"Those consistently relying on others for information open themselves to the biased truths and half facts of the members of society whom insist upon forcing their will unto others through fear, lies, and manipulation, thus becoming pawns of the very game they criticize but are too weak to correct."Alright, so that probably will make whichever book I write first. So I made it a quote. I love it's simplicity, and I think it really sums things up for most of those who live in the world today. Title that 'I Am Ironman.' I guess that's all for today. I would highly recommend Ironman, rent it today.
~Joe Holod on Blogger.com, October 1st, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I am Ironman
So I just saw Ironman tonight and I thought it was pretty sweet. Here's a guy who doesn't like the direction of the world, mainly the United States (as well as some of it's corporate buddies who get government slack) and takes matters into his own hands. I think we can all take something important from this film. I'm referring to the valuable lesson that says that if you don't like the direction you see the world going in, then you need to change it. Don't stand around and wait for someone else to try to so that you can just jump on the bandwagon, what I'm trying to say is BE THAT GUY (or GIRL). Be a leader. Step up and say what you feel. Don't lie about your beliefs to fit in, be yourself. Don't conform to conform. Don't take others' words as truth about things, be smart and find things out for yourself.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Late Night Ramblings: 2007 Budget
I was thinking about some things earlier today and I came up with an interesting question: at what point (in income) do you stop giving the government and start being just dependent? I mean, we all pay taxes that go towards roads, schools, and things like that. But which taxpayers at the lower end of the brackets are getting more than they actually pay for? I just couldn't come up with any sort of an idea. And so, would these people be considered freeloaders? Certainly some of us contribute more to the government than others, I just wanted to know how much of it I actually paid for, I suppose. Or perhaps discover whether or not the tangible government property is more mine than someone else's, or less mine than some others. Or would the 'one vote per person' system mean that we all own the same amount?
Here's another thought, while I'm on taxes and things like this. The next time I file income taxes, I want a detailed receipt detailing what my money is spent on, per the hundredth of a penny. We'll put the biggest items at the top of the list, such as military, transportation.
Ok, I just found a few different pie charts about government spending, since everyone has their own take and everyone's accountant apparently has a different opinion. This one is on Wikipedia for the year 2007. So here we go: Last year the federal government spent just over $2.8 trillion. That's $2,800,000,000,000. And let's say, for basic example, that my income taxes, soc, medicare, and medicaid last year I paid $4,000. I contributed to just over a billionth of the national budget, so that's not bad. Now let's see how much of that went to things that don't help me whatsoever.
About 43.59% went to health care. This does not help me. Social security, medicare, medicaid and State's programs for children's insurance. That's a lot of money (only $1.2 trillion, but whose counting?), especially considering that I paid about $1700 out of my pocket for nothing. I could have spent that $1700 to pay off the credit cards that have been bought by the collections companies who are owned by the banks that were almost about to close, until this week when the federal sabotage-out kicked in and now they're done altogether. Now they're just closing. So who do I owe that money to now? Good Job, Federal Government. The federal government shouldn't meddle with things they don't understand.
About 9.1% went to unemployment, welfare, and 'other mandatory spending.' What the hell does that mean, exactly? Anyway, I did participate in our state's unemployment program last year, though here in Alaska we have unemployment insurance, so I believe that I was not contributed to by this 9.1%. So over half the money I paid last year in taxes was not spent on me.
The DoD had about 16% of the budget spent on itself last year. That's for our soldiers and lot of important stuff. And a lot of unimportant stuff. This number is far too small - we need to be able to supply our soldiers with bullet proof vests and our borders need to be protected. We could be reallocating a lot of money wasted by the DoD playing real-life Space Invaders and NASA forgetting simple English-Metric conversions when bombing Mars, and putting these dollars towards useful projects. Or better yet, not taking the money from us to begin with.
I won't get into the rest of the budget, I think I've made a pretty large point. When I file my taxes, I should be able to decide how much I pay and what my money gets spent on. There should be a line for every thing on there. I'd throw some money towards finding some cheap alternative fuels. But when NASA makes a $125 million mistake and then asks for more money, guess what guys: my dollars are elsewhere because you proved to me you're incompetent. If a particular road that I drive on every day is in really horrible shape, then I should be able to say that 'I want this $500 to go towards repaving the Parks Hwy between mile 52 and mile 70' for example.
