Random Rants
This is different from My Soap Box in a way. This is just a place where I need to vent. Nothing to do with Toner Boy really, and nothing as specific with my topics in My Soap Box. So strap on some fishing waders.... this shit is going to get deep!
- July 22, 2010
Yes. It is me….. again!
What can I say other than I am bored even more than normal? So since I have just about covered every damn thing going on in my world, let’s look at the rest of the world today.
Let’s just start with the economy as a whole. Now I am not going to give you any quotes, or any articles to back this story up since I think that most of us are living this story each and every day at this point. Now growing up during the era when video games were born and childhood obesity came to light (What? They don’t go hand in hand? Yeah right. Don’t even get me started how technology is the birth place of ADD!) and being a fairly rational thinker (I said thinker, not speller. So up yours!) I can see how everyone can crave the latest and greatest digital toy. Those digital toys have led us to crave the newest of all things, whether they serve a direct need or not. We have become a society of people who place a higher priority of want, over need. Now with this said I am sure your collection of Ronnie Milsap collectors plates look great on your wall from the Hamilton Collection, but don’t you think that you could have put those 12 easy payments of $24.99 to better use? Oh wait, this is a ‘He who dies with the most toys, wins!’ kind of world we live in. OK.
So now to my point. I think what we do as the little people, is no different than how government and big business deal with the economy. Isn’t it really about what they want and how they convince others that it is a good idea for them to spend money on it?
For the husband trying to convince the wife that this new riding mower is going to make him want to take better care of the yard and give her a prettier lawn to look at. She thinks and says, “Well if I let him buy this fricken mower it will get him out of the house for at least an hour on the weekend and probably make his fat ass too tired to try and mount me like Seabiscuit one night a week.” The cost is worth the trade off in her mind, and she has the last word.
Or when that same woman tells her husband that she needs to have a new washer and dryer because theirs is just too damn old and it takes forever to get the clothes washed. She tells him that it would give her more time to cook for him each night when he comes home from work and that he will never be without a clean pair of skivvies. He thinks about it and says, “Well if I buy these for her then she should have more free time for me to mount her like Seabiscuit each night after making me that big dinner, and after I get done mowing the lawn on the weekend I can come in and mow hers for my job well done quickie. Guess it is a win-win either way for me since I am going to have plenty of energy. After all it is a riding mower!” The cost is worth the expense in his mind. Not that he has the last word, she just wants to make him feel good since she already knew that they are going to be delivered tomorrow at 4.
Now what never comes into their thought processes is that the mower requires gas and he does not have a gas jug or the energy after eating the Jack in the Box he had to stop and get for them on the way home because she does not feel like cooking. He hires a person without a Green Card to mow the law for $50 a month and the mower has never left the garage since it came home. That combined with his monthly payment of $45 to Sears for the mower has taken away his funds to shoot skeet once a week with his buddies. She does not take into account that the clothes have to be put into the machine from the floor in order to get washed, and that her new machines require a more expensive soap that she can only find at the market on the other side of town. The car is low on gas and she does not feel like stopping for gas just to go and get the soap for the machine. So she washes his dirty underwear in the dish washer and hangs them to dry on the mower in the garage since she noticed when sat down on the couch his ass crack was showing because he was not wearing any drawers.
This is a clear case of want over need. I mean if you gave him a push mower the lawn CAN be mowed. He might have more energy from the exercise, even if he were to continue to live of fast food, and the wife may offer him the ass instead of waiting for him to be so grumpy and pissy that she has no other option but to give it up just to put a fricken smile on his face. She might find that a happier man is a happier home and see the benefits to given up some lovin and notice that his body is looking better and better from the indoor and outdoor exercise that he is getting. She starts making him home cooked meals and flirting like when they first met trying to gain his attention. She CAN wash clothes even if she had a washboard and a tub. They money she saves on her PG&E bill she starts to use on taking care of herself and getting a weekly manicure and pedicure to keep herself feeling and looking good. The natural toning of her arms from using the washboard has made her man catch notice when she stops to show him her nails and he starts doing more around the house to show her that he is her man and he will provide for her sexy ass. He also finds the her reach arounds are much more commanding and because of it, sells his collection of farm animal porn to be able to buy her flowers once a month just because. With a reach around like that… who needs anything else? Just sayin.
