diversity don't you think? Oh, but that only applies elsewhere. Got it.
If you want to get annoyed about anything, get annoyed by the faux patriotism tied to every sporting event now. I get it, most of the country is watching football (I love football), but there's nothing inherently patriotic about a sporting event no matter how many times we butcher the anthem, no matter how many flyovers we do, or how many times we show the troops in some far off country that don't need to be in watching the game at god knows what hour of the night instead of being home with their families watching it.
The Coke ad, which I found a bit sappy, was an accurate portrayal of America as it is now, as it has been and how it should and will be, regardless of how much you racist hillbillies want to pretend otherwise.
So, go buy your cheap beer brewed by a foreign company, purchase it at your local sprawlmart paying subhuman wages and importing everything possible from China, whine about how hard the white man has it in America and continue to believe giving more money to rich people and deporting everyone who doesn't learn English in a timely fashion is going to solve your problems. You are the anachronism and you are the problem. Not the person with the accent, the funny clothes or the different colored skin.
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