A few quick thoughts...

The first thing I noticed today when I got home from work and settled in to watch my daily regimen of Family Feud was the sweet peace of knowing there weren't any more political ads flooding every commercial break. Honestly, the political attack ads were one of the main reasons that I didn't vote yesterday. All of the candidates drove me away with their constant blubbering on tv, but fortunately I don't have to listen to their crap for another few years.

Now the only thing I have to deal with are the scores of people complaining about the election. I understand that people don't like the fact that their candidate didn't win, but is it really necessary to endlessly complain about it? It's not like complaining is going to change the result, so I just don't see the reason for doing it.

But people like to complain just for the sake of it I suppose, and if they weren't complaining about the election results they would surely find something else to complain about. I've never understood why people have to complain about everything, but some people just don't know how to be happy.

Well I think that's going to wrap this entry up. I don't really have much to say, but again I had to write something to continue my 30 day challenge. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about tomorrow, but we'll just have to wait and see when tomorrow comes.

(Don't) Rock the Vote

Seeing all the hoopla surrounding this year's election made me do something I never thought I would do since the day I turned 18: I didn't vote this year.

There, I said it. I did not vote for Mitt Romney. I did not vote for Barack Obama. I did not vote for anyone, and I'm kind of glad I didn't waste my time. I know this probably upsets a lot of people, but I realized today that it just wasn't worth my time to worry with voting.

I realized this as I arrived at the local elementary school where my precinct votes. It was cold, rainy, and the line was wrapped around the building. I made a decision right then and there that I was going to get back in my car and drive back to work because I wasn't going to wait in line for up to an hour in the cold and risk getting sick just to punch a name on a ballot when my singular vote doesn't count for anything since I live in a guaranteed Republican Electoral Vote state.

So yeah, I didn't vote. But, I won't complain about who won or lost either, because I realized that when I walked back to my car this morning I forfeited that right. I also won't chastise anyone else for voting for either candidate, as I feel that everyone has the right to vote (or in my case, don't vote) for whomever they please.

That's really all I have to say on the matter, because frankly neither candidate is worth wasting any more of my breath on. I just hope that whomever wins does right by America and looks out for the people over his political party, but the realist in me knows that's not going to happen.

But hey, a guy can dream can't he?

Some people just don't get it

I just read this article about the church in Florida who feels that it's a good idea to burn copies of the Qur'an to mark the 9th anniversary of 9/11.

Yes, you read that right - they think that it's a good idea...

Hey, here's an even better idea: Let's totally ostracize one of the world's largest religious groups because 1% of their entire population are extremists. Throw in the fact that we're currently invading their lands to pilfer their oil (please don't tell me you think it's to "fight terror"), and you wonder why they hate Americans so much?

Now, don't get me wrong: I hate that 9/11 happened, and I take a moment out of my day every year to remember those who lost their lives, but just because the terrorists responsible for that event were Muslims doesn't mean that every Muslim is a terrorist.

In fact, burning a religious text to demonstrate a point could be considered an act of terrorism itself, if you really want to get technical about it.

Hi Kettle, I'm Pot...

So, does that mean I'm a terrorist too since I'm an American, and Americans are going to burn the Qur'an in an anti-Islam demonstration?

Absolutely not. I think it's ridiculous that they want to do this, and even more preposterous that they actually think they're doing a good thing.

I guess some people will just never learn.

We the (ignorant) people...

I was surfing the web earlier today, and came across this article that proved to me our society is headed down a long and dreary road of ignorance, and after reading some of the facts about our country that the majority of citizens don't know, I am gravely concerned about the future. When important decisions will be made by the offspring of these people who are so ignorant to basic facts of American civilization, there's really no telling what kind of shape our world will end up in.

Here's the part of the article that really bothered me (emphasis mine):

A recent poll gauging U.S. knowledge of civics and Revolutionary-era history pointed up all sorts of sobering gaps. The American Revolution Center sponsored a national survey of 1,001 U.S. adults who took a multiple choice test. Before the test, 89 percent of respondents expressed confidence they could pass it; 83 percent went on to fail. Among the findings:

• More Americans could identify Michael Jackson as the composer of "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" than could identify the Bill of Rights as a body of amendments to the Constitution.
• More than 50 percent of respondents attributed the quote "From each according to his ability to each according to his needs" to either Thomas Paine, George Washington or President Obama. The quote is from Karl Marx, author of "The Communist Manifesto." [This one I can somewhat forgive - the average person isn't familiar with Marx.]
• More than a third did not know the century in which the American Revolution took place, and half of respondents believed that either the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation or the War of 1812 occurred before the American Revolution.
• With a political movement now claiming the mantle of the Revolutionary-era Tea Party [or as I call them, Tea Baggers], more than half of respondents misidentified the outcome of the 18th-century agitation as a repeal of taxes, rather than as a key mobilization of popular resistance to British colonial rule. [And I would be willing to bet that half of these misinformed people are part of the new Tea Party. Are we sure that we want these people taking over our country?]
• A third mistakenly believed that the Bill of Rights does not guarantee a right to a trial by jury, while 40 percent mistakenly thought that it did secure the right to vote.
• More than half misidentified the system of government established in the Constitution as a direct democracy, rather than a republic - a question that must be answered correctly by immigrants qualifying for U.S. citizenship.

Okay, I probably expect a lot more out of the average citizen than most people because I have a B.A. in History, but come on - these are things that everyone should know. The average American should know the basic principles of our history and government -- I mean for God's sake this stuff is usually taught in 5th Grade -- and it's sad that so few take the time to learn these things. I know most people don't enjoy reading the Constitution and studying the Bill of Rights, but everyone should at least know what those documents are and be able to answer basic questions about them.

If the results of the referenced survey are true, then I'm afraid of what our future holds. Parents, please take the time to educate your children on the basics of American Civics, because we can't afford to grow any more ignorant than we already are.

The PC world strikes again

I'm sure by now that everyone is aware of the story of the teenager from Long Island who killed an Ecuadorian immigrant back in 2008 and was recently on trial for the murder. (If not, take a few minutes and read this.)

Well, it appears that the kid has been convicted of murder, which he should have been, based on the information I've seen about the case. But there is a part of this story that really bothers me, and that is the fact that he has also been convicted of committing a hate crime because the victim was a minority.

Those of you who know me know that I don't often delve into the political realm, but I just can't pass this one up without giving some commentary on it.

First of all, why does a crime against a minority have to be classified as a hate crime? Aren't all crimes "hate crimes"? Just because it was a white person killing a hispanic person doesn't mean that it should be treated differently than if a white person killed another white person. The same problem remains: a person is dead, a family is devastated, and a life is ruined. What does race have to do with anything?

All crimes are crimes of hate. It's the very nature of crime. If you love someone, you're not going to steal from them, abuse them, or kill them. So how can a crime be classified into sub-groups dependent upon outside factors? And, I'm not even talking about race here. I'm talking about everything: race, gender, sexual orientation -- it's all the same. A person is a person, regardless of race, gender, or creed -- so why should we label any crime against humanity a hate crime when there's no such thing as a love crime?

We've become too politically correct in America. We've come to the point where no one can say anything for fear of someone being offended. "Oh, little Johnny sucks at baseball? Well, we better put him on the team anyway and tell him how much of a winner he is, because we don't want his feelings to get hurt just in case he comes to school tomorrow and shoots 5 people before killing himself." ... "What, you mean Jimmy finished last in the race? Well, don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Whinybitch -- we have a 10th place ribbon just for little Jimmy, because we're all winners here at East Thundercunt Jr. High."

It's downright disgusting that we're no longer preparing our kids for those times in the real world when we actually lose. (Because you know -- there are times when we do lose -- it happens to all of us.) And we wonder why we have so many delinquents and criminals today, because a lot of people who have done nothing but win and have had everything handed to them don't know how to handle the reality that sinks in the first time they lose, or don't get their way.

The majority of kids in our society these days are seriously messed up in the head. I just saw on the internet a few minutes ago a video of a teenager who was recovering from burns over 60% of his body because some of his classmates got pissed at him and set him on fire. Yes, that's right -- they set him on fire. And do you know why they set him on fire? Because of a video game dispute.

Whatever happened to the old school way of handling problems: going to his house, asking him to come outside, and just kicking his ass on the sidewalk? That was how we handled our business when I was growing up, why can't that still be the method of solving problems amongst teens today?

But don't worry parents: I'm sure the government will come up with a way to paint this picture in a pretty way so we don't feel like our kids are going down the wrong path. I'm sure they will also tell us that it's because we let our kids eat too many cheeseburgers or watch too many cartoons, because you know that when we were kids and did those things that we turned out to be real social deviants.

And now that I'm starting to ramble, I'm going to end this rant before it starts to make no sense at all (not that it ever made any sense in the first place).