See how sometimes wants can really ruin a good thing when they are chosen over needs?
How in the hell does this apply to our economy asshole? I will tell you.
*Give me a minute….. I just bent over to sneeze and pinched a nut!*
Whewwwww…. OK. There is nothing different from this story to our economy and how it is handled by the government. It is all about wants being chosen over needs. Space program. Need? Military away from our own shores. Need? Research as to why the platypus went extinct. Need? Level a country with missiles and then send people and supplies to rebuild it. Need? Send food and supplies to other countries after a natural disaster. Need? Build a new fleet of ships every year and then figure out what to do with the old ones. Need? Hang pictures of 10 guys wearing towels that no one can tell the difference in between on post office walls. Need? New bulletproof presidential car for EACH elected president. Need? Security detail of thousands of people to protect one person. Need? Election process that costs hundreds of millions for a job that pays a few hundred grand a year. Need? Researching for more humane ways of executing convicted murderers. Need?
OK so I have gone overboard on a lot of these and to be honest there is nothing wrong with most of them depending on the light that you are looking at them.
Space program – Yeah there is some cool shit out there that makes us wonder. But is there anything that impacts the way we live day in and day out back on earth out there?
Our military in other countries – Of course we have allies in this big game of Big Brother that we need to look out for, but there are plenty of places that we are not even wanted that we have our soldiers out there at risk. And at what cost? There is financial and human costs that should be looked at that do not serve our best interests. Defend your own shores before you send your own people out to defend others. Sorry that is just the way I see it. When is the last time you heard of the Mexican army pitching in during a crisis? We are the ones looking over our own shoulder 24/7 in this country, so why do we have those who can defend it thousands of miles away where they do us no good? If people want to screw up their part of the world, I say let them. Why do we have to be the voice of reason? They seemed to figure it out for a few thousand years before we were around to help. Not our land to worry about I say. Then we get in a pissing match with someone, destroy it, feel bad, rebuild it better than before we burnt it to the ground, just so they can fuck it up all over again? If that was my kid that I gave something nice too and they made a mess of it, do you think I am going to run out and buy them a better version of it? Hell no! Your loss… sorry.
Helping others after a disaster – OK on this one I feel bad for them, and completely get why we help. It is the right thing to do first of all, but is also a show of good faith. The problem is though how does one lend help to others when they are still unable to help themselves? We are a financial mess as a whole with 100 times more money going out than coming in, but we are sending money and supplies to others that we are unable to give ourselves? WTF?
The whole boats and weapons thing – I know I am going to get blasted from my military family and friends, but come on, work with me here. We spend unreal amounts of money on defense that gets sunk, blown up or destroyed on a daily basis. It is centuries old approach to defending ourselves. We are creating perishable weapons like D-Day was here! This is the 21st century. There are plenty of ways to defend ourselves from actual threats that we see day to day that would reduce spending 40 fold. Look big picture… I am just talking about the economy here, and we are far from economic when it comes to defending ourselves. Hell all Canadians have are guys on horses with funny hats, and they seem pretty safe!
The rest of the crap – Really I am just being a prick here, but who goes into a post office anymore? If you did are you really making note of guys pictures on the wall outside of that great picture of Nick Nolte’s mug shot? The new wheels for the president… I will let it slide. You want to feel like you are the first one to fart on the leather seats. I get that. A guy that needs to follow you to the bathroom, or that you need to tell to step out so you can bang the first lady…. I don’t get that. Who the hell is out to get you inside the White House? Bet you would not care about humane ways to put someone down who did though! This whole unnecessary pain inflicted on someone whose ultimate conclusion is to be dead at the end of WHATEVER process you are using… dumb! Grab a kitchen knife and start hacking! It is economically sound if you do it as soon as the gavel has fallen at the trial, and I am sure more humane then what they were convicted of.
