Reader blogs

What Social Security Isn't

Dave S — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:42:33 +0000

I agree with Deadman that "the idea of social security is to provide the elderly with a baseline level of resources so they don't become impoverished". I think that a major reason that Social Security reform is the "3rd rail" of politics is that so many people disagree with us. If you listen to the AARP crowd, they are adamant that this is not the case.

They think that that makes it sound like a kind of welfare program for the elderly, and given that many of them live on their Social Security (and that they often have Reaganesque attitudes about welfare) they get insulted. I've got no desire to disparage the elderly. I understand that there are a lot of factors at play. There may be a cultural attitude of fierce self-reliance which is already eroded by the realities of retirement and the loss of independence which accompanies decling health. If you make an assertion which may be perceived as a false accusation that they're living off of what amounts to 'government handouts', you will spark resentment.

They point to the fact that they paid into it when they were working and may believe that they're just
getting back what they're owed. You can point out that the benefits paid out to the average individual far exceeds the value of what was paid (even if invested). You can try to disabuse them of the notion that Social Security works like pensions in the private sector. You can point out that there is no pension fund which holds real assets, but a trust fund which makes claims on the treasury that end up getting paid with taxes. You can talk about unfunded liabilities and having to force a smaller generation of workers to fund the larger generations's retirement. The problem is that you can only do this if you're willing to alienate them- which is something no one facing reelection will do.

(AARP is a dragon killer.)

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Nine Out of Ten Taliban Agree: Dead Animals Do Not Belong in Polo

MJS — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:39:57 +0000

At least the Taliban and I can agree on something.

During their regime in Afghanistan, the Taliban banned the popular Central Asian sport, Buzkashi. This, uh, sport consists of horseback men riding around and trying to drag a dead calf into a ring in the sand.

If you find this objectionable for some odd reason, don’t worry – a goat can also be used.

So, the Taliban may make no bones about killing innocent people for no particular reason, but dragging around dead calves – that has got to stop. Well, since these musketeers of peace and morality are no longer running things in merry ol’ Afghanistan, the sport has made a comeback.

Now that I’ve wetted your appetite for playing polo with deceased barnyard animals, here’s the good news: the Afghans want to bring Buzkashi to the world stage, perhaps as an Olympic sport.

In anticipation of some objection from the part of the Western world, the Afghans’ Buzkashi Federation has already banned the use of knives and weapons during matches. Even with these adjustments, my guess is that the sport is still a few tweaks away from being something the West would warm up to.

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Why I Miss George W. Bush

MJS — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:18:21 +0000

Now, those were not the greatest eight years this country has ever seen, I’ll admit that right off the bat. Yet, I can’t help but miss having George in the White House. Here’s why.

I miss the silence. Seems like every other day Obama is giving a speech or a lecture or tap-dancing in front of the cameras to promote one issue or another. George W. Bush had no need for such antics. It was never “open mike” at the White House. He kept his appearances among the riff-raff to a minimum. The only times the general public was addressed by the President was during the annual State of the Union speech and whenever we attacked another country.

I miss the honesty. George did not make any promises about getting us out of Afghanistan. He said from the go that we were in this for the long haul. Freedom came at a price, we knew, and each time George asked Congress for another $80 billion, we knew where that money was going – to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I also miss the patriotism.

People cheered when Chicago lost its Obama-backed bid for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Sure it would have generated up to billions in local revenue, but it was too much fun to see something Obama was fighting for – such as, you know, America – get laughed at by the Brazilians.

Had George still been in office, the whole thing would have been a non-issue. Since the Olympics would have been too far off in the future – much like the effects of the supposed global warming – to land on his administration, it would not have even been on the agenda.

When the Norwegians announced that they were giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, we all shook our fists. What right do the Europeans have to give a prestigious award to our President? We quickly loaded both barrels and missed no opportunity to point out that the President of the United States had not done anything to earn such an award. We never had to worry about peace prizes or even invitations to Europe when Bush was in charge.

