Can I buy your vote for $100?

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You heard right: I want to give you $100 to buy your vote, with no strings attached. You vote for the candidate I tell you to, and I give you a crisp, new $100 bill so you can marvel at Benjamin Franklin's portrait.

Why would I do such a thing?

You've heard, perhaps even uttered the phrase, "I wouldn't do that even if I was paid to." Or perhaps it was, "There's no amount of money you could pay me to do that."

Voting is something which millions of our countrymen have sacrificed everything to allow us to do. There's no voting tax, there's not really much of a qualification to be able to do it, you just have to have the desire to do it. A lot of people, myself included, have been so incensed at what are laughingly referred to as our "choices", and that we are not allowed to vote "None of the Above", that we often simply don't vote as protest. Unfortunately, that doesn't work any better because it only strengthens the voice of those who aren't really smart enough to vote.

In any form of motivation, there is the stick and the carrot; that is, the punishment for not doing right, and the reward for doing right. One without the other often doesn't work, but when both are used, you usually get results. For instance, we personally don't have to make much of a sacrifice to vote; the only stick is that we get no voice at all. What's needed is a carrot, and that's where the $100 comes in. If I give you some money to go vote, you'll go do it, right?

But then there are people whom I have described as, "He/She wouldn't do his/her job even if he/she was paid to do it." Funny, because of the irony that the person IS being paid to do it and still won't. If I give you $100 to vote, will you go out and do it? If not, then what is the price at which you WILL go vote?

Maybe you think your vote isn't for sale, but what's even more ironic is that people sell their votes all the time for far less than $100. A simple pat on the back from a particular candidate is often enough to do it. Even a PERCEIVED pat on the back - which is to say that the candidate did NOT single you out, he simply mentioned some group you're a part of and praised them and got you to think he cares about you that way.

But there are people who sell their vote even cheaper; in fact, who PAY to cast their vote. I'm talking about the people who blindly vote the party line. "It's the Republican/Democrat candidate, and I'm one of them, so I will vote for them and not consider the other person for any reason." A person like that has paid dearly, whether it's by suffering from party values which rob him of his retirement or his paycheck, or whether it's supporting ideas which are against his core values and therefore forfeits his soul, that person has paid to vote for someone he wouldn't believe in if they were a member of the "other" party.

So you see my real question: what would it take to get you to vote for what you actually want, and not for what someone else tells you that you have to settle for? If there was a candidate who supported everything you personally believed in, who was NOT part of the political party which has conned you into thinking you're one of them and they will take care of you, what would it take for you to vote for him/her?

I hear a lot of people say they want change and fairness and equality, and then they go and vote for a Republican or a Democrat, neither of which has their interests in mind, and both of which have a long track record of lying to get elected. What would it take to get you to snap out of your trance and vote for someone else? Someone who actually would do what you wanted him to do? Someone who would cater to YOUR needs? Someone who was honest and open and worthy of the position you're electing him to?

Is there any price anyone could pay to get you to vote for that person?

Because there are a LOT of people who have paid with their lives so that you WOULD DO JUST THAT.

There IS a person like that, who IS running for President. He can't do it alone. He can't do it without you. He needs you to stand up for yourself and support him so that he can support you, so that he can safeguard your lifetime of work and your retirement and your well-being and restore the rights which the two ajor political parties have trampled in favor of the over-wealthy special interests. Unless you stand up for your rights, you won't have them.

That's important to me. So important that I want to give you $100 if you help get him elected. For $100, you can't possibly feel like your vote was wasted (even though voting for anyone else is a sure way to waste it), and just think what it will be like, knowing that you made history and got a decent man into the White House for the first time in a long time, one who will do everything he can to set the country right again.

Can I pay you to love your country?

Simply go here and sign up because I want to give you $100 if you help me get Buddy Roemer elected. (The nature of this payment will take the form of a stronger economy and a better income for you when Buddy gets elected and puts into action his plan to kick the corruption out of Congress.)

I thank you, and your country thanks you.

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Why don't they just Occupy Washington?

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By now you're aware that I'm the mastermind behind the Occupy Movement. I've agitated for years about unfairness and hypocrisy, especially when it comes from the people who are supposed to be running the country, until finally someone even braver than myself decided to go Occupy Wall Street and brought all his newly homeless friends with him. The movement spread all over the country, to every major city, until today we have people who are tired of the protests whining, "Why don't they just go Occupy Washington DC? Why does it have to be all over the country?"

This, of course, shows a frightening unwillingness to think without the TV news providing their opinion for them (followed up by denial of such).

Why don't the millions of Americans who are fed up with money polluting politics and the growing boldness with which the country is raped just go march on Washington DC? Simple, really.



First, we're talking about the newly homeless here. People who have had their jobs shipped overseas through no fault of their own, who've had their houses stolen from them, who can't afford to feed themselves or their kids. Just how exactly are these people supposed to GET TO Washington? Walk? Have you ever tried to walk 500 miles, or 500 more? It's not fun, even when you have a really good reason. (It's all I can do to walk about 15-20 miles a week and I'm healthier than 90% of you reading this.) I can't afford to go march on Washington, and neither can the majority of protesters. They're doing all they can to get food to eat.

Second, not counting armed revolts, no "movement" which focused on one city ever amounted to anything. This is a NATIONAL CRISIS, folks. It's a problem which can only be solved by one of three things: armed revolt, Constitutional Convention, or for those who deem themselves our lords to willingly abdicate their thrones. I think we can safely say that willing abdication will NEVER take place without the threat of armed revolt targeting those who need to step down (because historically speaking, fear of mob justice is the ONLY reason it's ever happened), so unless you want to become an ill-named Tea Party enthusiast advocating such things, that leaves the Constitutional Convention.

How on Earth do you get one of those things going?

