In This Economy

One phrase/thing I am getting really tired of hearing already is this: “In this economy”. It is the new great buzz-phrase and people just can’t say it enough. On a sports talk show today they said the NFL had laid off 10% of their people, some 120 folks. One person said why? They other answered well “in this economy”…blah blah…

I was thinking, why in hell does the NFL need 1200 people!? Anyway it seems the thing now is to look for a reason, any reason, a catch phrase of some kind, to screw over your fellow man like you always wanted to do anyway, but were afraid of the bad public relations.

When we had “frost in Florida” they jacked up price on all the tomatoes and produce…even though it comes from Mexico. With gas high as the sky last summer they went to profit town on everything, because somehow, someway, everything is tied to “gas price”.

Bush’s word was “terrorism”. He would find something he wanted to do anyway, and then just say terrorism a bunch of times and go. Like this; “terrorism, terrorism, terrorism, I am going to take your civil rights, terrorism, terrorism”. Amazingly, it actually worked!! The worst president since Herbert Hoover, got his country destroying, tantrum way. Remember this one? “terrorism, terrorism, terrorism, I think I will invade Iraq just for the hell of it and bankrupt our country, terrorism, terrorism”.

So now any employer who really wanted to cut his employee’s throats says this;“in this economy” and away we go. Of course you can’t have a Christmas bonus “in this economy” and you wouldn’t dare ask for a raise “in this economy”. The Sam Waltons of the world love saying “we have to buy everything we sell from China in this economy”….

People that watch a lot of TV seem to be prone to the buzz word sickness more than most. They seem to hypnotized by the daily disaster doses on FOX and CNN to the point they no longer think clearly. Just like driving a car and not remembering clearly every turn along the way it is a form of hypnosis apparently

Companies like Bxxxxx who want to punish their hourly workers say “in this economy we can’t afford to buy food for holiday celebrations so they must all be approved at the director level”. Meanwhile corpulent office workers go to the Bxxxxx boxes at a Silvertips game and blow $2000 for one party. It all makes sense somehow.

All over town fathers are telling their expectant children “honey, in this economy we shouldn’t put up lights this year”. Tightwads around the world rejoice about the endless possibilities this economy presents them.

Mumbai Massacre: Ruins Thanksgiving in Seattle

I am very busy lately, this holiday season, like most. I am working full time and also attending school. I had a job interview yesterday and today I have to put up a curtain rod thing before guests arrive for Thanksgiving dinner, do some reading for school and sometime this weekend I need to get a paper done. I have the Lions/Titans game on the radio, and am drinking coffee at my computer, a typical Holiday morning. So I click on the Seattle Times link and am SHOCKED to see in their infinite editorial wisdom they have some yahoos in India running around with rifles and building burning, and the news medias’ favorite word Terrorism on the front page.

So I read a bit thinking ‘well this must have something to do with me or it wouldn’t be there”, but it does not. Other than a mentioned feeling, that because some programmers at Microsoft came from India, there is no connection whatever to me and mine or this area. I am here to tell you that irritates me. I thought this paper was the “Seattle Times” not the “World Terrorism Watch” or the “Disaster News”. Pulling this wrong-headed stunt today, on a holiday the Seattle Times is their dupe, their scary news whore and it saddens me.
Apparently the Times thing is going for shock value.

Apparently, the Times can’t come up with a story people would want to read. Apparently, the Times have no writers that can write, about this area, on this holiday weekend. Apparently, they are just knee jerk hacks that publish anything someone else gives them with no ability to produce original, content of their own that has something to do with Seattle, on Thanksgiving.
I don’t have any problem with it being in the paper. But if all they are is a newsprint version of disaster TV channel CNN, and they feel to get on the front page, it has to be about killing, they have nothing to offer me as a reader. It should be noted here the number two story is the “South Center Mall Shooter”!!