These are the things we need to be telling our legislators, but they don't listen. They're too caught up on getting a vote than to actually spend our money for us in ways that help us out. We need to rely on individuals for the budget, not a bunch of suits.
Also, the word 'couldn't' is not in the blogger spellchecker for some reason, fyi. Neither is Wikipedia, or everyone's.
Here's another thought, while I'm on taxes and things like this. The next time I file income taxes, I want a detailed receipt detailing what my money is spent on, per the hundredth of a penny. We'll put the biggest items at the top of the list, such as military, transportation.
Ok, I just found a few different pie charts about government spending, since everyone has their own take and everyone's accountant apparently has a different opinion. This one is on Wikipedia for the year 2007. So here we go: Last year the federal government spent just over $2.8 trillion. That's $2,800,000,000,000. And let's say, for basic example, that my income taxes, soc, medicare, and medicaid last year I paid $4,000. I contributed to just over a billionth of the national budget, so that's not bad. Now let's see how much of that went to things that don't help me whatsoever.
About 43.59% went to health care. This does not help me. Social security, medicare, medicaid and State's programs for children's insurance. That's a lot of money (only $1.2 trillion, but whose counting?), especially considering that I paid about $1700 out of my pocket for nothing. I could have spent that $1700 to pay off the credit cards that have been bought by the collections companies who are owned by the banks that were almost about to close, until this week when the federal sabotage-out kicked in and now they're done altogether. Now they're just closing. So who do I owe that money to now? Good Job, Federal Government. The federal government shouldn't meddle with things they don't understand.
About 9.1% went to unemployment, welfare, and 'other mandatory spending.' What the hell does that mean, exactly? Anyway, I did participate in our state's unemployment program last year, though here in Alaska we have unemployment insurance, so I believe that I was not contributed to by this 9.1%. So over half the money I paid last year in taxes was not spent on me.
The DoD had about 16% of the budget spent on itself last year. That's for our soldiers and lot of important stuff. And a lot of unimportant stuff. This number is far too small - we need to be able to supply our soldiers with bullet proof vests and our borders need to be protected. We could be reallocating a lot of money wasted by the DoD playing real-life Space Invaders and NASA forgetting simple English-Metric conversions when bombing Mars, and putting these dollars towards useful projects. Or better yet, not taking the money from us to begin with.
I won't get into the rest of the budget, I think I've made a pretty large point. When I file my taxes, I should be able to decide how much I pay and what my money gets spent on. There should be a line for every thing on there. I'd throw some money towards finding some cheap alternative fuels. But when NASA makes a $125 million mistake and then asks for more money, guess what guys: my dollars are elsewhere because you proved to me you're incompetent. If a particular road that I drive on every day is in really horrible shape, then I should be able to say that 'I want this $500 to go towards repaving the Parks Hwy between mile 52 and mile 70' for example.
These are the things we need to be telling our legislators, but they don't listen. They're too caught up on getting a vote than to actually spend our money for us in ways that help us out. We need to rely on individuals for the budget, not a bunch of suits.
Also, the word 'couldn't' is not in the blogger spellchecker for some reason, fyi. Neither is Wikipedia, or everyone's.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Conservative Rant
What if Barack Obama becomes the next President of the United States? Will we give all of our hard earned money to poor people and people in other countries, so that us working class citizens can go day to day wondering now we're going to buy fuel for a cars to get to work tomorrow or to heat our homes next week? The answer is Yes.
You see, I've been paying extra attention lately to the way people behave and act, and the stories they tell. From these experiences, often with complete strangers, I predict their political bias as being either liberal or conservative. And without asking or baiting a conversation, I usually find out before the meeting is over, because right now everyone wants to tell you what they thing about Sarah Palin (this is Alaska, after all). I challenge you all to try this on your own, but hear this: I've been right 100% of the time so far. That tells me something. That tells me that people are not as 'on the fence' as they claim to be. But it also tells me that others can accurately guess that I'm conservative. That can be a scary thought. Earlier this week I was in an area of town that is known to be a very liberal area, and I wasn't able to strike up a conversation with anyone for the life of me. I was just being myself, and it was as if people just spoke to me through their actions, "Oh, you're one of those." And did I waver? Nay. But I did stop to think that I'm not this way toward others, at least as far as I can tell.
