Knox County School Violates Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Carter Middle School in Knox County, TN, has violated my and my son's Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable seizure of personal property. His cell phone was confiscated by the School Gestapo and has been sent to the County's "central security office," whatever the hell that is. I understand that cell phones and so on are a distraction at school and that students are not supposed to use them during school hours. However, my son was not using his phone. It fell out of his jacket pocket, and because it had been unintentionally left on, a teacher confiscated it and sent it to the office. I went in this morning to pick it up, and that's when they told me it had been sent off because this was his "second offense." The first was when he had my video camera at school which was also confiscated and demanded that I delete any "unauthorized" photos/videos he might have taken at school. What country is this anyway? Seems like Nazi Germany or Totalitarian USSR. Outrageous!

I was furious but did not make a scene. I've found it is unnecessary to do that because I am capable of expressing my displeasure with my eyes only.

Now I have this dilemma. Do I just do as they expect and cower to their unreasonable policies? This is surely what they want everyone to do... they want us to be intimidated and comply with their oppressive methods. They don't want us to question this erosion of our fundamental rights and protections. That cell phone is our personal property which they have very unreasonably seized and impounded. Clearly and obviously, their actions are way beyond a reasonable response to the "offense."

I think that goes against the Eighth Amendment:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Yeah, I really do think that requiring me to drive all the way down to some office near the old Rule High School, which is in the middle of one of the worst and most dangerous public housing projects in the city, to reclaim my wrongfully seized personal property is an excessive, cruel, and unusual punishment for my son's trivial mistake.

I need a Constitutional attorney. I swear. If people can sue McDonald's for hot coffee and so forth, then I should be able to sue the Knox County Schools for violating our Fourth and Eighth Amendment Constitutional rights. I think we need to take this all the way to the Supreme Court.

SSDD

- Myspace Layouts,Graphics, and Comments!

(same shit, different day)

Nobody volunteered to help me with my coup d'etat. Pussies. (I guess now I'll have to get started on that clone army.) ;-)

I like using bad words now because the Odiogo podcast voice is so serious and proper. It makes me laugh.

I wasn't joking about my blood pressure being very high. It really was, and the other day I thought I might be about to die so I went to the doctor. The medicine he gave me has dropped it back to its normal level, but the huge change has caused some weird things too. It's a bit of a physical mystery because all my other tests and things are fine and normal so far. Of course, like most Americans I need to lose some weight, but it is actually lower than a year ago so it doesn't seem like the culprit. Can I please go through 6 months without some big illness or other trouble? That's not too much to ask, is it?

I worry that my husband is going to trade me in for a younger, healthier model. He seems to be annoyed and inconvenienced by all my problems. Well, I can't say I blame him. I'm pretty annoyed too. Sorry, all these things just happen. It's not like I have any control over people dying and all these other things. It's exhausting for all of us. But the last thing I need right now is to feel resented and defective...

Okay, is that pitiful enough? ;-)

Healthcare: The Next Bursting Bubble

I am certain that the US economy is already in the beginning of a depression and not just a recession. Not that I'm saying we will see the same horrible life as in the Great Depression, but relatively speaking what is going on now is quite serious and is not going to improve for quite some time. As all the "experts" are saying, it will likely get worse before it gets better. That is about the only thing they're saying that I do agree with. (forgive my laziness about ending sentences with "with")

The intelligence of our "leaders" seems to have declined considerably in the last few decades. Maybe it is because of the birth control pill? Messing with Nature usually doesn't end well, but maybe no one ever reads Frankenstein anymore? Anyway, the whole lot of them* are total idiots, regardless of whatever degrees and so-called education they've had. Well, look at it this way. How intelligent is it to continue doing the things that consistently fail? That's exactly what they do.

Incidentally, and this is just my own insecurity and need for validation, whether it comes extrinsically or intrinsically, I have evidence that I really am smarter than about 95% of my peers. It's not an "IQ" score, but there are some other standardized test results that consistently place me in about the 95th percentile. If you don't believe me I can scan and post them, godddammit. So all the dumbfucks who try to call me stupid are only being dumbfucks. Okay? Thank you. I just had to get that out of my system. *sigh* :-)

Now back to the economy. And healthcare specifically. While everyone is hand-wringing over the mortgage meltdown that is the result of lots of people being really stupid and making really bad decisions, there is another bubble that will burst soon enough. Too many people are expecting the government to pay for their healthcare. But what they don't realize is that it is completely unrealistic and will be disastrous when/if that happens. Some people seem to think that free healthcare is a basic human right, but you know, nothing is really free, although recently it looks like 95% of the people have forgotten that, if they ever knew it in the first place.

Sure, access to healthcare is a "right" but how can anyone really think that any vital service can be free of cost? Someone has to pay for it, and until recently it wasn't common practice for the government to just make up billions of dollars to pay for every little thing that people asked for.