It's a national event, something each state has to agitate for, and we need something like 38 out of the 50 states to agree to it. You don't get that kind of mass appeal by marching on one lousy city which really needs a second reason to glow in the dark to get rid of the rot. You have to get in people's faces, you have to show them that there IS a problem which CANNOT BE SOLVED by simply rolling over and letting the Koch brothers and the Freddie/Fannie monopolies keep raping you, hoping they'll get bored and stop. They won't. It's what they live for.

If you don't want to do anything to help yourself, that's okay with me, but don't complain about the economy or Congress or the excessive police-state we're getting into or the high prices or skyrocketing inflation or anything else, and don't tell me I can't take charge of my life and try to set my country right. As Carl Schurz said, "My country, right or wrong. When right to be kept right and when wrong to be put right."

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Dead in a Year

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What would you do if you knew you had only one year left to live? Would you muster up the guts to tell the girl (or guy) of your dreams how you felt? Would you tell your boss to shove it? Would you tell your false friends to find someone else to leech off of? Would you travel the world, do things you always wanted to do, but couldn't because you were afraid to or couldn't afford to?

Well now's your chance to find out what you'd do because in one year it will be December 21st, 2012, the day the world ends. Watch out, because there will probably be a lot of other people with less moral restraint than you or I doing all kinds of crazy things. Just in case one of them keeps you from seeing the end of the world, allow me to share with you how it might end.


As far as I know, I was the first to start talking about the "zombie apocalypse" which will strike when the Mayan calendar ends in one year, but the term has become pretty popular lately. You probably thought it was a joke, or that there's no such thing as zombies, but it was NOT a joke and there ARE zombies, and these zombies ARE going to destroy the world in a year's time.

At least, they're going to try.

How could this possibly happen? Well first we need to know a tiny bit of history and the factors which created the current zombie breeding environment.

1. In recent years, the people of America have become incredibly complacent. The end of the Cold War gave us a feeling of invulnerability; we were the sole remaining superpower and the greatest force in Human history, so who would dare piss us off? Add to that the wild success of the first Iraq war, and we started to believe we were infallible. You can see the effects of this in the second Iraq war when the whole world labeled us a rogue nation and we still went into Iraq. We just didn't care what the world said, because we KNEW Iraq was giving WMDs to terrorists.

2. TV programming has gotten steadily dumber. More and more, we celebrate those who are stupid and superficial and of horrid moral character and those who have NO character. Since when does a Kardashian matter? Never. Since when do a bunch of fakes on Jersey Shore matter? Never. Whose life is so lame that Brad Pitt's wishy-washiness matters? No one's. But these are the things being put on our TVs, and even our so-called learning channels are infested with dreck "reality" shows.

3. Mainstream news sources have denounced all journalistic ethics. The result is that when they're not fabricating the news, they're "reporting" on things which don't matter and ignoring things which do matter. A lot of hot air is blown about the "liberal media" and the "conservative media", but that's not what's really going on. The only time a rich person gets in trouble on the news is when another rich person wants them to be in trouble, and the only time a worthy cause gets coverage is when a rich person will profit from it. The OWS "coverage" is merely the latest and greatest example of misreporting and non-reporting. The only way to get actual news is through the internet.

4. The internet is being shackled and soon we will not have access to the only remaining source of truth and unedited information. That's not to say the internet isn't still a wild land full of disinformation, but at least it's POSSIBLE to get ACTUAL news from the internet if you're willing to look for it. You CAN'T do it on the TV, nor in the newspaper, because those are ALL owned by 3 men who have the same agenda: enslaving you. Once they've regained control of the internet, they will again have 100% control over the information you have access to. Good luck making informed decisions!

5. One political party is unabashedly abusing God's word to push its agenda. They make all the noises that a Christian does, and do all the things a Christian does... at least in public. Privately, they commit every crime imaginable, from adultery to drunken driving to stealing from the poor to advocating violence against Americans to bald-faced lying when they get caught red handed. And because they profess so strongly to be believers in Christ, too many believe their lies and they get away with murder. (Literally, in many cases.)

6. Education has become criminal. It used to be illegal to educate a woman. It used to be illegal to educate a negro. We can already see the beginnings of making it illegal to educate the poor. High-quality public education is what made this country great and helped it stay great for so long, but that's going away. First there was a backlash against certain subjects, like Evolution, and trying to replace it with nonscience nonsense. Then there was a complete lack of quality public education, and our children are becoming dumber by the minute. Now there's a movement to eliminate public education altogether and completely privatize the education industry, which will completely deny education to the poor and middle class. Education is the cornerstone of freedom. Without it, you are either a slave or a dead slave.

7. Surge of non-issues and cultivating of irrational hatreds. We spend so much time and energy on insignificant "issues" that we can't see the real problems which are CAUSING all those problems. Is it REALLY the end of the world if we give equal pay for equal work? Is it REALLY the end of the world if we collectively pay for a highway and then some of us use it more than others? Is it REALLY the end of the world if we keep government OUT of the bedroom? Is it REALLY the end of the world if someone uses the word "tar-baby" as a synonym for "quagmire"? Do we REALLY have to threaten violence to all who disagree with us? And because we make no headway in any of these issues, when faced with REAL issues, like the pandemic levels of corruption and treason our elected officials and corporate leaders display, we feel completely powerless to do anything about it, and so we let them continue to get away with it. We barely even notice the rape any more.

8. False Christians confuse and incite Christians to commit acts of violence and hate against each other. We complain a lot about how corrupt and violent Islam and Judeaism are, but they don't hold a candle to what an entire political party has done to foster its unholy agenda. It boggles my mind the evil being committed against our fellow Americans under the guise of Christianity when the Bible very clearly states we should love one another. The New Testament - Jesus' teachings - are the most important part of the Bible. Jesus taught forgiveness and peace and doing what is right. He did NOT teach that we should be slaves, or lie, or shoot Congresswomen for the convenience of whores from Alaska. Really, folks, if you believed in the Bible, I'm pretty sure you'd be noticing that the Anti-Christ is here.