People were simply more patriotic back then. People had some damn respect for their President, even when we did not always agree with him. Hell, we elected him to office twice. Now that was patriotism.

Sure, vicious minds would circulate emails badmouthing Bush about things he had done, or things he had hopelessly mishandled; little things, like foreign policy or the economy. But at least he did those things. In the absence of any real accomplishments, the conservatives are left with no choice but to condemn the President on things he might do, or things we fear he will do because of his middle name.

It’s hard to run a country like that.

Lastly, about all this talk about health care. We have been hearing about this reform business ever since the guy took office, and I am sure I am not the only one who is downright sick of it. We never had to worry about health care when George Walker Bush was President. You got sick, you died. Your kids got sick, they died. It was just understood. Government officials from Australia would fly in for surgery while the rest of us bled to death in the E.R. Now that was a concept that didn’t take a year to wrap your head around.

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My anger management assignment gone very, very wrong

crazedandconfused — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:08:52 +0000

One of the take home assignments for my court ordered anger management course was to find useful articles to help de-stress your day. Well, wouldn’t you know it; I came across this piece of garbage (below in black) and had to “sprinkle” the idiot author with my opinions (in blue) of her “tips and tricks”. Enjoy!

75 (or 20, whatever) Simple Pleasures to Brighten Your Day

A little trick I like to use to make my days much more pleasant is to ﬁnd little, simple pleasures and sprinkle them throughout my day.

They’re not big things, but they each simple pleasure can translate to a great day if you use them right.

1. Berries … mmmm. Honestly - who the fuck talks like this? Either you’re a child molester, or some schoolteacher named Anna or Tina who’ve long ago tucked away the last shred of femininity into the drawer, and pulled out a fresh pair of granny panties and mom jeans. You sicken me.

2. Walking barefoot in grass. Ya - if you want to get hookworm from all the dog poop and on top of pimply rashes at the infection site, you suffer a massive case of diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, and blackened stools. Ya - so I’ll pass on the disgusting barefoot walks if you don’t mind.

3. Listening to good music in the car. OK - this one I can’t ﬁnd too much wrong with. Except maybe it’s total cheese-dick factor. But compared to the other turd-blossoms you’ve suggested so far - this one’s a gem.

4. Taking a long, relaxing shower. Are you insinuating that you’re jamming whatever is within reach up your gash? Because that’s how it sounds. And while I’m normally all for wet-n-wild masturbatory action, the thought of the person who would recommend “berries, mmmmm” doing that has just made me uber flaccid.

5. Coffee. Oh, wow did you think of this one all on your own? I sure hope I can expect more pearls of wisdom like “coffee”! Fucktard.

6. A good novel. So I’m trying to brighten my day, and you tell me to curl up with a good book? Assuming my day needs brightening, (which if I’m reading your ignorant blather it does) why in the hell would I want to spend large quantities of the day (that you’re supposed to be ﬁxing) silently reading to myself? WOW - do you have some cyanide tablets for me before I start?

7. Popcorn and an old movie on DVD. Ok, here’s another ignorant idea. Old movies suck. Popcorn sucks. You suck.

8. The smell of fresh-cut grass. You want me to go out to my lawn and sniff it? You could have suggested I smoke some weed, or take a handful of opiates, but no - I’ll just cure my depression by smelling grass. FUCK YOU!

9. Watching the sunrise. This might be the single dumbest thing anyone has said to me - EVER! This includes the retards at the learning annex who always want to slap high ﬁve and tell me about the poopie they made that day. Despite how mind numbing those conversations are, they are hundreds of times more intellectually gratifying than you telling me to burn my corneas off and “watch the god damned fucking sunshine”.

10. Walking on the beach. That actually sounds fun, if I can carry a machete, hacksaw and shovel, and if you agree to come with me in the early morning hours.