There are some ways to make the healthcare system more "fair" and accessible to everyone, but they require some big, serious changes to the way that business has been done for the last few decades. Just like the auto industry. Nothing will improve until they drastically adjust their way of doing business. Sometimes successful evolution takes really big steps.

Well, let me ask some questions. Who is really making the most money from the healthcare system today without actually doing much? The doctors? Not really, though most do make plenty enough, they do work for it usually. The drug companies? Meh, they make a lot but they also contribute a lot with their research and development, as well as advertising that helps pay for our entertainment. The hospitals? Some make money and some lose money but they are vital to the system. What does that leave? Ah, yeah, the insurance companies. What do they really do anyway? They are just an extra, very costly and very profitable, step in the process of delivering healthcare. They are not really vital. Basically they are middlemen who get paid to negotiate between the medical services and the patients. Why can't the patients deal directly with the medical services themselves? Cut out the fat, the wastefulness, the unnecessary.

Anyone who promotes a "universal healthcare" that trusts those same insurance companies to administer it efficiently is a total idiot, or at least seriously deluded. Although the government isn't exactly good at efficient administration of services it would be preferable to make the medical service providers actual government employees instead of keeping a wasteful third party in the system. Make it more like the military if necessary, where the doctors are enlisted and trained by the government and rise through the ranks according to ability and accomplishment. Yeah, maybe this is a radical idea, but it has got to be better than what all the other dummies are suggesting. I'm just saying let's look at this thing from a new perspective instead of always trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

No, there are no perfect plans or ideas for solving the big, serious issues that our country is facing now. But come on, let's stop it with thinking that throwing money at ill-designed and poorly functioning things is actually going to change anything for the better. It won't. It never has. And it never will. Why is it so hard for people to understand this simple fact? I really don't believe it is so difficult that one has to be in the 95th percentile to get it.


*correction: My own Tennessee Senator Bob Corker was just giving hell to the stupid auto bosses, thank God. I guess he's one in the top 5%. ;-)

Emotional Bailout

Warning: Personal Pity Party and Raw, Unedited, and Indelicate Statements. Proceed at your own peril.

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about

"Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie

I need some kind of hundred billion dollar emotional bailout. All the big things that have happened in the last couple of years have completely overwhelmed and overextended my emotional credit. Last night I got really sad missing my dad, but then I thought it was probably better that he wasn't having to see this financial meltdown that would have wiped out all of his retirement funds that had already seen so many declines in the last few years. At least I paid off his house the day before he died.

We won't have the money to pay a large tax bill because of all the outstanding accounts receivable that people just can't pay because they don't have the money either. Well, I'll just put a note on our tax return that we just don't have it and so they'll just have to deal with it and if they have any concern about all the "Joe Sixpacks" then forgive us for not having the money just like they've forgiven all the crooks on Wall Street. Don't take our house either. Jesus Fucking Christ, they want to pay for all those other houses of people who didn't do things right, but then they'll threaten to put a lien or something on ours? That just makes me so sick that I want to do bad things.

By the way, I find that term "Joe Sixpack" extremely offensive and racist. If all the media people can said that with impunity, and all the Sarah Palin haters can call her terrible things and throw around the term "white trash" with impunity, then I can say some things with impunity too. I'm sick of having to look at Obama's nappy head. Why doesn't he just grow an afro or dreadlocks or something? And I'm tired of looking at his blue lips telling lies and avoiding real answers. Okay, so I say these things that might offend someone, but no one seems to mind if I'm offended. Freedom of Speech goes both ways, people.

See, my emotional accounts are bankrupt, and I don't see any kind of bailout coming, so what to do? If people want to beat me up for saying some offensive things about Obama, go ahead and kick me when I'm down. You know, it was less than a year ago that I was laid up in the hospital for 5 days after my appendix blew. We're still paying for that too. Our insurance covered some of it, but all this year we've been paying $320 a month on the remaining balance and have another five months to pay on it. We will probably have to reduce that monthly payment now, and the hospital will not like it. Too bad for them. Just two months after that my dad got sick, and two months after that he died. Now I've got at least another $1000 to pay for my skin cancer treatments. Where is that money going to come from? The stress of all these things is more than I can stand, and all the world seems to care about is how they can beat me up even more for being a white American.

If you find this post ugly and unbearable, well, too fucking bad for you. Welcome to my life, and my struggles, and my desperation. I need a bailout too, an emotional one at least. But let's be completely honest, my skin color, lifestyle, and heritage are being held against me in insidious and blatant ways, and to say the least it is exhausting and bleeding me dry.

I hope everyone else is happy with that because I just don't care anymore.

Throwing in the Towel

The way things are going these days with the crooks on Wall Street and all the other dummies getting bailed out with taxpayer money, we are seriously considering throwing in the towel and closing up shop. It's just not worth it anymore when my husband works 60-70 hour weeks crawling under nasty houses, getting his hands all cut up and burned, and dealing with all the other very difficult jobs required in the HVAC business when we pay our bills, pay our outrageous taxes, and all the benefits seem to be going to everyone else.