9. There is very little will to protest unfairness. America was FOUNDED upon protesting unfairness. It's in our blood to fight against oppression. And yet, we've been subjugated from within. No one wants to rock the boat. No one wants to risk the ire of the Republican party because they'll take away your job and your home and your health care and your social security. Guess what? They're doing that anyway. You literally have NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE. And yet you still let them rape you.

10. There are entirely too many secret laws and laws which invalidate the Constitution's protection of civil rights. And if you think a lawyer can still protect you, think again. "Justice" is available only to the rich now.

Combine together these factors and many more I didn't have space to mention and you have a breeding ground for mindless zombies who can't think for themselves and who will simply do what their masters tell them to do through the TV news and "reality" shows.

You don't believe me? Then you've been turned into a zombie.

With the unprecedented levels of greed exhibited by the 1%, not only are the poor being robbed, but that's not enough and they're robbing the middle class too. Regular, hard-working Americans, who were doing everything they were told that a good American should do to be successful, are having their livelihoods stolen from them. They worked harder and got less at the end of the day. When you've had your house repossessed and you're living on the street, you don't have the TV or the lamestream media clouding your judgment. You snap out of the zombification process and you start protesting what was done to you.

As the numbers of de-zombified people grows, so too do the protests around the country and around the world. Those in power are getting more and more nervous that the free ride is over and all their illusions will come crashing down. But they're not going to give up without a fight. Evil NEVER lays down and quits.

Instead of realizing they've overstepped their bounds and apologizing like a proper, honorable person would do, they're telling their hoards of zombies to attack the people who have escaped their programming. You see it on the "news" all the time. The talking heads first ignored the OWS movement, then when that didn't work they told obvious lies about it, and when that didn't work they've ordered the police to start physically assaulting them without provocation or justification.

As the election cycle begins, it promises to shatter all previous records of corruption - BILLIONS of dollars have already been spent to buy the elections this year, and BILLIONS MORE will be spent next year. Why exactly are we allowing our "free" elections to be bought? Remember that, it's important.

Over the course of next year, tensions between the still-powerful zombies and the growing de-zombified will increase, and the only thing which will hold them back will be the completely irrational belief that come election time in November, something useful will happen and the treasonous ones will be voted out and honest people will be voted in. In the next six weeks, as America realizes not only that they have AGAIN had their elections stolen and AGAIN put more traitors in office, and that these new people will REFUSE to correct the real problems facing this country because they are afraid to go against the people who bought their office for them, the dam will burst and the oppressed people will do what oppressed people have always done when they have nothing left to lose.

The puppet masters won't stand for that, and will cause blood to flow.

It might even reach John Titor proportions, which is to say a civil war will break out and we will ask Russia to nuke some of our cities to end the war. It'll be like Wierd Al Yankovick's song, Christmas at Ground Zero, except it won't be funny, it won't be accidental, and it won't happen on Christmas, it will happen four days before: December 21st.

And all this because the super-rich thought they needed 100% of the money instead of only their fair share.

It doesn't have to be that way, of course. There are many ways to stop it, though counting on the greedy to do what's ultimately in their best interests - treat people with respect - doesn't seem to be one of them. And relying on Congress to stop sucking at the teats of the rich for five seconds to represent their ACTUAL constituents doesn't seem to be in the cards either. The best option other than a Tea Party-esque armed assault on Washington DC to head off a far worse apocalypse would be to create a Constitutional Convention in each of the 50 states (not 57, Mr. Prez) in which we create an Amendment stating some rather important things that must be changed.

1. Corporations are tools, no different than hammers and cars, and as such their owners and the people entrusted to running them are responsible for their crimes. Like cars and hammers, corporations are not people and are not allowed to be used to influence politics in any way.

2. Money is not speech. No individual may donate more than $100 to a political campaign. No organization may donate value to one campaign without also donating equal value to all campaigns. (Frex, a TV station cannot pick and choose whose ads it runs, it must run everyone's or no one's.)

3. Any candidate who can gather signatures from at least 1% of the voters in a voting district is hereby an official candidate. In multiple-district elections (such as for President), a candidate who gets his 1% in at least 50% of the districts (states) is automatically to be added to all others upon his request of that district (state). All official candidates are to be allotted equal time/money/value in televised debates and campaigning. This is to be part of the charter of a TV station or network.

4. At no time will a candidate be allowed to receive a contribution anonymously. All contributions must be documented. The entire process must be above board and transparent to public scrutiny. No contributions can come from foreign sources.

5. If Congress plays chicken with the budget or the economy, all members who had any part in it will immediately be tried for treason.

6. All special benefits Congress voted for themselves, such as their retirement fund, their health care, and their exemption from the law, are null and void. All Congress members past and present who voted for such things without the express consent of a majority of their constituents shall be tried for treason.

7. Congress shall be forbidden from owning stock in any company or corporation because they are in a position to conduct insider trading and don't seem to have the self-restraint required not to do it. Any Congress member who has profited from the laws they have made any more than the average American is to be tried for treason.

8. No elected official shall be exempt from laws pertaining to drunken driving, drug use, murder, or any other serious crime. Any official trying to coerce law enforcement from arresting or prosecuting them shall be tried for treason. (This seems to be a big problem with governors too.)

9. The President shall have a line-item veto power so that the absurd riders which get tacked on to most bills shall be kept from becoming law.

10. Judges shall not be appointed for life. Lifespans are much too long. No judicial appointment shall last longer than 20 years and no judge shall serve longer than 20 years.

11. Elected officials shall be subject to recall if more than 75% of their voters want it. (Passons do flare from time to time, and recalls shouldn't be subject to whims.)

