X is…

I can’t help but notice that the crap e-mail my grandfather was once sending out to everybody that served as propaganda for his political and religious views no longer hit my mailbox.  Like the one that kept talking about Barrack HUSSEIN Obama being a Muslim.  It’s ok though.  Other people still post them places or send them to me accidentally.

I’ll talk about one in another post, but for right now I feel like discussing the one that I believe he has been sending around regarding taxes.

I hate taxes as much as the next person.  They are a pain to consider.  We are all selfish and don’t want to contribute anything to the government if we don’t have to.  Then we also learn of all the wasted money that the government spends and it makes it even tougher for us to want to do our part.  Or course, taxes are a source of revenue for the country.

The e-mail that I read compares the tax plans of the two candidates.  Over several examples, the post shows that Obama will have higher taxes than McCain.

Then I read this news story.  Record deficit predicted for 2009.

Driven by dwindling tax receipts caused by the economic downturn and the payment of more than $100bn (£50bn) in stimulus cheques to US consumers, the figure was higher than the Bush administration’s previous estimate of a $407bn gap for the 2009 fiscal year starting in October.

Then I go and look at the current debt at $9.5 trillion dollars.

Maybe I’m not getting this.  Maybe nobody should ever pay any taxes and the government should spend and spend and spend.

But I actually think it’s a good thing to have a balanced budget.  That we actually create some revenue.  That maybe we shouldn’t spend so much money if we don’t need to and not pass along huge amounts of debt to our children and our grandchildren.

If I remember correctly, there was once a balanced budget.  Way back in the ’90’s.

I think Obama is at least being reasonable and realistic.  He’s suggesting that we cannot continue to spend without bringing in any revenue.  He understands that we really should not be dependent on borrowing from other countries in order to run our government.

Popularity: 7% [?]

My wife was out shopping yesterday and had to use the restroom.

A woman approached her, as she was washing her hands, and asked her if she goes to church.  My wife replied with a no.  The woman replied with, that’s too bad.  Apparently, this woman believes that 9/11/2009 is going to be the last day and that she has taken it upon herself to approach people in the ladies room and talk them into going to church so that they will not be judged poorly.  This lady did add that she was only telling my wife because she cared.

I told my wife that my response would have been, “I’ll tell you what.  I’ll live my life and if the world ends on 9/11, then you win.  Otherwise, when 9/12 comes around, let’s meet back here in the store, but not the restroom, so that I can tell you that you were wrong and to never bother people in such a way again.  Sound fair?”

She chuckled, agreed, and then told me, “Yeah, but I think she was a bit loony anyway.”

Aren’t they all?

Popularity: 6% [?]

Teams are of huge importance in Western civilization.  Team spirit or fanaticism is unrivaled.

Let’s face it.  People are willing to plaster the logo of their favorite team on their car, on their house, and especially on their person.  Team logos are plastered even if it is accompanied by the logo of corporate advertising, which it often is.

People support colleges they never went to in order think they are associated with a winner somehow.

Many make it personal.  Comments like “We really beat you guys good yesterday” or “How are you guys gonna do this weekend?” baffle me.  Always have.

Somebody was talking about an ex co-worker of mine with me recently.  He took my old job when I left and the comment was that he doesn’t talk much.  I responded with sure he does.  He’ll talk about the local football team to no end.  He has their logo on his car and on his jacket and before his promotion he had it on every shirt he wore.  The only words I’ve ever heard him say are ones relating to that team.  Not likely to find a woman who will care that much about football.  Anybody who hasn’t let go of adolescent sports fanaticism by his 30’s doesn’t impress me.

I love baseball.  I really do, but most people can’t get their head around the fact that I don’t have a favorite team.  I really just enjoy watching the game and I often determine a team to root for on a game-by-game basis.  It is a competition afterall.  I don’t take the sport personally.  These are guys who have nothing to do with me or the area in which I grew up.  Home team fanaticism makes no sense outside of the fact that it’s nice to have a professional team here.

It doesn’t stop at sports though.  We, as a culture, love to be divided.  We love to point fingers.  We love to raise our giant foam finger in the air.  People proudly wear their Old Navy American Flag shirt all year round to show their loyalty to the country in which they were lucky enough to be born.

Certainly, it is important to take an interest in our country and support it, but extreme sense of nationalism really doesn’t interest me.  I find it counter productive but a very good method by which governments can control the population.

I can’t even begin to count how many fish I see placed on cars as I drive to work and back each day.  Not just fish, but the Darwin fish with legs and then the fish with the word “Truth” inside eating the Darwin fish with legs.  It’s so competitive.