Sure, we have been able to build a nice house and have some nice cars, but that is ONLY because HE HAS WORKED HIS ASS OFF AND HAS REALLY PAID FOR THOSE THINGS WITH HIS OWN EFFORT, instead of relying on government help and bailouts or by taking advantage of other people or taking stupid risks and so on. IF he had ever taken advantage of anyone we would sure as hell be a whole lot richer today than we are because truth be told, most people are pretty stupid idiots who are pretty easy to take advantage of anyway. But we're not really "rich", but just part of that shrinking middle class who is shrinking because we are finally figuring out that we are the ones being exploited by everyone else.

Yes, I'm so angry about these things that I could be spitting venom. We SHOULD NOT have to pay for all the stupid, bad decision and laziness of other people. It is NOT our responsibility or moral obligation to rescue everyone else who has acted in irresponsible ways.

Maybe I should be looking forward to owning part of the big financial giants who are now going to rely on our tax money to survive. But of course, I know not to hold my breath waiting for any dividends on our FORCED investment.

What all the stupid people never consider is that when people like us, who have made honest livings and have supported so many other people through our efforts, decide to give up, that wellspring that they've sucked dry is going to stay fucking dry. Then what are they going to do?

When the system has made it so unprofitable for people to actually work very hard to support themselves, then they aren't going to do it.

I feel like just saying, "Fuck it all!" Let's just do like everyone else and stop paying our house payments, taxes, and all the other things that so many people aren't doing.

If the bank calls and says, "Where is your house payment?" I will answer, "Call AIG or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. They have it."

Conservatives Have Big Balls

John McCain has got to have some really big balls, much larger than Obama's, because he has done what Obama was too afraid to do - choose a woman as his VP candidate and face all the consequences with the rabid liberal media.

It's amazing to hear the liberal media and their constituents going into conniption fits over McCain's choice of Palin for his running mate. It's almost hard to believe all the stupid, petty, idiotic crap that they are trying to throw around about Palin. Let's just look at some examples:

1. "She isn't experienced enough."

Please, and Obama is? At least Palin has had real executive experience that has resulted in actual change and progress in her state. All Obama has done is serve as a state Senator for a few years and then the US Senate for a few years, most of which has been spent campaigning for President. How much real change and reform has Obama actually brought about in his time as a Senator? As for foreign relations, I'd say they are just about the same, and that is why Obama chose an old white guy, Biden, as his running mate - to give his ticket some foreign relations credentials. Why is it okay for Obama to pick Biden (especially over Hillary who arguably really earned the VP candidacy) as a ploy to add that to his ticket, while it's not okay for McCain, who has plenty of his own foreign relations experience, to pick Palin who adds an element of "reality" to his ticket (where one of Obama's biggest criticisms of McCain is that he isn't "in touch" with the "common people"). Aside from her government service, Palin is very much an example of "common people."


2. "Conservative women aren't allowed to have careers and a family at the same time."

Wow, I really shouldn't have to explain the idiocy of that one, but apparently, it is necessary after all. I didn't make this up either. I just heard some old crotchety bag actually say that on TV about Palin. She actually said that it was hypocritical for conservatives to support a woman with five children, one of which is a Downs baby and another of which is a pregnant teen. She implied that Palin is a bad mother because she has common human family problems. So, somehow just because someone is a conservative they are automatically held up to some ridiculous higher standard than a "normal" person. Well, sorry, that's complete bullshit and pretty much as stupid as saying that because Palin had an amnio test during her pregnancy (certainly ordered by her doctors because of her mature age) then she shouldn't be against abortions. Yes, I have actually heard people say that too. Very stupid isn't it? That's about the same as saying that someone who has had a surgery shouldn't be against stabbing murders. Someone please explain to me why the rules must be different for conservative women than for liberal ones. What ever happened to equality and equal rights for all women?


3. Jane Smiley: "If the red phone rings in the middle of the night and she's breastfeeding, will she answer it?"

You know, how can a woman actually attack another woman in that way? It's really beyond horrible and hypocritical that so-called feminists would even imply that being a mother somehow reduces a woman's ability to do her job effectively. Doesn't that pretty much contradict all of their own philosophies and agendas about women being as capable as men and expecting equality, etc.?

I'm not sure if the above is a completely accurate quote of Smiley, but here is an equally stupid article about Palin's "hypocrisy" based on her own private choices as a mother and so on.