11. A gentle morning run. You bitch. Have you ever run before? Not only are you guaranteed a side ache that makes you want to blow your brains out, most of us get that shortness of breath that makes the air feel like it’s coated with broken glass. But hey, ya - I’ll just wake up out of the coziness of my comforter, away from my hot wife’s naked body, and start my day off ALL WRONG with a morning run. Again - I repeat. FUCK YOU.

12. Yoga or stretching or meditation. Ya, why didn’t you recommend this one before the fucking run. So my muscles will be so torn up tomorrow from my “fun” run, that when I try to stretch I’ll rip the tendon from the bone with minimal effort. Come here - I am going to poke you with this stick I found on my run.

13. Watching the sunset. Sorry, with my scorched corneas I can’t see anything. But hey, thanks for suggesting an activity that brings even more damage to my eyes. Are you by chance related to Dick Cheney?

14. Hugging your child tightly. You are one sick bastard - you know that?

15. Good wine. That’s it? Good wine? What - do I look at it, buy it, drink it, sniff it, pour it all over my sore muscles?

16. Dancing like you’re crazy. I may kill you. Really? Dancing like I’m crazy? Are you trying to get me committed to a mental institution?

17. A long conversation with a good friend. Sure, that’s what I want to do. Have a forced conversation with one of those ass-hats who pretend to be my friend. Why does it have to be long, just to make my life even more miserable?

18. Root beer ﬂoat. What am I - 8? Why don’t you just suggest pop rocks and coke, or Laffy Taffy? Bite me. Seriously, bite me.

19. Getting a massage. Now this one might have merit. But I doubt you mean the kind they offer from the asian bathhouse down on highway 99. You probably mean the kind from one of those gargantuan swedish chicks with the huge noses - and who do massage just to “heal”. You know what will heal me? The oiled hands of a hot asian jerking me after a nice hot oil massage. But hey - I’ll take the actual therapeutic massage from the ugly chick - that’s ﬁne too.

20. Telling jokes till your sides ache. I’ve got one. What happened to the stupid author of this post after all of her suggestions failed miserably. She died. HA HA HA HA. Actually - I am feeling better.

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Rare Footage of Al Franken's First Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing

dijamo — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:11:35 +0000

It appears that Al Franken's first go-round on the Senate Judiciary Committee was at the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings on SNL (portraying Senator Paul Simon). Funny how life imitates art. For the HULU-impaired: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/91/91cthomas.phtml

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Innocent until proven guilty? Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?

Nebton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Two phrases that get tossed around a bit are "Innocent until proven guilty" and "Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt". Of course, these phrases are typically reserved for people we want to defend or people we don't want to believe could be guilty of the crime they're accused of.

As was discussed on a recent posting about Michael Jackson, these are statements of law, and criminal law at that. (I'm about to discuss my understanding of the law, and I hope that lawyers will correct me if I err.) Civil law only has the burden of "preponderence of evidence" to rule against the defendent, but that only makes him/her liable, not guilty. OJ was found liable for the deaths of Ron Goldman and his ex-wife, but not (legally) guilty of them.

However, in our own cases, if (or rather when) we deem to judge others, what standards make sense for us to use? Should these standards change depending on the actions we plan on taking with respect to our judgement and/or our status? E.g., if I'm an op-ed journalist and I decide MJ committed the crimes he's accused of, one action I can take is to write about it and make clear that I think he did it. Keep in mind, this also applies to people who aren't MJ, and who might or might not have committed the crimes they're being accused of. Does the equation change if I'm merely a lowly blogger writing on Dagblog about my opinion? (I would argue that it does.) Does it matter if the only information I have is being filtered through a biased media (all media is biased in one way or another), as is the case with MJ and pretty much everything else that we as a community would find ourselves discussing.