Jesus H!@

Anyway Times, since you are clearly struggling, let me help you. Here is my idea, it will massively get you in the news, and you might even be able to charge people for on-line subscriptions. Just as you already have a sports section, a local section, religion or whatever you can now have a section called: BLOOD AND GORE.

You can name it whatever you want SHOOTINGS AND SHOOTERS, DEAD PEOPLE, TERROISM TIMES. This would be where you would put stories like the India massacre on the front page today. You could publish full color foldouts of death and violence. In addition things like photos of horrific car crashes that are still published in South American newspapers could be reinstituted. You could have celebrity autopsy photos, and all manner of blood and death. There clearly is a market for this, why not mine it?

WIndows to the Mind

Well religion is an interesting thing; it is a type of window into the human mind. Where ever you go they seem to have some kind of religion to explain the unexplainable. I suppose in some ways it saves time. When a kid asks where did the world come from? Where do we go when we die? You can just trot out the standard line.

The Arabs have reason to be pissed at us really, we continually go over there, where we have no business, and try and control them, and oh yes, kill them. Things were more or less fine until the crusades and the West started that…not them. Although many people think it was just to get Jerusalem into Christian hands again it was mainly about looting and pillaging and making a buck. One thing I enjoy is medieval history. Did you know that one of the big deals during the Crusades was finding Christian artifacts? Things like a piece of the cross, or Jesus’ shroud or maybe the lance that pierced Jesus’ side? These things would be put into the local cathedral in town and then the faithful would go on a pilgrimage throughout Europe to see them, touch them, pray over them, and get just a little closer to baby Jesus. It is funny in a way that even back then the local nobles were trying to boost tourism. What better way to do that then sack Jerusalem again?

Of course if Iraq had no oil we wouldn’t be there now. Cheney and all that lot don’t care two whits about “Regime change” and human rights and all that rot. Iraq was never any threat to us and I wrote about that before we invaded. Iraq and the world in general is a more dangerous place by far, now, than before we invaded….ah well.

The thing about religion that I find fascinating is when there is proof that the particular beliefs are bullshit, the people still believe. They discount the evidence and still go along. The Mormon religion is a perfect example of this. They have a written history from the start. The Mormon Church has been involved with all kinds of shady dealings, even recently. The Mormons are the only large group that for years has condoned sexual abuse of youngsters (other than the Catholic church of course), even Brigham Young “married” 14 year old twins that he was legal “guardian” for. When my little door-to-door friends come around I discuss this with them. The previous two came by several times; they even mowed my lawn at one point. The last two though got mad at me. They kept telling me to “pray about it” to find the truth about their religion. I told them to “read” to find the truth. As they went down my driveway they were yelling PRAY! I yelled back READ!!! HAHA!!

People always say that a religion or belief in a religious system has to be based on faith. I frankly don’t buy that. To me faith is something that is earned, not something that is drilled into your young head by rote, or something that is simply accepted as the belief-du-jour. Nor should faith circumvent troublesome things like facts. But it does, each and every day. I can honestly say with no hesitation the world in general is a far worse place with religion, than without it.

John Lennon’s song is very easy to imagine.The only religious practices that are worth the powder and shot to blow them to hell are those that do some good, measurable good, right here and now. Things like meditation for instance provide benefits. Beliefs that living a good life will bring good back to you are helpful. The concept of Karma is helpful. The concepts where you can live your life as a total ass and at the last possible second accept Jesus and go to heaven, those kinds of beliefs, are either harmful or at best useless. Beliefs where if you badmouth the church you should be killed or tortured are not helpful to the human condition. Regardless of what some Muslims will say if you are labeled a heretic or disagree with their teachings you are okey-dokey to kill. I have read the teachings of Muhammad and the Quran I know what they say. Both the Quran and the Bible are books of violence and intolerance.

When you look around the world and find religious violence, almost always Christianity or Islam are involved, many times both. I have to wonder….if neither of these two religions had ever existed would we be better off? Or worse off? I have to say the world would be better off without them.