12. Above all, elected officials are expected to act in a responsible manner toward the country and their office. Those who put anything besides their country first - including political party, corporation, or themselves - shall be tried for treason. We expect our military to be willing to die in service, the least an elected official can do is make a comparable sacrifice. Additionally, all large corporations are required to have as part of their charter the same basic requirements for responsibility toward the country which made you. We don't mind you being rich and influential, we mind you abusing that power. With great power comes great responsibility, and great punishments for not living up to it.


These are the kinds of changes America needs to avoid the coming zombie apocalypse. Will we have the guts to implement them before disaster strikes, or will be have to destroy everything we have first? One thing is for sure: if we don't overcome the slavery the super-rich are trying to impose on us now, we will never have the chance again.

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Sunday Funnies 11-10-23

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Welcome back for our weekly summary of everything important that you can't just scroll down and read! Just eight days to Halloween; do you have your house decorated and your costume designed and your party scheduled? If not, you'd better get it done quick.

We've had a cold snap here in Florida this weekend. Last Friday for my morning walk, it was so cold I felt like my brain was freezing. Still made about 5 miles, but I was miserable doing it. Fortunately it's warming up a little, and yesterday's and today's mornings were slightly less cold, so I'm not worried about Monday.

There were an awful lot of stories I thought were important enough to share over on our associated Facebook page, which you should check out and hit that big LIKE button at the top. So many, in fact, that I felt there was getting to be a bit of information overload, so I didn't share everything I really wanted to. Here are the most important things which happened last week:

86% of Bailout Money Used for Executive Bonuses -  How many times do we have to fall for this before we figure out we're getting ripped off by the corps AND the congressmen voting in favor of these?

5 Conservative Economic Myths Occupy Wall St. Is Helping Bust - Amazing. Simply amazing.

Awake The State November 1st! - All 50 state capitals are going to experience demonstrations.

The Artful Dodgers - How those who most need to pay their taxes get away with paying none.

Wall Street’s Second Occupation: The Rise of the NYPD's Homeland Security State - I believe they had something like this in Germany in the early 1930's.

Janet Reid's Most Terrifying Contest Ever! - I managed to get my entry in third out of almost 200. No idea when we'll hear who won, but if you pester Jet enough, maybe you can convince her I should win.

How to Regain Our Democracy - Very simple solution.

Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer Calls for Withdrawal From NAFTA, WTO - These are basically illegal treaties in which we give away what we have and get nothing in return. They gotta go. Roemer is the only candidate who wants to get money out of DC to end taxation without representation.

Judge Judy - Here's Who You Support With Taxes - She's far more patient with him than I would be.

Stimulus Money Used to Employ Foreign Guest Workers Instead of Americans - Are you sure this isn't treason?

That will definitely keep you busy today. Have a great Sunday!

The Church of the Almighty Dollar

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Lately you've heard a lot about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The first thing you may have heard was that it was being suppressed by the major media outlets, who have zero obligation to report facts no matter how important they are. Then you started to hear that the protesters were a bunch of hippies who didn't know what they wanted, except to tax the rich into oblivion. But when the Movement reached your city, you found that you couldn't dismiss them so easily because not only were there a LOT of regular people among them, but they were coherent and made a whole lot more sense than the major media wanted you to believe.

What Americans want is simple: True separation of Church from State. We want the Church of the Almighty Dollar to be expelled from the process of law-making and law-enforcement.


The way things are now, our politicians and police only listen to whoever pays them the most. And because the top 1% of "Americans" are making more money than the rest of America combined, that means only the super-rich get their way and the other 99% are forced into slavery. And because all the major media outlets are owned by the super-rich, that means the 99% get brainwashed and fed lies to keep them from figuring out that they've been robbed. They are now enacting programs to destroy the public education system to make this state of affairs permanent.

We called bullshit on the royalty about 230 years ago for treating us exactly the same way, and now that it's happening again, the royalty is all aflutter, trying desperately to wield their armies of reality-TV drones against the few clear-thinking Americans who see what's happening and want the wholesale rape of their country to stop.

As things currently stand, a politician's loyalties, in order from most important to least, are:

1. Money
2. Party
3. Constituents
4. Nation

This is completely the opposite of what it should be, and hence is no surprise why we're going to hell in a handbasket. In fact, to put something above the good of your country is the very definition of treason, isn't it?

I'm no big fan of Obama, but when Congress intentionally sits on its hands all day to make the President look bad so he won't get reelected, is that putting your country first, or your party? It sure isn't putting the best interests of the people first, I can tell you that much.

The top corporations like GE, which make HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS in profit, pay ZERO taxes, receive BILLIONS in subsidies and stimulus money for the purpose of creating jobs for Americans, and then ship jobs overseas and complain that it's too expensive to hire an American, spend MILLIONS of dollars wining and dining politicians, popularize the obscure ones who accept bribes, and suppress anyone who tells the truth about how we got into this mess. It's those corporations who should not be allowed to run the government. They should not be allowed to buy the justice that the other 99% of Americans can't.

America is a government OF the people, BY the people, FOR THE PEOPLE. Corporations are NOT people, and should NOT be heard any more than should the voice of a car. A corporation is a tool, in the same way a car is a tool. It has a function and a purpose, and can be used for good or ill. Right now, they are being used so that only the top 1% - the royalty - have their voices heard. It's time the voice of the PEOPLE is heard.

There is one thing which ties together all the major problems in this country and the "free" world at large, and one natural solution:

Take the corporations out of the government. When our elected officials stop getting the free rides and have to actually answer to the public who voted for them, the other problems will clear up pretty darn quick, because Americans will rightly believe that they actually are being represented again, and they will work to make this country great again.

The love of money is the root of all evil, and it's the root of all the problems which are overwhelming us right now. Hold our officials accountable.

Who's with me on this?

Anyone?