The bumper stickers of each person’s favorite candidate are starting to populate everywhere which baffles me even more.  Hey, in a few long months your car’s going to be out of date.  They may try to hide the fact that you have a loser’s bumper sticker stuck to their car or they may keep it on another four years to show that they were supporting the winner all along.

All this political candidate spirit after the Democrats were so divided amongst their two candidates that had very little differences from each other outside of charisma.  Insults were created for each others’ supporters to make their support seem the smart thing to do.

Little boys in striped shirts pissing on the Chevy logo, the Ford logo, country flags, party logos, and on and on.  Is there anything that little punk won’t piss on?  Is there anything that I will give a fuck about when he does it?  Maybe if one day there is one made of him pissing into the wind.

If somebody is a part of a team, then it is important for that person to support their team with no limitation.  Teams are a valuable method of bonding and creating sense of importance- even if recreational.  Even if at work.  Forming teams, working within them, and creating something as a member of one can be very satisfying.

I wish more of America would understand the true nature of team.

I wish America would stop being so damn competitive.

Put away your big foam finger.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Sunrise wrote oh so long ago…

Your web page is interesting.

What influence you to become a better person? What do you turn to when you need to center yourself and get back on track?

First reaction?  What?  Without a god or religion a person can’t be centered or has no reason to be a better person?

I don’t believe these words were meant to be ill though.  I can take them at face value.

The first question is better person.  I’m taking that question to regard attitudes toward others.  At the heart of most atheists is the belief that there shouldn’t be a reason to be good.  There shouldn’t be a consequence outside of what one’s actions do to others.  That those who are good only for the sole purpose of getting into some cloudy paradise aren’t really good at all.

This is called humanism.  According to Merriam-Webster:

a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values; especially : a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual’s dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason

So a focus on the value of human life and not the value of human death.  The Western religions all use life as a means to death and an ultimate reward.

As far as centering goes, well that seems to depend on the person.

Since you asked me… music, exercise, good conversations, and a solid dose of family.

Balance is everything.  For every bit of work, counter with a moment of play.

I’ll assume your method of centering may be similar.  Maybe a different order.  Maybe with different coefficients of centering.  Maybe our struggles to find that point of center is the same- forcing the time.

Anyway, thanks for commenting.  I hope you’ve found some value.

Popularity: 1% [?]

As if Obama’s Father’s Day speech wasn’t annoying enough.  Since, after all, only Christian fathers celebrated that Sunday.

As if, somehow, it doesn’t seem that Obama is completely campaigning from the churches these days and not from lecture halls.

As if it’s not annoying enough that each and every one of his speech’s could rival Rod Parsley’s ranting and raving on the stage in front of thousands.

Maybe it’s simply locking up the nomination for the Democrats that has allowed Obama to become extremely blatant about his faith.  To tell the world that his faith will be first and foremost in his presidency.

Is he trying to show us that he is more devout that Bush?  Is he trying to make us think, “hmm, Obama’s alright; if only he were less religious like Bush”?

Ever since capturing the nomination has spent countless hours trying to make a mockery of the separation of church and state.

By announcing that he plans to overhaul Bush’s faith-based initiative, Obama is taking yet another step in the wrong direction.  He once portrayed himself as a man of principle, and now he is simply doing whatever he can to become president.

The world does not need more faith-based initiatives.

“Make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don’t believe this partnership will endanger that idea,” Obama said.

He emphasized that those receiving funds could not proselytize the people they help nor could they discriminate in hiring practices on the basis of religion. Faith-based groups could only use federal dollars for secular programs. And he committed to ensure that taxpayer dollars would only go to “programs that actually work.”

Oh.  So the funds can’t be used to proselytize?  Nor can they be received if people are being discriminated against.  Fantastic.  And who’s going to head up this operation?  Who’s going to police the use of funds for all the “right” reasons?

Obama’s “rock-star” status has turned into something a lot less cool.

There is not a shortage of religious leaders and we certainly don’t need one in the White House.

What do I want?  Somebody to stop jerking our collective chain.  Obama seemed, for a second, to be the one to actually implement change, or at least enough to make us feel we’re going kinda-sorta in the right direction.

Instead, we’re getting more of the same.  Packaged slightly different.  Tone is quite a bit better.  May actually be somebody who earned his degree.

They say he’s courting the Christian Left.  How about simply courting the left?  How about showing that religion doesn’t actually have to play a part in the election process?

Thank you Jesus.

Popularity: 1% [?]