Smiley calls Palin "a woman who reinforces patriarchal power rather than challenges it." Say what?? "... a woman who attaches herself to men in power and then does them one better. She uses the freedom that the women's movement has brought her [to] quash the liberation of women with other views than hers." I really do hope that everyone can see how incredibly hypocritical and stupid Smiley's statements are here. So, according to Smiley a successful female politician should be a childless lesbian who hates men? It just confounds me that feminists are the first ones to attack a successful woman. Palin isn't trying to take away any other women's "liberation". If Smiley is referring to Palin's anti-abortion position, then that only refers to being against killing babies in the womb, not any kind of "women's lib."

There are many other such ridiculous statements and implications in Smiley's article. She says that Palin is hypocritical if she isn't breastfeeding her baby (even though breastfeeding also supposedly makes her unfit to work), as if it's anyone's business anyway. So does that make any woman who supports abortions a hypocrite is she doesn't actually have an abortion? You just cannot follow these liberal arguments because they all conflict and nullify each other. And it never matters what someone does because it is always the wrong thing to these rabid liberals because they are so confused themselves that they don't know right from wrong.

Smiley also says, "Who is taking care of the kids while she is away, including the baby? If it's the husband, I'm glad. If it's a nanny and always has been, then I want to know how a wealthy woman with a nanny helps women in general -- wealthy women with nannies are nothing new." Okay, so it's okay if she's making enough money for the hubby to stay home and care for children, but it's not okay for her to be making enough money to afford a nanny? Wow. Stupid idiots who get paid for writing tripe are nothing new either. Why isn't Smiley asking all of these questions of Nancy Pelosi's (who is actually in a pretty powerful position) childrearing practices and childcare history?

Another 'brilliant' point by Smiley: "If she produced a child at 44, I want to know if she believes in birth control, because birth control is a political issue. I also want to know her views on the government's obligations to the disabled. Do the disabled children of rich people get special treatments that their parents can afford, while the disabled children of poor people get nothing?" My God, does this Smiley woman have a brain at all? Does she even have any children herself? Has she never seen that the disabled children of the poor get all kinds of help for free and how exactly is it fair to desire for rich, disabled children to suffer needlessly? Just because a child has rich parents he is automatically less deserving than a poor child? Who does she think pays all the taxes to care for the poor kids anyway? It's those rich people, honey, who are paying for their own kids *in addition to* those poor kids.

Well, I kind of went off on a tangent away from the big balls of conservatives. But maybe it's just that conservative men have bigger balls and conservative women know how to handle them better (than the rabid liberal bitches who just want to tear them apart). ;-)


*I'm not saying that all liberals are rabid. Just making that clear.

A Song for Sarah Palin

Congrats to McCain and his wise advisors on their outstanding choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate. I didn't know her before, but she's definitely a Vicious Momma and that's a good thing. She's more socially conservative than I am, but it's not a big deal.

For you Sarah Palin and all of us other Vicious Mommas:

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

"I am Woman" by Helen Reddy

Quick Random Notes

Example of good "defensive treaty":

Neighborhood Watch Programs. Only threatens the people who want to break the laws.


Boltzmann Brains:

Impossible except when trying discuss things in the weird dimension of the internet. What I mean is that a normal intelligent brain can somehow create a disembodied piece of junk that only superficially appears to be the same as the actual physical brain.


Racism:

It's only racism when it's an American who is supposedly "wrong." But everyone else in the world can say whatever insults against Americans that their Boltzmann's brains can create and that's okay and not racism.


100% agreement/consensus:

Impossible except in the Boltzmann's brains of those who aren't Americans and those who believe in global warming.


Wishful Thinking:

The delusions that keep hope alive.


Optimism:

The road to disappointment.


Pessimism:

The nasty reality that hope really does fail and that the world is probably being overtaken by a bunch of Boltzmann's brains (disembodied pieces of junk).


Precautionary Principle:

Hurricane evacuations are NOT an example of misapplication of the precautionary principle because the danger of not evacuating has been clearly demonstrated to be worse than the inconveniences of the evacuations.


Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Oh, Grow Up!

At 50, Madonna just looks ridiculous trying to look 30 again. When will these women finally figure out that getting face lifts and botox and collagen implants only makes them look like old clowns instead of better? You know, having some wrinkles and gray hair isn't the worst thing in the world. There is a kind of natural, yet complex, beauty in the face of a mature woman. Why should we try to hide that?

Podunk Barbarians

Okay, this will probably offend many people but I don't care because I'm an American with Freedom of Speech and if you don't like it you can kiss my healthy American ass. So proceed at your own risk.

Despite what so many ignorant people around the world would like to think and say about Americans, we are an exceedingly civilized people. There are many ethnic groups that dislike each other and do have conflicts in some of the urban areas, but for the most part Americans peacefully live in and share communities with people that they don't necessarily like, love, respect, or care about. We hear that there is a huge amount of "ethnic hate" in the various little podunk regions of Europe, etc. Well, why can't they just get along? I mean, it's not that hard to peacefully coexist with people you don't really like, as long as everyone agrees to just be civil. I think the answer is actually that they are just barbarians that can't get along with anyone. And actually, the barbarians aren't restricted to only the small podunk places. It appears that Russia is still run by a bunch of barbarians too.