So here's the breakdown: people who are whiney, lazy thinkers, people who cry for help in the simplest situations, expect things for free, and people who say everyone should care about less fortunate people as much as they do, are liberals. These are the people who say "Oh, this and that should be illegal." These are the folks that complain about a problem and offer no solution. I'm talking about the folks who try to fix the small little issues of huge problems, then behave as if they had solved the entire issue. The people I'm taking about are the ones who like to have more laws and rules because they're not smart enough to take care of themselves. Don't forget how Liberals are limiting our personal freedoms, including those freedoms guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights as well as the Constitution. They want government intervention in everything. They want to further enable the government to watch over us and eavesdrop on us, raping us of any sense, or protection, of privacy.
The conservatives, on the other hand, are usually more independent. We want to keep the money we earn and spend it on what we decide to. We want less government control because we know how bad they screw everything up. We know that the world operates as a better place when the decisions of individuals are not controlled and ruled by groups of politicians, elected by 'electoral' votes, who take complete advantage of situations and eventually lose any and all sense of reality. We're the people who own guns for protection because we know we can't rely on the government to protect us from much, and we realize that one day we may need to protect ourselves from the government itself (remember 1776?). And we don't want to give away money to other parts of the world when most of us are struggling to make ends meet, and we lose huge portions of our paychecks to things that don't help us. It's not the government's job to help us, it's our responsibility to help ourselves. We're the ones who believe in National Sovereignty and in only letting qualified individuals into our Country. We don't like the idea of letting people from other places of the world coming here for free and living off of our tax dollars as they contribute nothing (taking illegal employment in picking fruit and vegetables does NOT contribute to our country in a positive way).
There are so many things in this world that we need to just say "NO" to, and Conservatives are the ones standing up and doing it. Liberals are the ones feeling sorry for people who can't help themselves. Now, usually when someone can't help him or her self, it's because they're too lazy and too accustomed to getting things handed to them by people like these very Liberals I'm speaking about. If they're starving because they're too stupid to move to where there's water, then Darwinism comes into play the way nature intended. Liberals are the ones who pity the homeless drunks on the sides of the streets and give them money, and that's just fine by me. But don't try to pass legislation to 'help these people' by giving them my money. If they could be helped, they would've helped themselves a long time ago. Wake up already! If people are warned to leave an area because of an impending doom approaching, then LEAVE THE AREA! Don't sit around and wait, and just about lose your life, and then cry for help or complain when it doesn't come 'soon'. "Danger is coming. You must leave if you value your life" - I think that is help enough. Again, if people can't help themselves, then it's time for the rest of us to move on.
Disclaimer: this is pretty rough but I'm posting it anyway. Keep in mind, what I am conveying are general thoughts of mine. If you consider yourself a conservative but disagree with 99% of what I said, then (a) I'm sorry, no offense and (b) you may want to reevaluate what you call yourself.
You see, I've been paying extra attention lately to the way people behave and act, and the stories they tell. From these experiences, often with complete strangers, I predict their political bias as being either liberal or conservative. And without asking or baiting a conversation, I usually find out before the meeting is over, because right now everyone wants to tell you what they thing about Sarah Palin (this is Alaska, after all). I challenge you all to try this on your own, but hear this: I've been right 100% of the time so far. That tells me something. That tells me that people are not as 'on the fence' as they claim to be. But it also tells me that others can accurately guess that I'm conservative. That can be a scary thought. Earlier this week I was in an area of town that is known to be a very liberal area, and I wasn't able to strike up a conversation with anyone for the life of me. I was just being myself, and it was as if people just spoke to me through their actions, "Oh, you're one of those." And did I waver? Nay. But I did stop to think that I'm not this way toward others, at least as far as I can tell.
So here's the breakdown: people who are whiney, lazy thinkers, people who cry for help in the simplest situations, expect things for free, and people who say everyone should care about less fortunate people as much as they do, are liberals. These are the people who say "Oh, this and that should be illegal." These are the folks that complain about a problem and offer no solution. I'm talking about the folks who try to fix the small little issues of huge problems, then behave as if they had solved the entire issue. The people I'm taking about are the ones who like to have more laws and rules because they're not smart enough to take care of themselves. Don't forget how Liberals are limiting our personal freedoms, including those freedoms guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights as well as the Constitution. They want government intervention in everything. They want to further enable the government to watch over us and eavesdrop on us, raping us of any sense, or protection, of privacy.