So, what do you think? Although the MJ case started me thinking about it, please make your opinions as generic as possible, and realize that the same standards might apply to people you like. For example, I was quite convinced that Bill Clinton committed adultery before he admitted to it, and I said so at the time. I just had to point that out to make sure that Dijamo responds. ;)

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Obama disappoints, once again

Nebton — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:32:04 +0000

Obama has disappointed many on the left time, and time again, from suppression of abuse/rape photos to giving amnesty to telcos over illegal wire-tapping, just to name a couple.

This time, however, he's crossed the line.

We want a President who wouldn't hurt a fly. Don't we? Well, maybe not all of us, but PETA does.

Although I'm a pescetarian, and am very sympathetic to many of PETA's causes, they really do like the crazy, don't they?

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Using Cleveland Steamers, Zoophilia, and death row marriage to expose anti-gay rights idiocy

crazedandconfused — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:28:16 +0000

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American Idol Almost Causes Apocalypse - Last Minute Save By Jesus (Assist goes to Danny Gokey)

kalakitty17 — Sat, 30 May 2009 05:04:21 +0000

Greetings Friends. I come to you with a true story of God’s victory over evil. Keep in mind the victory was a hard fought one - and were it not for one Christian sacrificing his own future - all may have been lost.

I don’t much get into TV programs except for the 700 club and the occasional Hangin' with Mr. Cooper rerun. I choose to avoid even the highly acclaimed Fox News because of it’s obvious liberal bias. I avoid ALL music (both Christian and secular) because of it’s proclivity toward the sin of dancing. 1Thessalonians 5:22 is quite clear on that issue. Unfortunately, circumstances in our value depleted society have called for me to tune back in. Tune back in to the pinnacle of ungodly programming - Reality TV. More specifically, American Idol - just as it was on the cusp of destroying our Nation.

I loathe even discussing this form of entertainment. I know folks, these are sick, sick times we are living in! But sadly, live in them we must until Jesus comes to take us ‘chosen ones’ home. I wake up every morning hoping to be raptured into Heaven during my morning drive, my Hummer smashing into some unsuspecting godless atheist looking confused and finally realizing the error of his ways before he’s shipped straight to Hell courtesy of my front fender! What was happening on that show this year was not something He could, I could, nor any true Christian or proud American worth his salt could live with.
In the following paragraphs I will outline the terrifying ‘reality’ that almost came to pass because of this show. I will also shed light on the heroic efforts by some great Christian Warriors that saved us from these atrocities.

As I am sure that most of you have not watched this American “False” Idol I will briefly explain how it works. It is a singing competition that hundreds of thousands of late teen to twenty-somethings try out for to win a million dollar recording contract. First they go in front of judges and once the field gets narrowed down to 12 the public gets to vote on who they like. Unfortunately, the judges made a terrible error and allowed an unsavory sort to make it into this elite group. His name was Adam Lambert. It was beyond terrible, unforgivable would be more accurate. Had he won, we could have expected the most terrible disasters in history to strike us immediately. I was almost fooled by this wolf in sheep's (more like beautifully tailored silk and satin) clothing.

A gentleman in my bible study group had told me about this fellow, said he had the voice of an angel and that there was also a couple of other fine young Christians in the top 12; Kris Allen and Danny Gokey. I fell to the sin of curiosity and watched the show the following week.

My First Impression -

Adam Lambert - Dressed in a suit with his hair perfectly coifed sang Tracks of My Tears (obviously not a Christian song but certainly not a window into his true sickness that would show later) and I must admit he brought me to tears. He did sound like an angel. A beautiful angel. Being the sinner that I am, I am embarrassed to admit that this boy had my loins a flutter in a way I have not felt since my wedding night. Please forgive me Jesus.