And another point that isn't really understood by uppity, opinionated foreigners is that the majority of guns owned in the US are NEVER used to commit any crimes. And the reason for that is because most people have a strong sense of personal responsibility and discipline and self-control (because they generally know that is required when you have a lot of Freedom). Of course, many of us might fantasize about shooting some annoying assholes, but we don't do it. It's not that difficult not to shoot people even though we have the means to do it and might really want to. Just imagine what all those barbarians in those podunk regions of Europe, etc, would do if they had as many guns as Americans. It would be total bedlam and chaos because they just don't know how, or maybe even aren't actually capable of the self control required, to get along with people who are different from them.

Are you angry and offended yet? Do you want to shoot me or otherwise shut me up? Well, good. Learn how to deal with that anger, resentment, offense, and outrage in some way other than to attack me. This is what most of us Americans have to learn in order to get along with a lot of different types of people who are going to do and say things that we don't like. I'm just telling the barbarians of the world to use their brains to overcome their animalistic instincts to kill or harm those they dislike. Duh! It's not that difficult.

Of course, some worms might come out of the woodwork to try to tell me how ignorant or stupid I am because I don't understand the history of those regions and blah, blah, blah. Well, sorry, but it's just not that complicated to learn how to live in peace. All it takes is some self-control and willingness to let some things be, even if we don't like them. You know, people shouldn't use their supposedly "complex histories" as excuses to be dickheads. And really, this is the big challenge of Freedom. It's too bad that some people are too lazy to deal with the responsibilities that Freedom requires. They want laws to control everyone else's behavior that might offend them, like all the "politically correct" language and other garbage that they demand. Well, shit, just get over it already.

I don't know why Georgia thought it could get into some fight with Russia. Some dingalings are trying to say that it was part of some right-wing conspiracy by Bush, et al. Good lord, they're so blinded by their own hatred that they can't see that the real villian here is likely Russia. If there are any conspiracies involved it's one invented by Russia. They probably provoked the Georgians by arming the South Ossetians and so on. Well, if I was the Georgian leader I'd have said, "Okay, go and be Russian if that's what you want but don't expect any help or anything from us when it all goes to shit for you." I don't really have a problem with "separatists". If they want to separate, fine. Open the door for them and kick their asses on the way out. Be free, go in peace, and all that crap.

If you've managed to make it this far, let me tell you one more thing. I'm just a foul-mouthed, preachy Redneck momma from my own little podunk region, and we have at least a dozen guns of various types that haven't ever been used to threaten or hurt any human being, barbarian or not. But if push comes to shove, I just might take a page out of the Russian playbook and blow the living shit out anyone who tries to take my Freedom away from me. Amen, be free, go in peace. ;-)

And if you're thinking that I might be the Antichrist, well you aren't the first one. ;-)

The Cruel Tutelage of Vi Mo

In case you don't know, the title is a play on the chapter of Kill Bill Vol. 2 called "The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei". Get it? Vi(cious) Mo(mma). ;-) And if I was a guy and could grow a beard I'd have a long one like his.


Sometimes my methods of enlightenment are a bit too similar to Pai Mei's, but most wise students know that their most difficult teachers are usually the best and most effective. And learning the most valuable lessons should involve some challenge and struggle. One shouldn't expect it to be easy to learn great and powerful things. Wise students should also, instead of getting angry and offended by a tough teacher, be honored and grateful that the teacher is even bothering with them. And you can be certain that a tough teacher has learned that toughness from her own hard lessons and hard teachers.

Well, of course, this is fantasyland, but if I was a Kung Fu expert you can be sure that I'd be just like Pai Mei. I could kick your ass without moving much more than a finger. You wouldn't know what hit you.

Maybe I'm just in an ass-kicking mood and the only way to express it is through these encoded words pounded into the make-believe realm of cyberspace, and since none of that is really real then it shouldn't matter what I say or do. It's all fake and secret (incomprehensible to me) codes anyway, unlike a firm kick to the ass that would leave a very real and unmistakable bruise.

Stubbed TOEs and Other Pains

This was the post I was working on before my appendix blew. Obviously, even more pains worse than stubbed TOES and dead hard drives were lurking in the near future, little did I know. ;-) (no "seer" is 100% accurate due to the probabilistic nature of our world) These words are no longer really timely or relevant, but what the hell, here they are anyway:


11/07

Let me do the other pains first.

The last couple of weeks have been full of all kinds of annoyances and disasters. The source of the worst and still continuing pains has been the dead hard drive in my old desktop. I did manage to recover my Quickbooks and some percentage of my Paintshop files before it completely died, but because I'm a jack of all trades but master of none it has been somewhat challenging.