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Sunday Funnies 11-10-16

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A lot's happened this past week. First off, I found a nice intermediate step between the previous rendition of the site and the super-modern, user-reconfigurable version (which I really want you to have, just as soon as they enable the important stuff), and that is what you see now: nice lines and boxes and a very clean, professional look. I'm extremely happy with this, although it forgot to import all my keywords and meta tags; thank God I saved the code from the previous rendition! I've probably got 1000 keywords to help the search engines find the stuff you're looking for! The site should stay about the same for a while.

Second is that Biketoberfest is winding down today. There are a few things still going on, but come sunset, bikes will return to their normal level of ubiquity. Had wonderful weather for this extended weekend, and from the looks of my riding around, there were about as many people here as there usually are for my birthday party, aka Bike Week in March. (Bike Week always falls on my birthday, except, apparently, for next year.)

Third is that I checked out the new Occupy Daytona Beach group last week. Fifty people showed up last Monday for its first meeting, and over 100 showed up for yesterday's informational/rally/demonstration, which itself was part of a WORLDWIDE event taking place in almost 1000 cities.

As I said at the meeting, it takes a lot of courage to show up at these things. When you see the attrocities being committed in New York City against these people, such as a cop running over an observer with his motorcycle and then beating and arresting him, it makes you wonder for your own safety. When you have hypocritical retards like Ann Coulter - a woman who lauded Timothy McVeigh's terrorist attack on Oklahoma City (which you'll read about later this week) - are slinging hateful insults and telling regular people to commit irrational acts of violence, you have to wonder for your own safety. And when you even have various elected officials calling for violence and even murder against the protesters, it's almost enough to go back to being a sheep, awaiting your turn to be fleeced and slaughtered.


So yes, it takes a hell of a lot of balls (or a hell of a lot of nothing left to lose) to show up and demand your rights, and I applaud and admire this kind of bravery. I applaud even more those people who have taken it upon themselves to organize and support them. Organizing the gatherings and leading them is a big job which makes them even more of a target of ridicule and hate by hypocritical pundits who have never contributed anything meaningful to society.

I've had a handful of people thank me for my time in the Navy, and I'm grateful to know they're grateful for what I did, but I was fortunate enough to have never faced the kinds of dangers the protesters in New York City are facing from the people who are supposed to be protecting them. I have a lot of respect for these people, and thank them for making the sacrifices which will see this Movement through to the end.

Fourth, on a more personal note, the site's traffic has increased significantly in the past few months, with this week possibly setting a record. I have no doubt that October will set yet another traffic record for the site. We had about 20,000 visitors the first year Google started counting them for me, a number I never thought I'd see when I started doing this 12 years ago, and another nearly 8000 visitors in the past three and a half months, so we're well on the way to see a large increase next year. Amazing! And it's all thanks to you guys, finding the place, liking what you see, and spreading the word to your friends.

Thank you!

Now on to the important news links which were posted on the new More in Sanity Facebook page you may have missed.

Bank On It: They're Scared - The 1% is starting to realize they're about to lose their iron grip on the public's minds.

Roemer joining Occupy Wall Street protest - The only Presidential candidate who "gets it", Republican Buddy Roemer supports OWS.

Alan Grayson: The Best 2 Minutes On Why We Should All #OccupyWallStreet - Democrat Alan Grayson explains OWS in terms any genuinely fair-minded individual can understand.

Microsoft finds 64 billion fewer spam messages one month after botnet takedowns - It's getting harder and harder to call them evil.

Americans believe Tea Party is Counterproductive - They betrayed what they claimed to stand for: us.

Grayson on Occupy Wall Street: The last human thing left to do.... show up. - More wisdom from Alan Grayson.

86% of Bailout Money Used for Executive Bonuses - How corporations rape America.

30 Citibank customers arrested for closing their account - Bonus fascism!

And lastly, near as I can tell, this is the Congressional Oath of Office.

The Congressional Oath of Office:
I pledge allegiance, to my political party, to ruin the United States of America, and to the scandal, for which it lies, one nation, under our thumb, with liberty, and justice, for those who help me do it.

Coming up this week: more good stuff! Keep on keepin' on, and work up the courage to click the LIKE button on the More in Sanity page! I know you can do it.

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Last Week's Installment: Sunday Funnies - 11-10-9

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Sunday funnies - 11-10-9

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Since starting up the Facebook attachment (which I just spoke about in the previous post), I've found it's very easy to just throw up interesting links. However, Facebook doesn't have a very good history function, nor a good search function, so when those very important posts fall too far down, they're pretty much lost to all who aren't internet archaeologists.

So I just now sez to myself, "Self," I sez, "why not preserve the best of them thar linkies up in here in this website?" That might be funnier if you can imagine me doing it in my Mr. Turner voice. If you've had the privilege to hear it.

But anyway, here are the best links of the week, not counting the links back to here.

Bombshell: DOJ Considering Elimination of ATF

What’s behind the scorn for the Wall Street protests? - Jesse Ventura (yes, that one) pointed this out.

TrainStation - A very rare find: a Facebook game worth playing.

Daily Show: Parks and Demonstration - John Stewart's take on the Wall Street demonstrations.

Ohio Pork Industry Hurt by Prison System Decision - Political Retardation strikes again.

Bank On It: They're Scared - More on the Occupy Wall Street movement, just released today.


Quite a collection there. Once you're done checking them all out, how about heading over to our new Facebook page and hitting the LIKE button for us? Click here to see it. Do it. Do it nooooooow.

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Allah be Praised

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Praise Allah for finally deciding to clean up his house! With Obama bin Laden dead at the hands of American soldiers - Navy SEALs no less - this is pretty clear proof that Allah wants nothing to do with the bastard. Together with all the upheavals going on in the Middle East and North Africa, it seems to me that blaming wholesale murder and personal greed on an all-powerful entity was a bad idea.