The conservatives, on the other hand, are usually more independent. We want to keep the money we earn and spend it on what we decide to. We want less government control because we know how bad they screw everything up. We know that the world operates as a better place when the decisions of individuals are not controlled and ruled by groups of politicians, elected by 'electoral' votes, who take complete advantage of situations and eventually lose any and all sense of reality. We're the people who own guns for protection because we know we can't rely on the government to protect us from much, and we realize that one day we may need to protect ourselves from the government itself (remember 1776?). And we don't want to give away money to other parts of the world when most of us are struggling to make ends meet, and we lose huge portions of our paychecks to things that don't help us. It's not the government's job to help us, it's our responsibility to help ourselves. We're the ones who believe in National Sovereignty and in only letting qualified individuals into our Country. We don't like the idea of letting people from other places of the world coming here for free and living off of our tax dollars as they contribute nothing (taking illegal employment in picking fruit and vegetables does NOT contribute to our country in a positive way).
There are so many things in this world that we need to just say "NO" to, and Conservatives are the ones standing up and doing it. Liberals are the ones feeling sorry for people who can't help themselves. Now, usually when someone can't help him or her self, it's because they're too lazy and too accustomed to getting things handed to them by people like these very Liberals I'm speaking about. If they're starving because they're too stupid to move to where there's water, then Darwinism comes into play the way nature intended. Liberals are the ones who pity the homeless drunks on the sides of the streets and give them money, and that's just fine by me. But don't try to pass legislation to 'help these people' by giving them my money. If they could be helped, they would've helped themselves a long time ago. Wake up already! If people are warned to leave an area because of an impending doom approaching, then LEAVE THE AREA! Don't sit around and wait, and just about lose your life, and then cry for help or complain when it doesn't come 'soon'. "Danger is coming. You must leave if you value your life" - I think that is help enough. Again, if people can't help themselves, then it's time for the rest of us to move on.
Disclaimer: this is pretty rough but I'm posting it anyway. Keep in mind, what I am conveying are general thoughts of mine. If you consider yourself a conservative but disagree with 99% of what I said, then (a) I'm sorry, no offense and (b) you may want to reevaluate what you call yourself.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Elton John
So I made a comment earlier to a friend that I thought Elton John was way under-rated. I was corrected once she enlightened me that in his time, in fact, Elton was a HUGE hit. I think he's genius (as a musician, let's be clear on that point.) Tiny Dancer? Love it. I don't what what there is about it, but i think it's that 'reminiscent' feeling. You know, that feeling you get when you watch The Sandlot, or anything else that makes you remember back to 'The Good Ol' Days.' Musically, I was born about thirty years too late. I guess I just have an old soul.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Who is Mac for?
Alright, so there's a lot of people switching over to Mac. But why? Is it because nobody wants Vista? I think that for a lot of people, this is true. And for these people (especially those who never fully adjust to osX), as soon as the next version of Windows is released they'll be switching back over.
Also, has anybody seen the 'I'm f***ing Matt Damon' movie? Or the Ben Affleck answer to it? I just found on youtube the Obama version. Now, I won't be voting for this clown, let's be clear on that. But I do love youtube videos, lol. You can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skIlZflDs9Y&feature=related.
Alright
Also, has anybody seen the 'I'm f***ing Matt Damon' movie? Or the Ben Affleck answer to it? I just found on youtube the Obama version. Now, I won't be voting for this clown, let's be clear on that. But I do love youtube videos, lol. You can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skIlZflDs9Y&feature=related.
Alright
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sarah Palin
So they decided to make our Governor the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee for this year's election. I'm pretty happy about it, but that means we may lose Sarah Palin for 4 years (or 8? or 16?) but she'll be back.
I found a really kool little site tonight hosting fun facts about Sarah Palin, it's called PalinFacts.com and it's a fun read, even if you don't know anything.
Here's a few of my fav's from the site:
I found a really kool little site tonight hosting fun facts about Sarah Palin, it's called PalinFacts.com and it's a fun read, even if you don't know anything.
Here's a few of my fav's from the site:
- When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.
- Sarah Palin’s image already appears on the newer nickels.
- Queen Elizabeth II curtsied when she was introduced to Sarah Palin
- Jesus has a bracelet that says, “WWSPD?”
- Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience.
- In the original version, He-Man had the power of Sarah Palin, but the writers felt this would make him way too powerful.
- -Sarah Palin doesn’t need a gun to hunt, because she can throw a bullet through an adult bull elk.
- Sarah Palin wants you to LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!
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