Well, what do you expect from a $15,000 employee whose titles and jobs range from bookkeeper to human resources to payroll processing to IT manager? I mean really, according to this website the average Information Technology Manager earns about $100,000 dollars annually. Check the links of the other jobs and you'll see how much I should be making. ;-)

Okay, so, since the Quickbooks on the old computer was the 2002 version I thought I'd go ahead and upgrade to the 2008 version since I had to get a new computer anyway. Well, I really kind of hate Quickbooks and Intuit because they are constantly bringing out new versions and making it difficult to continue using the older versions. It's accounting. How much new stuff can there be every year? Not enough to keep "upgrading" software. Jesus. It's a rip-off. And they want you to subscribe (means pay for) all these other services like online backups, payroll updates, etc. blah, blah, blah. And it's really disturbing that all of your business information that you put into "their" software that you're only paying for the "use of" (license) ends up being inaccessible to you without certain codes and whatnot. Hey fuckers, it's my information in there and you can't steal it from me. I've exceeded my f-bomb quota for the entire year in the last few hours. ;-)

Anyway, I did successfully install the upgrade, but when I was trying to register it ends up that I have to call a number to get a validation code. What? You can't fool me. I know that's just another one of their ploys to get me talking to one of their salesmen who's going to try to sell me a bunch of their shit that I don't need. Is it not enough that they got $200 out of me already?

And get this. In my old Quickbooks I could manually enter paychecks and do all my own payroll processing, but now in this new one they won't even let me do that. I have to pay at least $99 more per year just to be able to track my two employee payroll! This is enough to make me go postal on them. Where is the Intuit headquarters where I can go and tell them in person just how disgusted and outraged I am about their evil business practices? If you read about some crazy woman going postal at the Intuit headquarters it might be me!

Okay, I'll leave that rant and move on to the Stubbed TOE. The big buzz in the science news has been a surfer dude's Theory of Everything. Well, he did make a pretty picture of it, but just because we can create vivid images of things doesn't make them real.




While watching that video I keep thinking intuitively I can see that this "simple" explanation just cannot 'evolve' into the complex universe that we see today. There is no universe in those pretty pictures. It looks to me like the surfer dude has just created a system of explaining how to move those points around in certain patterns. But how that translates into a Theory of Everything just isn't clear at all. He and his advocates call themselves "seers" but as you know, I'm a seer too. ;-) And I ain't seein' anything in this "theory." Well, actually, what keeps coming to my mind is "snowflakes." (If that means anything to anyone then please let me know.)

Other than the scientific aspects of this story, I have to say that this surfer dude seems like a typical slacker who's looking for an easy way to make it. Lubos perfectly summarizes my thoughts too in response to a comment about the recent passing of Sidney Coleman:

LM: Unfortunately, it's not just irony, it's another example of great minds being systematically replaced by cheap crap. What do the media do? For many days, they don't even report about one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the last 50 years - it is much more important to refer a politically correct story about a "poor" imbecile whose main result is a "theory of everything" - a textbook example of a childish proposal that can't work according to a theorem known for several decades. I am irritated by the breathtaking hypocrisy of those proponents of the "right" thinkers. For example, crackpot Lisi is promoted because it is poor. Tell it to most guys in Africa or even Europe - offer them to be poor so that they can surf for whole days on Hawaii. I think that most of them will instantly accept this kind of poverty. But he paints himself as "poor", so he is welcome even though his physical theory and physics knowledge is just a small piece of shit. But the media serve this shit as a yummy dinner. And most of them won't even tell you about Sidney Coleman. The world is just going to hell.

To add to that, if you want to read more of this surfer dude's confused blather about things other than physics you can find it at Bee's.

In addition to that, if you want more details about it all, you can Google it or go to The Reference Frame.

I couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents worth about it. Well, if you ask me, this theory is really only worth about 2 cents anyway. I'm sorry if I've stubbed or stepped on anyone's TOE or toes, but generally, if I'm allowed a little immodesty, my intuition about these things is pretty good. I think the main point of this entire story is that even the scientific world has fallen into the Hollywood fakery mentality that relies only on superficial and artificial prettiness and unlikely plots.

I think the perfect ending to this would be that a little old hillbilly housewife from Tennessee with no formal physics training falsifies the surfer dude's TOE with her own pretty picture:

[unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to post my pretty .gif animation]

Wouldn't that be a perfect, unexpected and unlikely Hollywood plot twist? ;-)

Communist Capitalism and Other Ignorances

China

Mattel is having to recall even more made in China toys, announced yesterday. (sorry no link, but I'm not the only person who knows how to google) Again, this recall mostly involves lead paint. You see, this is what happens when communists try capitalism. They suck!! And of course, China is trying to blame Mattel, other American companies, and the American consumers for causing them to use lead paint. Hello? Is China run by a bunch of two year olds? Listen, if you're doing business and your customer wants you to do something that you can't afford, you don't agree to it and give them toxic or defective products, etc. The way capitalism works is that you negotiate with your customers to protect your own profit while still being trustworthy and honorable. Capitalism won't work in the absence of trust between customer and supplier. Capitalism isn't like communism where everyone is told what to do and there is no argument. ;-)