Let's look at this. When someone tells you to kill other people and live in abject poverty because he claims some all-powerful being told him to tell you to do it, shouldn't you stop and wonder at his proof? How do you know Allah told that guy to tell you to kill people in the most horrible ways imaginable? Why should you live in misery while he lives in a palace? Isn't Allah capable of obliterating anyone he wants obliterated?

And so he has.


Usama Bin Laden was killed in Islamabad, Pakistan, this past Friday. Praise be to Allah for delivering us from the pretender who abused Allah's name for his own personal gain.

The Christians figured out how to stop doing that a couple hundred years ago when the Inquisition was put to rest and the Crusades became passe. Let's hope the Muslims and the Jews figure it out really soon too so we can all play nice and let everyone believe what they want to believe about their Creator.

Now what should we do about Pakistan?

One thing is for sure: let's not do the bastard the honor of defining ourselves and our history with words like pre-bin Laden and post-bin Laden, okay?

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Politically Retarded

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I saw a news item the other day in which some idiot claimed it was "politically correct" to refer to Easter Eggs as "Spring spheres". Naturally, I was abhored at how assinine someone had to be to demonize chicken eggs delivered by a bunny rabbit, but also a bit pleasantly surprised and shocked that such a thing had made news. Had someone finally had enough of this ridiculousness? Was a major news organization going to take off its Radical blinders and report on the mass-murder of common sense?

The newspeople did have a protest, much to my delight, but when I found out what it was, I was appalled. To my intense disappointment, the newspeople were NOT protesting the fact that "political correctness" has gone too far, nor that its purpose is to deceive the masses. No, they were protesting something much more mundane.

The factual error of calling an egg a sphere.

A sphere is a perfectly round object, like a ball. Basketball, baseball, tennis ball, ping pong ball, even the Earth itself is more or less a sphere. An egg, however, is a spheroid. Those three letters make a big difference.

And that's all they cared about: mislabeling a spheroid as a sphere. Not that someone was mislabeling Easter as a mere "Spring Celebration", and certainly not that there are so many people with nothing better to do than invent ridiculous, even obscene language conventions so as to deny all Humans their basic right to free speech and free thought. Goodbye Easter, goodbye Christmas, goodbye Ramadan, goodbye Hannakuh...

Wait a minute!

No one's advocating the destruction of Muslim culture; anyone can celebrate Ramadan or pray five times a day or wear a face mask in their official picture ID. Likewise, you'll get labeled an anti-Semite if you were to even suggest suppressing Hannakuh or Passover or any other Jewish celebration. So I guess it's only Christians who are being attacked in this way. Pretty hypocritical, huh? Discrimination at its ugliest.

Likewise, no one would dare publish any of the crimes committed by an Imam or a Rabbi, nor would they dare burn a Koran or a Torah in protest - look at the global ire raised when someone threatened to burn a Koran - but if the press is to be believed, every single Catholic Priest commits pedophilia on a daily basis and Bibles were printed expressly for the purpose of being burned.

And have you ever noticed how it's "politically correct" to believe that all men are evil and all women are victims? Or that all whites and ONLY whites are racists? How insane does the world have to get before the people who are having their personal power robbed wake up and realize it?

"Political correctness" is as much a misnomer as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It has nothing whatsoever to do with avoiding hurting peoples' feelings or being polite, and there's certainly not much correct about it.

"Political correctness" has only two functions.

First, it's designed to rob you of your First Amendment Right to say whatever you feel like. Not being able to say something robs you of your ability to think. Anyone who has read George Orwell's 1984 is familiar with the trick of removing words from the language to prevent you from having certain thoughts. If you have no word for SPADE, then you can't very well call a spade a spade.

Second, it's an attack on America's culture, specifically Christians, males, and whites. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up and spoke out against injustice, it was not an attack for or against any specific group of people. He wanted EQUALITY for ALL. Not just for the hypocrites who want freedom to do anything they want to the rest of us while they deny us the same freedoms (like nearly any politician or religious fundamentalist does), but for ALL people.

We need a new word, while we still have some semblance of the First Amendment to allow us to do such a thing. We need a proper label for this process that describes it correctly.

"Politically Retarded" works well. Far better than "Politically Incorrect," which implies that PC has value.

We use the word "political" because politics doesn't make a whole lot of sense, nor does this process of cultural destruction. It's very confusing. Okay, actually, it's about power; having power over someone else, and that's what politics really is; it's enslaving someone else to your will.

We use the word "retarded" because if you look it up in the dictionary, you find out it means something is less advanced, or held back in some way. Like a retarded aerial bomb has special fins to slow it down rapidly. The education systems in many countries are retarded in comparison to some others. A human who is developmentally retarded may have physical or mental (or even social) limitations that prevent them from having what the rest of us call a normal life. So it's perfectly apt to say that if you believe in being destructive that you are retarded. You can take that any way you like, but no one intelligent will tell you it's incorrect in any way, so keep your developmentally challenged parents out of this.

So now that we have an appropriate and correct term to describe the willful, pedantic destruction of American culture, let's be sure to use it whenever it rears its ugly head.

Call an Easter Egg an Easter Egg. Wish people a Merry Christmas. Enjoy being whoever you are, whether you're black, white, purple, male, female, or something in between. When someone tries to hassle you or attack you with something obviously Politically Retarded, feel free to put the proper label on it and then go on doing right.

Don't let Politically Retarded people destroy your country or your culture. Allow TRUE equality to reign. Insist on having your rights to free speech and free thought, or they WILL be taken away from you.

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More articles of a similar vein:
I'm Totally in Love with this Lady
In my Quest to Offend You
Profiling: Is It Good or Bad?