I am just saying that everything starts at home. Fix your own yard before you worry about the weeds on your neighbors side of the fence. Find more constructive ways to spend our money. Like on ourselves. Not for bling, but for stabilization of the world the we live in. I understand that others are unable to fight for themselves at times and that people can use a hand, but when you have to rob Peter to pay Paul in order to do it you have done more than you are capable of. Economically we have trying to run to keep up with the Jones’s before we have really learned to walk. Either that or when people came here to start this country they forgot to send a accountant with them, and they appointed Bill the gambler to do the job! And all Bill had to do was convince everyone else that things were needed to make the world around them better. Bill may have one, but the rest of us lost. Thought we were on the same team Bill???
So just like my first point on how the advent of video games sort of changed the way we play this big game that we are all living in today… sometimes you need to know when to hit the reset button and start a new game. This game is so phucked up there is not fixing it no matter how much we try to look outside the box. Hell Obama is trying to do that now and look! The poor guy is getting lambasted for it because people are afraid of change. Let’s face it, these so called economic leaders have no idea what in the hell is going to happen day in and day out. You have better luck being a weatherman in the 60’s. Look out the window and guess! Do you really think that something that is done today is going to have an instant change tomorrow? Oh wait, of course you do… we all have ADD. If you don't at least try and fix something that is broken how are you ever going to know if it can be fixed? Are you going to tell me that our shit wasn't broken? Only if you are rich. To the rest of us... this shit is broken. Sorry I am starting and ending with the economy today.
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- April 27, 2010 - Driving into work today I am seething as I am listening to the radio. I mean it is sports talk, how pissed can a guy get unless you are from the Bronx and they are ripping the Evil Empire, right? Two things stick out to me in a matter of minutes that I just have to put my two cents in about. First... (And I know I talked about this a little in My Soap Box, but come on.) Ryan Howard of the Phillies (That is a baseball player, on a baseball team for you girls... and McLovin. Who follows baseball about as close as Uncle Shartly follows those written warnings on the side of his packs of cigs! Just sayin..) signs a 5 year extension, to his already existing $16M a year deal he currently has over the next two seasons for, get this.... $25M a year! $25M a year? For the next 5 years. That is $161M going to his bank account. Are you shitting me? Did this guy cure fucking cancer during the off season and someone forgot to tell the rest of us? Because he sure hasn't learned that a ball in his eyes is still not the best pitch to swing at successfully in baseball. This confirms to me that until fans stop letting teams corn hole us every time we reach for our dropped bar of soap, things are never going to change. These teams raise prices more and more so that sporting events are a privilege and not a form of entertainment. We have schools short funds to keep teachers on staff to educate our children, while PLAYERS are being paid $25M a year to play a game. Here is a thought. (And I know this is like pissing into the wind since their world is one of secret handshakes in the good old boys club.) Instead of letting the insanely rich get richer, try taxing the bloody hell out of these people in the entertainment business who get paid to play for a living. I mean am I the only one who happened to notice the fact that a guy playing an advanced game of stick ball is living in a $8.3M 14,000 square foot house, driving a $400,000 Rolls to the ball game, (On some ghetto fabulous 28's I am sure.) eating a $100 steak for dinner, washing it down with bottle of Dom at the nicest restaurant in town and then not even paying for it because the manager is a fan of the team and comps the whole thing seem a tad out of whack??? All the while the lady who taught him how to read and write just got laid off because of school budget cut backs? Or the baseball coach who donated his time at Little League who taught him to swing a bat in the first place is trying to figure out how to cover the rent this month? This does not even take into account the team owners who feel that it is OK to pay this person this kind of money in the first place who in turn; raises ticket prices, up that 8oz. beer to $10 a glass, raise that .20 cent hot dog to $7, and parking fees to $20 to help cover the contract. After all of that is said and done they finally figure out that no matter how high the prices are they STILL can't cover the contracts that they have agreed to pay, and THEN cry broke to anyone who will listen because they are not about to sell the winter