And don't for one second even consider that China has a case against America and its consumers because they are smart enough to know that Mattel is a huge account to win. And don't even think that China wasn't telling Mattel all kinds of bullshit to win that account. China was making all kinds of promises they knew they couldn't and wouldn't keep just to get Mattel's business. Mattel isn't the bad guy here. Not that Mattel doesn't have some responsibility either, but the bulk of the blame must go to China and its unethical, communist business practices. If China really wants to be a big player in the world economy they are going to have to learn to play by the rules.

Lotteries

I just read a comment implying that Americans are statistically challenged and part of the evidence for that was the example of lotteries. On the surface that might look like an okay statement, but it's not. It reveals an ignorance of some aspects of lottery play. One is that the chances of winning some amount of money on scratch-offs is pretty high actually. People win small amounts (single digits up to thousands of dollars) very frequently, and I know some people who make a pretty decent bonus from their lotto play. Are they just lucky? I don't think so. I think that some of them have a natural talent with probabilities and statistics and managing risk. But just because they aren't employed as statisticians or aren't high falutin academics doesn't mean that they are dumb.

A second point of contention is that this person called lotteries "taxes for the numerically disabled" which is insulting as well as wrong. They are NOT taxes because they are voluntarily played games of chance. I don't get to flip a coin to decide whether or not I have to pay my income taxes or property taxes or sales taxes or any other taxes. Lotteries are NOT taxes. And to call people "numerically disabled" is purely prejudiced hatred of lower income and less educated people. I hate to burst any overblown bubbles (well, I don't really hate it), but just because someone is of a "lower" social class does not mean that they are poor or uneducated or stupid. Some people really just want simple, honest lives without all the affectations and pretense of a "higher class" life. I really hate snobbery and pretense in whatever forms they take.

Well, that's all the rant for now, but I might return to add more as this shitty day continues. I'm not feeling well and the world should be happy that I'm not a super-human because today I might turn my powers against anyone who annoys, disappoints, or otherwise pisses me off. Thank you. :-)

The Dark Side

The dark side's callin' now, nothin' is real

"On the Dark Side" by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band

Sometimes I have the opposite of Messianic fantasies. Sometimes I wish I could be the vigilante anti-hero who rids the world of all the asshole bullies running around being mean and nasty. If I had the gumption to write fiction I'd tell the story of Rae the Emasculator, a modern female incarnation of Vlad the Impaler. But instead of impaled bodies the Emasculator would string up all the nuts of the asshole bullies. Of course, my weapon of choice would be a hoe. ;-) Maybe sometimes it would be a razor sharp one for when time is at a premium, and maybe sometimes it would be a dull, rusty one for when I want to devote a little more time to my task (and want to inflict more pain.) Some men truly do not deserve to have testicles.

You can't have light without dark. Just last night I was watching a show and heard a guy say that if you played a guitar on Mercury you wouldn't hear the sound because there is no atmosphere to transmit the sound waves. Well, of course, I had learned that in school but hadn't thought about it since then. It was one of those "oh yeah" moments. Just because we have no way of detecting or sensing something does not mean it doesn't exist. Those guitar strings are still vibrating and sending out waves of energy even though we can't hear them. We all have a dark side even if we don't recognize it or acknowledge it. The Universe has its Darkness too.

Not to sound all Star Wars or anything, but this light and dark balance stuff has been around a lot longer than George Lucas. When I was a kid I sometimes secretly wanted to be Darth Vader. The power of the dark side is seductive. The ability to crush your enemies with your mind was very appealing to a girl who was frequently by bullied by boys. Before the boys grew bigger than me I used to kick them between the legs when they were mean to me. (the Emasculator tendency started young) But after they outgrew me I had no physical means of fighting back. But if I could have crushed their nuts with my mind, there would presently be quite a few sterile bullies in the Southeast.

Well, I suppose I've frightened every male who has happened to read this. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about as long as you are nice. And why would you expect anything less from a Vicious Momma? ;-)


PS Another little bit of disclosure: the truth is unfortunately that I am genetically 25% pitch fork.

Stress Tests

New gray hairs added within the last week:

father-in-law died last Tuesday (after three long, difficult weeks in hospital)
youngest son got strep throat last Wednesday
father-in-law's funeral with vultures attending Friday
father-in-law's burial with vultures attending Saturday
online vultures on Monday
youngest son got severe rash, fever, etc. due to mono Today


They say things happen in threes. That's a double dose there. Well, as they say, "What doesn't kill you makes stronger." Or maybe it's, "What doesn't kill you makes you crazy."