I spent the next week looking up everything I could find on this young man, every youtube video, every article, anything I could get my hands on! I needed to find out just who was this person? A person that Jesus had so obviously favored and gave him this voice! Sure, I found rumors of deviancy's. Terrible disgusting deviancy's. Fortunately, I knew realized they were just that though, rumors. There was no way this Adam fellow could fool me and The Big J! He was good Christian boy, and I knew it! His voice was the proof. If he was the deviant of those pictures, and video’s, and interviews, and yearbook photos, Jesus would have cursed him with leprosy or gout and made him sound like Taylor Hicks or something.

Danny Gokey - A youth Pastor with a raspy voice and a dead wife. Good Christian! Nuff Said.

Kris Allen - A youth Pastor with a pleasant little voice and a living wife. Good Christian!

The Horrors!

It got down to these three guys and at church on Sunday my Pastor dropped the bombshell and brought to our attention the pending Apocalypse. Adam Lambert was in fact a HOMOSEXUAL! HE WAS IN THE TOP THREE! A HOMOSEXUAL! HOW COULD WE HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN?! I could not imagine what it could mean to our Country, our WAY OF LIFE, if this gay won! If he actually beat out good righteous Christian’s! I just threw up again thinking about it! If he won - the following would be true.

American Idol = Gay Idol = Gay GOD - America would now worship a GAY GOD!!!

#1 - Kids would think it was ‘cool’ to be gay! All the school age boys would start sodomizing each other in the lunch rooms, on the school bus, you name it!

#2- Kids would think it was OK to be ‘different’! Different is NOT OK WITH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR! This I know FOR SURE!

#3- Gays would be permitted to marry! Why not?! A gay American ‘False’ Idol, showing kindness and courtesy to everyone would automatically lead to gay marriages. It only makes sense!

#4- Bestiality! See my previous post on vegetarians!

#5- Christians would have been oppressed yet again! We have been fighting persecution for centuries! We can’t teach creationism in school, we can’t stone adulterous in public, and now we’re asked to show deference to what God clearly labels an “abomination” - along with shrimp.

Gods Grace Saves The Day - As Always, The Lords Will is Carried Out

Praise God that my church was not the only one to take notice and take action. We band together and got the word out. Danny gracefully realized that he needed to sacrifice his spot in the competition for the greater good.

Danny knew his Christian vote would automatically go to Kris.

False Idol advertisers and affiliates got the word out that it was imperative to our economy that Kris is had to defeat Adam. Can you imagine having to listen to a gay person sing “Wish Upon a Star” for Disney? Wish upon the alter of Satan is more like it. No, Disney, Ford, At&T etc. made sure to give Christ’s team a leg up by showing Kris supporters how to power text.  This was a classic case of David and Goliath. Classic except for the fact that this Goliath likes to take it in his brown starfish.

We defeated him. We won. We may have had to take some drastic measures, but in desperate times - well you know. We told them that we voted for Kris because Adam had too much experience even though Kris had the same amount. We told them we voted for Kris because Adam was too ‘showy’. We told them exactly what they needed to hear just so we didn't have to tell them the truth. The truth that we voted for Kris simply so the hell-bound Homo wouldn’t win, and send us straight into Satan’s grasp.

Yes, Adam gave me goose bumps every time he sang. No, Kris never did. So What!? Kris is a man of the Lord and isn’t that all that matters here?
Yes, it is! Praise God!

God Bless,

Kala ✞

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Sexual Psychosis {Memoir}

gilwaters — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:43:23 +0000

Sexual Psychosis

by Gil A. Waters {www.gilwaters.com}

When the first of my failed marriages finally came to an end, there was one thing I wanted above all else: sex. Not passionate lovemaking infused with deep emotion, but raw fucking that leaves a really big wet spot. I seriously entertained the idea of hiring a hooker for her services, but I was a "high-end call girl" kind of guy on a "toothless crack whore" budget, so paying for sex was out of the question. And, as a shy alcoholic who'd been dry for less than a year, joining the inebriated herd at a singles bar was unthinkable. So I decided to try what was then a relatively new option for desperate and socially isolated people in search of companionship: internet dating......

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