house in Monte Carlo to help pay for shit. Who taught these fucking people how to manage money? They are taking the same greedy ass approach that put this country in the position that it is in today, that our forefathers took when they started this whole mess, "Yeah keep shipping us any goods that you can we'll take all of it. We will figure out what we can produce here later and let you know. Oh you don't want any of our crap? OK, but can you still send us more of your shit because we are too lazy to make it ourselves? Who says you need to export more than you import to turn a profit? We will settle that bill with you later, so go ahead and charge us interest on that. Hey look.... a country that we have never heard of, or dealt with is in trouble. Send our troops and a few billion down to them so they can have a better life. What? We don't have a few billion laying around? OK print some more and then lie to the countries that we owe money too about our gold reserves to cover it." Hey assholes... the rest of us are broke! We don't have $150 to take the family to a game 81 times a year, let alone once, to help YOU pay YOUR bills! Pssst.... government.... the poor don't have the money to be taxed to cover your bills either. You are making sure our kids are going to grow up with no middle class. Try the people with money coming out their ears from doing things that do not help save lives, protect us from harm, and, oh yeah.... TEACH OUR CHILDREN!!!!! Just a thought. Don't get me started on the Hollywood crack hookers that we watch on the boob tube, or big screen either! I mean these are not valedictorians and scientists that we are throwing our hard earned money at to improve our way of life. These are people who have done nothing more than slept their way to the top, or been at the right party with a pocket full of blow to share. Oh yeah... real deserving of those bank accounts and riches. Only because Thunder is heading to Hollywood, and the fact she is going to be Daddy's gravy train, do I turn my head on the later just a wee bit! (Not the drug and sex part... the fact that they are over paid P.O.S.) Yeah Baby!!!! I too can get a piece of that pie. Next job title... Stage Dad. "Now shut the hell up and get me, ahhh... my little girl a glass of water with some lemon infused ice cubes in a crystal glass. Don't make me call Paparazzi! Chop, chop." Don't get me wrong... these people are entitled to make as good of a living as they can... BUT if there is that much money floating around Hollywood and the sports franchises, don't you think that we may be over paying a weeeee bit for the product? Are we that misguided as consumers, or a society? If we are not going to change, then tax the crap out of those 8 figure a year folks to redirect some of those money from their yacht staff to our schools. Call me silly. OK.... point two... (Funny how I had this much to talk about over a 2 minute radio conversation! AHAHAH) An article was written by a head shrink saying that it is possible that Ben Roethlisberger's actions could stem from head trauma, and the passing of his mother when he was 7 years old. What the??? Really?? Really?? Is the fact that someone is a sleazeball not reason enough to explain why they did what they did? It can't be the pure and simple fact that he is a male, with a dick, a lot of money and a huge ass ego in a club full of girls throwing themselves at him looking for a free ride that led to any of this? No... it has to be that head injury that he suffered while being paid millions of dollars, and riding his crotch rocket without a helmet even though is contract forbids him from doing it. Yeah your right. He has always made good decisions in the past. Great character guy. Oh... it is not that? It is resonating anger towards women from the passing of his mother 22 years ago? Oh yeah... that makes more sense when you put it that way. I always hear guys in jail who say they are innocent and their actions are a product of their past. They say that they robbed that bank and shot that kid walking down the street because their uncle Phil used to beat them. I see how that correlates, and how one leads to the other. When are people going to stop making excuses for their actions and using the crutch of a past drama to dictate their future? Are you telling me when that guy was at the bank teller with his gun the only thought running through his head was, "That fucking uncle Phil made me do this!"