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The Tax Man Cometh

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Hope you've got your taxes done. Today's the day. If you don't have it done, even though the Constitution says you don't have to pay taxes, you'll get thrown in jail to serve as an example to the rest of us. We wouldn't want our able Congresscritters losing their paychecks, now would we? This ain't a land of laws, it's a land of guns, and if you don't do what the guys with the guns tell you, regardless of whether it's the law, you're the one who gets in trouble. So be sure to get your annual tithe in and hope the people you're paying to do their jobs will actually do them this year.

As you were.

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I'm Totally in Love with this Lady

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I want to share with you my privilege of having known and loved a very special lady. She's full of life, vibrance, excitement, brilliance, and beauty. She's completely amazing in every way. Songs have been written about her. Men have studied her, wooed her, fought over her. Everyone wants to be a part of her story. Every day I'm in awe at having the honor to know her as intimately as I do. I want the whole world to be able to share in the joys I've known!

In her youth, she really came into her own. The whole world could see what she was capable of, the promise in her future, how much possibility lay before her. She made a difference to many lives then. And today - still a young lady - she continues to touch innumerable lives. Everyone who loves her is proud of her generosity and spirit.

Upon taking a glance at her history - the causes she has fought for, the ideals she symbolizes, and the charities she supports - even the half-educated can see her unlimited potential to change the world. She has, in fact, already done much to make the world a better place.

Recently, however, she seems to have lost her way.

She's made some poor decisions, forgotten some of her most important principles and ideals, and even begun neglecting the very people who made her great. The times have been hard on her too; she seems to have stopped believing in herself. Many of her friends and those she has helped have turned their backs on her or even turned against her. Her enemies are more determined than ever to embarrass her and strip her of her accomplishments. Some say she's lost her nobility, that she has committed wrongs for which she seems either unaware or unrepentant.

But even though I may become extremely frustrated with her actions and the way she sometimes treats me, I love her more than anything. I can forgive her misfortune, mistakes, and transgressions because I know she's trying to do the right thing. I know she can still make a difference. I know she still has a grand destiny, which God gave her. I believe in her.

All she needs is a little guidance. Someone to show her the way. Someone to stand up for her and say, "I will make a difference. I will show her the way. I will restore her honor, reclaim her future, for now and forever. I will do whatever it takes to make her the best she can be."

Do you know who Carl Schurz is? He's the one who said, "Our country, right or wrong! When right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right." Born in Germany, he immigrated to the United States, fought in the Civil War as a Union general, and eventually became the first German-born American to be elected Senator. He had some very high ideals, the kind which pretty much define what most people think of as patriotism. It's no wonder we've all heard the above quote and understand the sentiment behind it. It's a shame we don't learn in school anything about the man who coined it.

Too often, we look at ourselves and think we're not good enough to do anything. We think we can't make a difference. We think there's too much gone wrong. But that is exactly the mindset our slave-masters want us to be in. They want to keep sucking dry the Land of Opportunity until there really is nothing left here.

Will we let them, or will we say, "Enough is enough?" Will we just put our heads down and let her fade away into nothingness, her name and great deeds forgotten, or will we stand up and make a difference?

It is within us all to make a change, to choose to make a difference, and it's as simple as making a difference to the people around you. I used to think I couldn't make much of a difference. Sure, I helped someone now and then, but I didn't really feel like I'd changed lives. Eventually, however, I realized that I DO make a difference to everyone around me, all the time. We all do. Often, because we don't realize the effect we have, what we share isn't what we wish to be known for.

Whatever our attitude is, that's what other people absorb from us. If we're pessimistic, if we're sarcastic, if we're cynical, that affects the people around us in a negative way. It depresses them and makes the world a worse place. But once we're made aware of this effect we have on people, we can choose to stop focusing on the negative and realize that the world really IS a great place to be, that people really ARE basically good, and the future really IS bright. If we allow ourselves to see the good, we will see it. The world really is what we make of it.

Upon realizing how much effect I have on people, I chose to be a more positive person. Not only do I make it a habit to catch my cynicism and replace it with a more realistic, positive worldview, I also actively make an effort to bolster and inspire the people around me. I want them to know I believe in them, that they can be more than they've been fooled into thinking they are, that they can make a huge difference in the lives around them, whether they're a restaurateur, a famous Hollywood actor, or a world leader. I expect the best of them, and I'm rarely disappointed. You can do the same. Make a change within yourself and you'll make a change in everyone around you. The effect will spread, and before you know it, we'll have restored a great lady to her full potential.

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The Problem of Emotional Investment

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Have you ever loved something so much, you couldn't let it go? Perhaps a favorite toy, or a favorite scarf, or even a car. Whatever it was, you held onto it a lot longer than most of your other stuff. Perhaps it's old and needs to be thrown out. Perhaps it doesn't do anything for you any more. Perhaps your significant other wants desperately for you to give it away. You know you should get rid of it, but you can't bring yourself to do it.

Why should we have this problem? Why do we hold on to junk we don't need?

It's called emotional investment, and it affects a lot more than our closet space.

When you get attached to something, it's because you've made an emotional attachment to it. Perhaps someone you love gave you a bean bag chair, which turned out to be a pretty good gift, and now, years later, it's covered with duct tape to keep it in one piece. Normally it would be long gone and forgotten, but you don't throw it out because of who gave it to you. You love that person, and so you love what they gave you.

Another attachment, besides gifts given by someone special, are things you got under special circumstances. Perhaps it was your first and only trip to Hawaii and you took a rock back home with you, which now has a place of pride on the coffee table, but you have no other rocks in your house. Or perhaps Rock Hudson kissed your hand and you haven't washed it since.

And yet another kind of attachment can come from a salesperson, or an advertisement, or feeling like you belong to an elite group. For instance, a large portion of Macintosh owners feel like their computer is inherently superior to all others, even though they cost a lot more and don't run as much software. Still, somehow they've been sold on an idea that their computer company of choice is so much better than what the rest of us use that we're all losers. They feel so strongly that they start fights about it. And then the Windows lovers will exhibit the same zealotry, and neither will be willing to admit that they're coming to blows over a piece of plastic that can't even wash the dishes for them.

