So has anybody switched to this new Blogger Beta thing? Every time I log in it asks me if I want to, but then it takes me to some page where it says that certain things might not work, and there's no way to go back, and my palms get all sweaty, and I start to shake, and this ominous foreboding comes over me, and I just. Can't. Click. On. The button. Help me out here. Will sitemeter and all that nifty jazz still work? Will my blog be lost forever? Will I get groggy, fall asleep, and wake up chained to a drain pipe in a dark spooky basement somewhere? I hate dark spooky basements, especially ones with spiders, I hate spiders.
Ok, on to other news. Since there's no recent breakthrough developments on the hunting or model airplane fronts, I'll have to find something else to wax philosophical about. How about politics? I haven't gotten myself in a heap of trouble lately, about time I set out some troll attractant. Here goes.
So the left won a sweeping victory in the elections. I wasn't surprised. With all of the BS the right has been spewing in the last six years it was about time. Now personally, I like to see a perfect 50/50 split in congress, that way the idiots are too busy bickering back and forth at each other to get anything done. All of my more politically involved readers are now gasping and looking wide eyed at their monitors in horror, but think about it. When have the greatest breakthroughs in history been accomplished? During the period at the beginning of any given industry, before the government got involved. Automobiles, computers, aviation, the internet, all of these things and more grew by leaps and bounds, made millionaires by the boatloads, and bolstered the economy of the entire nation in ways that can't even be defined . . . . . right up until the government figured out a way to tax and regulate them to death. Still we have people all over this country saying "we need to
do something". Sorry folks, when it comes to the economy, the best thing we can do, is absolutely
nothing. Let human ingenuity take over, it's an amazing force, but it really frosts the asses of control freaks. Quit trying to control stuff, just let it take its natural course, and you just might be surprised what comes about. I hate control freaks. We're individuals for a reason, quit telling me what to do and worry about yourself. Yeah. My Dad taught me that. He was the type that would let me get in trouble, then ask me if I learned anything. My answer was usually yes. What do you suppose I would've learned if he'd been shooing me around like an old mother hen? Every kid needs to burn himself at least once to learn what "hot" means. Guess what folks, we never outgrow that.
My Father and I have long shared similar opinions about politicians as well, we disagree on a lot of things politically, but we've never had difficulty when coming to a conclusion about politicians. They're crooks, they'll tell you exactly what you want to hear if they think it'll get them elected, and never trust one any farther than you can kick a mule. Tester is a wholesome Montana farmer from Big Sandy right? Yeah, I guess so, if you consider organic lentils a traditional Montana crop. All those pictures of him with a dog and a shotgun? Avid hunter right? While I haven't verified it, I've heard reports that a check of Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks records will show that he hasn't had a hunting license in 15 years. So what? He's a poacher? If that were the case I'd vote for him in a minute, but he'd have to come out and admit it. I think it's more likely that the hunting pictures were more of a photo op than reality. Sounds a lot like John Kerry's little trip to South Dakota in the last election, it didn't fool me then, and it doesn't fool me now. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Cornhole Burns fan either, but it would be nice to see someone run an honest campaign for once. The Libertarians at least got a few percent of the vote, hey, gotta start somewhere.
If the economy sucks, the working people are suffering, elect a Democrat. They'll take a little from the rich, give it to the poor, and likely things will get better. Just don't leave them in power too long, or else they'll tax your ass to death and any benefits that they may have brought about will be used up and then some. Simple observation: Take from the rich and give to the poor works really good in those old Robin Hood stories, but in the real world it's called Communism, and it's already been proven that it doesn't work. Keep doing it long enough and pretty soon there aren't any more rich people, then what the hell do the poor people have to work for? If they know that as soon as they manage to get "rich", the government will just take it from them anyway, then what's the incentive to get "rich"? It's a hell of a lot easier to just stay poor and let the government give you everything. Next thing you know, there aren't any rich people left to take from anymore, then everything goes to hell. Doesn't it comrade? Yep, it sure does. I like the idea of giving a helping hand to those that need it, but there's a lot of people taking it, that don't need it, and sometimes the left seems all too willing to give it to them.
What's this? Has ol' Justin did a flip flop on you all? He's slamming the
left? What the hell?
Don't check out just yet my right wing friends, your turn's coming. Assume the position motherfuckers cuz here it comes. How in the hell can enormous corporations turn record profits in this country, yet wages be stagnant at ten years ago levels? A lot of my friends have heard the siren's song of high paying jobs in Eastern Montana and North Dakota now that the oilfields have fired up again. Guess what Einstein, those "high paying" jobs are paying about the same as they were back in the '70s and '80s when my Dad was working out there. Still think you're making a killing? More and more companies have assumed a strict anti union stance, and rather than step in and see what the problem is, our government just turns a blind eye to it and tells us everything is just peachy. That's the Republicans for you. It's no wonder that gigantic corporations funnel money to the GOP by the truckload, the GOP is their cash cow. As long as the right stays in power, they know they can rape and pillage and keep all of the money to themselves. The left does nasty shit like raising the minumum wage and empowering labor unions, big corporations hate that, it makes them pay their slave . . . . um . . . . . workers a fairer wage. Yeah, the end of slavery didn't destroy the cotton industry like a lot of people predicted that it would, but outsourcing is sure as hell getting the job done. Find me a textile mill in this country.