Falling Down (or live and let die 2)

"Is it me, or has Snow White developed an attitude lately?"


See, even Show White is fed up. :-) Comic orginally published in June 2002 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Sorry for the "bleed through" of the opposite page.

Remember the 1993 movie Falling Down? It was about a guy who flipped out because of all the stupidity around him. Kind of like deciding to Live and Let Die.

Well, welcome to the bitchfest. Protective gear is recommended, and I can't be held responsible for "collateral damage." ;-)


Political Correctness Disclaimer: You must feel sorry for me and indulge my digression from rationality and niceness as I am a victim - a poor downtrodden minority who has suffered much abuse. That, and I've got a "mental condition" and might even be "autistic." But don't worry, I've got respect for SUVs. ;-)

Live and Let Die

When you were young and your heart was an open book,
You used to say live and let live.
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry,
Say live and let die!

"Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings

I'm so sick and tired of how politicized everything has become. What ever happened to non-political decorum, manners, etiquette, courtesy, and just plain niceness? Why do people have to pollute these things with a political agenda? It only results in picking and choosing the recipients of decent treatment based on some particular trait, while making it okay to mistreat anyone else. It's mainly the "liberals" who do this in the guise of "political correctness" which means that you can't be correct or worthy of courtesy unless you are another liberal. Sorry, but that's just really dumb and wrong.

Not to let the conservatives off the hook, though. I'm also bothered that some them seem to forget their manners too. I do not agree that "freedom of speech" protects abusive language regardless of its political orientation. From a perspective that is not left or right, but is somewhere else, one can see that "freedom of speech" cannot truly exist in the absence of tolerance and temperance. How can people really promote freedom of expression and still try to shame or humiliate others for their expressions?

There has been an outpouring of bleeding heart sympathy for this young physicist in prison because he went on a $5 million SUV trashing spree. He and supposedly some "friends" spent a night vandalizing and torching SUVs (many Hummers) because they thought it was okay to destroy other people's property because of some "environmentalist" concerns. This boy's mother even condoned and enabled this destruction of property.

The leftists are bothered that this "genius" and possibly "autistic" physicist has been labeled a "terrorist" by the penal system. For a bunch of apparently very intelligent people, they sure are kind of dense to not see that Cottrell is in fact a terrorist, just as much as if he'd burned down an abortion clinic or anything else with the intention of causing terror. His actions weren't just a "prank."

terror:

1: a state of intense fear
2 a: one that inspires fear: SCOURGE b: a frightening aspect (the terrors of invasion) c: a cause of anxiety: WORRY d: an appalling person or thing; especially: BRAT
3: REIGN OF TERROR
4: violence (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands (insurrection and revolutionary terror)
synonym see FEAR

For the owners of SUVs and the car dealerships whose vehicles were ruined his actions most definitely caused terror and were meant to "intimidate a population" (SUV owners) "into granting their demands" (to stop "polluting" with these vehicles). How can a bunch of PhDs not see this when even a lowly housewife can? Well, the reason is that they allow their emotional, political beliefs to impair their judgment. This whole thing is a perfect illustration that a person's level of education and "intelligence" does not guarantee wisdom and discernment.

"Genius" is no more a "protected" status than "female" or "black" or "gay" or any other trait that the PC liberals try to tell us are "even more equal." Sorry, but if someone is such a "genius" he should know better than to go destroying other people's property. And his defense that he's "autistic" just doesn't hold up to examination. He's plenty capable of feeling his own self-pity, indignation, etc. I would venture to say that if he has some mental disorder it would be more like a sociopathic personality disorder, just like most other highly intelligent criminals.

And incidentally, autism has become one of the newest medical cash cows (supposedly odds of child being diagnosed with autism: 1 in 166), much like ADHD. Not that there aren't real cases of autism and other developmental disorders, but come on, I'm not buying that there is an epidemic of it. Hell, according to some of the literature even I might be autistic. Hey, where's my special treatment? ;-)

Of course, I've caught all kinds of grief over expressing my rather sensible and objective views on this story. I've just looked at it with the same skeptical and discerning eye as any other sensational story. I've tried to look at it from all sides and not just the one that I might most relate to. (Gee, why the hell don't they put me on the Supreme Court? I would so rock as a Justice. ;-) )

You know, being nice, kind, and generous is a terrible investment. I cannot stress enough how bad it really is. When you put your whole self into those things you're just using yourself up for nothing. It's not worth it. Eventually, your bank gets broke. Well, folks, mine's broke and I don't see any new resources coming in. (Though donations are always welcome.)

I've always tried to be a "live and let live" kind of person. But it's increasingly clear that I'm just about the only one left, so it's just a big, rotten losing battle. So what do you do when you're in a losing battle? Live and let die! Sorry, but my kindness, generosity, and self sacrifice are gone. There's nothing left anymore. Congratulations to the few who managed to steal the very last bits of it.