? Are you shitting me? He shot that 6 year old kid because she reminded him of uncle Phil, and not because he was high on meth doing a drive by so he could get into a gang? Yeah, OK. Don't get me wrong. There are some things in life that people will always carry with them no matter what, but are willing to live your only life blaming someone else for your shortfalls or actions? You are the one who chooses what you do with each second of your life. So are you tell me you are going to let your past trauma's make your future decisions for you, by stopping and thinking about them instead of moving forward with your life? For the worthless pieces of shit who cause trauma to others this is a crutch that people are allowing them lean on instead of just calling a spade a spade. For those who limit their lives because you are letting your past haunt you, your life is passing you by and they have won. Which is sadder? The fact that we let people get away with crap because they have a sad story to tell, or those who refuse to move forward with life after the fact because they would rather dwell on it? I mean the victims had no control of the fact... that is why they are called victims. The one who wants to blame someone else for their actions because they are looking for a way out of the mess they created on their own.... plain piece of crap that needs to be flushed. The fact that this shrink stopped to write and article trying to excuse his actions is laughable. That people will read it and agree with him.... is sad. - Toner Boy
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- May 13, 2010 - Driving to work today and once again listening to sports radio gets me pissed. There was a high school track & field meet here in California where the two schools competing were going for a state title in their division. They are going back and forth as thing wore on and the entire meet came down to the last girl there doing her pole vault. (Insert your bet pun here!) If she clears the bar, her team wins. If she does not the other school wins. She takes off down the runway, plants her pole (need to stop and laugh here.) and clears the bar. So what is the story you ask? She runs over to celebrate with her team and the opposing coach gets the officials attention, points to his wrist and then points to the girls wrist. The official looks at the girl, walks over to the winning teams coach and informs him that her jump does not count and that she has been disqualified. It turns out the girl was wearing one of those thin string friendship bands on her wrist that one of her friends must have made and given to her. What is the crime you ask? The rules state that no participant may wear jewelry of any kind, and if they did they would be disqualified. That is what the rule says and rules are rules. Right? You are fucking kidding me if you just said right. First of all I can see them not wanting kids to wear jewelry because if they were to fall REAL jewelry may cut them, or get caught on something. Problem 1 - Since when is a string jewelry? It is more like thin clothing for her wrist. Next... are you going to tell me that the coach that pointed it out to the official did not notice it until after she jumped and he felt compelled to point it out to an official as they were celebrating their dramatic win over his school. Yeah, OK. The asshole saw it the entire time and it was going to be his out if he needed it. The girl had already jumped twice before this and nothing was ever said by him, or an official to that point. He saw it as his ace in the hole and played it once they lost. I am going to guess that everyone there had seen it and no one thought nothing of it because it was not a danger to the athlete. Not to mention that no one else there even considered it to be jewelry. Now if an official would have done all of this on his own, then hey... that is the price you pay. But even then I would say to the official why not just walk over to the persons coach and ask that they remove it or they will be obligated to enforce the rule? It is not like she was wearing a grill with her Mr. T starter kit! As a person on the team I would be pissed that we won in that fashion. I would have said, "Really? Over a string coach? Man, I am glad they did not see my Prince Albert I am sporting!" The coach stated that he had been coaching for 30 years and knew the rules and felt bad that he had to call it on her. My ass. Funny how 45 seconds after you get beat, you calmly get an officials attention, point at your wrist and then at hers. Dude.. you knew and that is why you ratted her out so calmly because either way you were not going to lose. The official is probably thinking to himself, "You're shitting me, right?" It is a rule and he has to call it no matter how stupid it may be and had zero to do with the outcome. Be proud of yourself you shmuck! For those of you who still want to go against me on this... jewelry is defined as - Ornaments, such as bracelets, necklaces, or rings, made of precious metals set with gems or imitation gems. String manufacturer's around the world adopt the slogan, "String... the precious metal your girlfriend will love. Fuck Gold!" **Here is a blog from Yahoo that summarized the story. (Read of the responses this blog got!)**