I've long held the opinion that most labor unions were just coasting along pilfering money from working folks and trying to find ways to justify their own existence, but I think a time is coming when they'll need to step back up to the plate and actually pay a few dues instead of just collecting them. The only trouble is, our good friends on the right have made it far too easy for a company to just pack up and move to China for unions to be effective anymore. Factory workers go on strike? Fuck 'em, we'll move the factory to China, we were already planning on it anyway. Now that the left is back in power, we'll see if they make good on any of their promises, or if they get mired in a bunch of social bullshit and spend all their time playing "I told ya so" with the Republicans.
Here's what the left will have to do to impress me. End outsourcing now, end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home as soon as possible without throwing all of those people over there to the wolves, repeal the Patriot Act and replace it with something that still allows investigating agencies to exchange information while staying within the bounds of the Constitution, make good on your promise to further cut taxes on working people, DO NOT reinstate the death tax and don't even give me that bullshit about only effecting the rich. Most of the people hurt by the death tax are individuals and small family owned businesses, especially ranches and farms. Large companies are corporations that are owned by more than one person anyway, the death tax doesn't mean hooey to them. It seriously fucks "real people" though, get rid of it. Don't create any new wilderness, we have enough public land that doesn't do us any good. It's time to realize that the tree huggers are on the fringe. The resounding majority of Americans realize that common sense environmentalism is not only smart, but a necessity, talk to them, not the wackos. If the wackos were the majority, there wouldn't be semi loads of ATVs and snowmobiles running in convoys up and down the Interstate. Don't fuck with my public land access, it's mine, I have the right to use it, but on the same note come down like a ton of shit on anyone caught abusing it. You can bet your ass that I will, as long as you don't fence me out of it.
Pass a single Goddamn gun control law and I'll vote for every Republican on the ballot in the next election, it's time you fuckers realized that gun control is unconstitutional. If people in New York want gun control, then pass it in their state legislature, not in the federal government. I've had an ass full of having my style cramped because some gang banger in LA decides to convert his AK 47 to full auto and mow down a yard full of school kids. The gun didn't do it, the person did, and if he has the capacity to kill a yard full of school kids then his weapon of choice doesn't matter. He's the killer, not the rifle, and full autos have been illegal since the 30's, no new gun control necessary just enforce the shit you already have. Even the hard core wacky assed anti gun freaks realize that they're not likely to pass too many restrictions on hunting rifles. Trust me folks, this country boy could be a hell of a lot more lethal with a bolt action hunting rifle than these city idiots can be with a full auto. Accuracy is a wonderful tool, but I'm not a killer, that's the difference. I am a good shot though, trust me.
Here's my idea for the next election. Any candidates, or every candidate for that matter, can feel free to use this idea if they'd like. I don't even care if they give me credit for it, just as long as they do it. If I were running for office, I think the first thing that I'd do is call up my opponent and set up a meeting. Surely we'd disagree on things, but I'd just bet that if we tried, we could find a lot of common ground on a personal level. I'd suggest to said opponent that we make a public appearance, and promise to the voters that we absolutely, positively, would not resort to smear campaigns and negative ads. I'd then ask my opponent if he or she were willing to agree that neither of us air an ad on our own, in other words, both of us would appear in every ad that we put out, sort of like mini debates instead of attacks and stabs. TV ads could feature myself and my opponent sitting around a campfire, or sitting in a boat fishing, discussing our stands on the
issues, not each other's personal lives, but discussing like a couple of normal folks, not like two politicians that hate each other. Maybe we disagree on taxes, maybe we disagree on the environment, but the commercial would show that even though we disagree on those issues, we both like fishing, or we both like camping.
At the end of our little exchange maybe we'd exchange a couple of "what kind of idiot are you" looks, then laugh and say something about enough politics, let's get back to fishing. As the camera panned back and the sound faded out, we'd be talking about which lure we were going to try next. It might be difficult to do when tempers start flaring and differences of opinion got out of hand, but anyone who was truly wanting to serve the public instead of their own personal agenda would be able to grin and bear it in order to present their stance on the issues and put personal differences aside for the filming of a 30 second campaign ad. There you go politicos, will any of you step up to the plate and try it out? Maybe if a few races were run that way, it'd show people that we aren't all that different, we just happen to disagree on a few issues that should not have the power to divide a nation as great as The United States Of America.
The elections are over, the Democrats won, I'll be patiently waiting to see what happens next.