It works for more than junk, too. We form emotional attachments to people and ideas all the time. The idea that we're never wrong... or always wrong, as the case may be. The idea that no one knows what we're going through. The idea that Libertarians are inherently not as valuable to our political system as Republicans and Democrats. Or the belief that all political groups are equally worthless and should be disbanded. Somehow, we form an emotional attachment to someone, something, or some idea, and we'll defend it against all rational argument.

For instance, anyone can see that the Earth is flat. Just look around! There's no way we could possibly be living on a ball. It even says in the Bible that the Earth has four corners, so therefore we must be living on a square. But somehow, it's possible to sail around the world. I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it's true, and I think that weird thing at the top of the Sears Tower which they call the "curvature of the Earth" is just an optical illusion. And the circular shadow cast upon the moon during a lunar eclipse means nothing. The Earth is a flat square resting on the back of a turtle, who is sitting on another turtle. In fact, it's turtles all the way down.

It should be apparent that getting someone to form an emotional attachment to something would be a great way to sell them something. Guess what? It IS! Salesmen and marketers have been doing this since before we decided to start writing this stuff down. I think we started writing stuff down just so we could send ads to each other. But the point is, that thing you just GOTTA BUY, you've formed an emotional attachment to it. They made you believe that you would be cool if you bought their product, or that you HAD TO HAVE IT.

All of us have formed emotional attachments to our family, right? Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, etc. We love them, without question. Maybe they did something really cool for us when we were little, maybe they still do cool things for us now that we're bigger. Usually, our acceptance of them allows us to irrationally forgive them almost anything, but sometimes they do something that really hurts. It feels like a betrayal. Extreme emotional attachment can lead to extreme emotional outrage upon betrayal, or even just the belief of betrayal.

When it's a THING we love, often we transfer our emotional attachment to the company which made it, and if they treat us right, we rave about them, and if they treat us wrong, we may rationalize it away, or we may instead feel betrayed. For instance, all the people who thought Apple Computer could do no wrong felt incredibly betrayed when Apple announced they were going to start putting Intel chips into their beloved computers. Many Mac fanatics promised death to Steve Jobs over a decision which no doubt agonized him. Likewise, when Sid Meier's Civilization V was announced, everyone thought it would be the best edition ever, but when it was finally released, many felt betrayed and felt it was a step backwards. And when Marvel Comics broke up Spidermanand Mary Jane, the outrage was unfathomably intense. The fans are STILL up in arms about it.

When a company tells us they're our friend, that they're the best thing ever, or whatever else they can to get us to buy from them or to buy their product, be it a toaster, a Ferrari, or even a celebrity like Steve Jobs or Jessica Simpson, doing so implies a certain level of co-responsibility. They have made implicit promises that they will love us, and if they betray that promise, people get upset. On the surface it seems irrational; it's just a THING, or a person you've never met. How can you fall in love with - or hate - a person you've never met and who has no idea they've wronged you?

It seems ridiculous, until you remember that you were asked to make an emotional investment. Emotional investments carry certain responsibilities, on both sides of the line.

There are plenty of companies, products, celebrities (who are simply products being sold to us), and so on who have sworn they were our best friend, only to end up disappointing us. It happens. It's inevitable. They're going to let us down one day. The problem is that, when it comes to REAL family and friends, we can talk to them, work it out, get an "I'm sorry" out of them, and we'll feel better. You can't get that out of many companies, and good luck getting it out of a celebrity. However, the ones you CAN get it out of - often in the form of a discount on your next purchase - these companies build up VERY loyal customer bases.

For instance, when I buy computer components, I shop almost exclusively at Newegg, and have done so for nearly 10 years. I recommend them to everyone. I've given them a lot of constructive criticism on their website, and now, thanks to me, it's an even better experience now. Why? Because they treated me right to begin with, and if something went wrong, they made it right. They had something called customer service and they realized it was important. In a way, they offered me a piece of ownership in their company, and in a way, I see myself as a part of their family. Now they're just about the biggest computer component seller out there, with perhaps a million happy customers. (Disclosure: I get no kickbacks for touting Newegg.)

Most companies can handle customer service easily, but the story is a little different when it comes to celebrities. For instance, I'm currently small enough that I can answer all my fanmail and make friends out of my fans (and vice versa). In a couple years, I might not be able to. At that point, some celebrities decide they no longer have any responsibility to their fans, and mention us only so we'll stick around; they don't actually care about us or want us to have a satisfactory customer experience. But there are also a few who DO make the effort to keep up. And I plan to be one of them, because I know what it's like to be on the outside looking in. I plan to bring as many of you with me as will follow because I'm thankful for what you've done for me.

So what are you supposed to take home from all this, you ask?

People have been using emotional attachment as a sales technique for eons. We do it all the time to each other without even realizing it. Usually it results in making a new friend. The most effective sales people use it, often as a weapon, and often without understanding their half of the social contract. It's hard NOT to take it personally when your emotions are toyed with.

Next time you discover a product you really want, or a person whose accompaniment you think you really need, stop and think: is that person really going to deliver on their implied promises to be your friend? If they do something that hurts your feelings, but you still like THEM, will they consider your constructive criticism like a real friend would, or will they ignore you because they didn't really care about anything more than your money?

Thank you for your consideration. The groups I lead or am a part have lately been asking my opinion about why they should feel ripped off or taken advantage of by people, or why it appears that customer service is going away. Just remember that most salespeople/celebrities/hotties are unaware of what kind of weapon they're wielding against you, so don't take it personally. Just point them to this article and they'll understand why you took offense.

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More articles to tickle your braincells:
You are What you Consume
Writing is Easy
How to Talk Like a Trucker

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