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- May 25, 2010 - I have nothing funny to say these days so I might as well bitch. In Philly a 21 year old man vomits on a man and his 11 year old daughter on PURPOSE at a game because they were cheering for the other team. And he is still alive? Want a topper? The guy he tossed his cookies on is a police captain! I would have snatched the life right out of his ass right then and there. The asshole get probation. There is justice! I say he is fed a steady diet of sleeping pills and cattle laxatives for a week. Next... There are tens of thousands of homes in the East Bay that the banks own from foreclosure that they are not willing to release because of the losses they will have, and the government fees they will no longer receive as compensation. Really? And there is no committee that is preventing this sort of thing from happening? Oh wait of course there is.... they are making sure the housing market does not fall further into the shitter by killing the values. Gotcha. So in turn what is happening is that the counties are not getting the tax revenue they need to provide public services such as safety, and government is forced to cut jobs. Sort of fucked all the way around aren't you? So why not just bite the bullet and take the housing hit now... ride the wave and reap the rewards of a rebuilt stable system in the long run and keep people safe and employed? Now... it is all about the now and putting the best looking foot forward. Next... What the fuck is it with TV networks killing the best shows, such as 24, and give us crap in return? Oh production costs are too high now after all of the shows success the actors demand too much money. That explains it. They don't see the benefit to a continual paycheck? Oh they will get paid more because of the success of the last series they were on. OK. So when the new series lasts for 6 weeks because it did not catch on, then what? Yeah you Hollywood fuckers are smart. Go do some more blow. Yeah just give us more reality crap that costs you 5% of a normal series per season to make and make all actors do movies only. Yeah because so many people have $75 to take a family to the movies these days with your $8 bag of popcorn. Damn you guys are smart. Movies are not making it like they used to, cable bills are just stupid expensive, advertisers can no longer afford to buy ad time and everyone wants more money in their pockets when it is all said and done. Yeah you have a recipe for success there. Oh wait... we are not very bright and we have to have our TV to function. Never mind... your fine. Being the lemmings that we are will will keep drinking the Kool-Aid because everyone else is and if we go to work and can't talk about the shows that everyone else is that puts us out of the loop. Society is a bitch, and so is acceptance. Funny how they know us all to well, but when you stop to think about it they are right. Next... The Yahoo Financial ticker today says in succession - "Wall Street takes dive on global economy fears, Market dips below 10,000 - Market timers predicting a sell off - Crash ahead, go liquid - Don't rule out double dip - Consumer confidence hits 2 year high - Euro value continues to drop - Oil falls below $68 as stock markets and Euro fall" Now take a close look. What does not belong in this picture? Will all that was just said they are going to lead me to believe that Americans as a whole are confident in the economy? OK... maybe over the past two years things are better than they have been, but isn't that just a better version of crap? Do not get me wrong I think that we are better then we were, only because we took a few hits of reality on the chin, but we are FAR from confident in anything at this point in time! Things are a fricken train wreck and the bastard is still running down the track looking for something else to hit. Be real people... we are still living well beyond our means. We have far from corrected and anyone would says otherwise is living with blinders on, or just does not get it. Drive around your neighborhood and take a close look at it. Are you telling me that things looks OK to you these days? Even the best of places are showing signs of peoples struggles. Even little things. Cars have gone unwashed more than normal, lawn is a little longer then it would be before, older cars in peoples driveways, you don't smell people BBQing on the weekends, less jumpy houses at kids parties, less brand name foods in peoples garbage cans, more fast food bags take their place, etc. People tend to care less about their appearance and for their things during these times. It takes a toll on us all. All I can say is do your best not to let it and get closer to those around you. Find ways to still enjoy your time here without having to go broke doing it. Appreciate people and not possessions. Once the economy does turn around for real, you will see that life can be good without being in debt up to your eyes. Still take the time to take care of yourself and care about the appearance of your life. Not for anyone other than yourself. It makes you feel better inside and out. Don't loose the passion in life that you used to enjoy when you had less burdon on your shoulders. Embrace it, it is a part of life. True love and friends are cheap and you should be able to enjoy both for free 24/7. Don't make those around you feel like those things come at a price and remember that there are those that wanted you in their lives for a reason. No matter how much I bitch.... honestly things could always be worse.
