FroOchie Opines

Massachusetts and spit it out!

2010-01-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

Massachusetts, the bluest state (commonwealth) in the union has shocked us all. For the first time in 40+ years the Republicans have pulled out the win of the lifetime. Bigger than any Gubernatorial election, even bigger than the Presidential election… this was a stunner!

Liberal Democrats are of course blaming this on Bush. The President’s response in the interview with George Stephanopoulos just after the results were tallied loosely was “this isn’t about the last two years or about the last year; it’s about the eight years”. My refrain can only last so long and it is abundantly clear that Liberals (or people that still chose to associate with them) are f’n clueless. Seriously, I’ve never seen a collective group of dumber people in my life.

Is this really what these morons believe? A seat held by the person so blue he made a Smurf jealous for so long as he did was filled by a guy that is the complete opposite; an Independent conservative Republican. And the people of Massachusetts did this because they were anti-Bush. Really?

Scott Brown ran on three basic principles with a super clean campaign. Less spending, less taxes and NO UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. The once filibuster proof Democratic legislative just got the wind knocked out of them. Democrats holding office now that are up for reelection are in a state of panic. Chris Dodd, one of the most prominent Democrats in the Senate already said he won’t rerun so he can spend to time with his family . Aww, and I’m really a goldfish with fingers to type this. These people are losing left and right and it’s because the liberalist/socialist agenda doesn’t work and the American people didn’t sign on for this.

Finally people are starting to understand that the Unions are bullshit. At last they see that social programs to “help” the poor are useless. How those programs force people to become dependents to the state and how more money is always needed to add to the corruption. We’re beginning to understand that all Liberals do is throw money at problems while pulling on the heart strings of their constituents promising it will help.

The President inherited a bad economy so he just had to spend 10 times our deficit to fix it. We have 3.5 million people in this country homeless but we can afford to send 100 million to help out in Haiti. Not to say their suffering isn’t horrible… it is, but that’s 33k per homeless person here at home. We bought ourselves a ton of banks for 800 BILLION and another 800 BILLION for bs pet projects, an automobile company for 60 BILLION dollars and they still won’t stop throwing money to the wind. This is all done under the guise of the Liberal agenda.

Not all Democrats are Liberals just like not all Republicans thump a bible but at the end of the day, who hurts which side more? There is insanity and stupidity in both camps but when one side would rather solely depend on the government for everything you really have to start questioning their agenda and why it exists...

Climate Changes, With No Results

2010-01-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

After “Dopenhagen’s” Climate Change summit that resulted in nothing but political handshakes, winks and civilian riots what are we left with? Yeah, I can’t think of anything either.

So what happens now? Personally, I’ll be continuing on with my life the same way I always have. But when I think of how that life has changed even in my short time here, I still don’t see the results we were all promised.

When I was a kid in the 80’s recycling was nearly nonexistent. Woodsy Owl taught us to “give a hoot and don’t pollute” but that was about the extent of it. Soon after however we all became much more informed. People started recycling with laws from towns that enforced it. Companies like McDonalds stopped using Styrofoam containers so their impact on the environment was less. Bottles changed, recycled content was all the rage and cars became increasingly more efficient.

But what has happened now that I have spent more than 2/3’s of my life trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible? Not a fucking thing. Al Gore wants me to believe that we’re still too dirty and uses charts from an era where we’ve clearly tried to give a shit about the planet that sustains us. We’ve made our smog restrictions, booted all the manufacturers out of the country, changed our eating habits, and limited the chemicals we use with the aerosols that propel them and still… not one iota of positive change.

For the life of me I can’t figure out if its human selfishness that makes us fall for this shit or not. You would probably be hard pressed to find a normal thinking person that feels living a polluting life is good for the planet but what will happen to those people that live so diligently and still find out they made no change?

If even in my life time and the twenty years I remember us all playing by the rules has led to no positive change what will? We already know that the globe has always had a shifting climate and that a 1 degree change is nothing drastic in relation to what this place is capable of. Scientists have proven that there have been at least 5major ice ages and the next is inevitable. So is it that selfishness that makes us think we can prolong or alter those changes? It’s clear we mean well but according to the scare machine that is Climate Change, what we’ve done is not enough and never will be.

Instead of taking a deep breath, now the US government regulates the carbon dioxide we produce from exhaling. 20 years from now I’ll write another post, do you think we’ll still be doing all of this with no results or will we have fallen for something else? My bet is hedged with, probably both.

Gay Marriage: Why I don’t support it

2009-10-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

If any of my gay friends read the title of this I hope it aggravated you just a bit because you and they should be mad right now. Not at me but at such a stupid f’n argument it should not even be up for debate. The reason I don’t support it however, is not what you’d believe. Where I contest the idea is that our Government has the right to declare “marriage” and what it is. Marriage is a term with religious roots and should remain as such. All the government should be concerned with is Civil Unions between any number of Americans. 1 and 1, 1 and 3, whatever... they should see us as a number. Not a man, not a woman, not black nor white, just an American.

What makes my argument differ from apparently everyone else is I don’t think we as Americans need to ask our government who we can or cannot love. They should be concerned with if we would like to financially arrange ourselves to another person(s) and that’s that. If you’re a man who loves another man, whether you were born that way or choose that way, who am I to be concerned with that? Who is our government to mandate actions to any one of us to trample on our individual decisions in such a regard?

These are people that we elect and we have to ask them if we can visit a spouse in the hospital? We argue over words but forget the principle. Our Government should back out of our business and let individual institutions declare marriages separate from the “technical civil unions” the government should be concerned with. If one church practices a system where marriage is strictly between a man and a woman people should be able to choose to go there to get their weddings done, and marriages declared. If gay people can’t that sucks but because we’re resourceful Americans, a market is created for a church that would. In fact because this is America and ultimately we do whatever we want anyway, those churches would pop up all over the place .

If the Government only saw our financial arrangements as civil unions, whether you’re straight or gay then what is the problem? The government gets what they want (a tracking of who we share our finances with so they can tax us to near starvation) and we get what we want, a chance to love who we want, when we want for as long as we want.

The biggest problem I see when watching protests like what just happened within the Beltway this week was 10’s of thousands of people are willing to protest in this country “asking” to be treated like “regular” Americans. The more we argue how we’re different Americans the more we forget that we’re all just one group and none of us should be treated differently under any circumstance. Stop asking the government for permission and start reworking your argument.

It ultimately could be a policy put into effect where no one is hurt whether by their own morals or choices, their genetics or anything else. If the Government gets out of the “marriage” business and starts calling it what it is, another way to tax… this argument wouldn’t even exist. It wouldn’t cure homophobia but it gets the government out of trying to control who and what we are no matter who we are as long as we’re Americans.

Cash for Clunkers, Success or Flunkers?

2009-08-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

Working in the car industry I just got a small taste of how the Government can jump in, manipulate the masses and still define their own action as a success.

Recently the Government came up with the idea of CARS. The Car Allowance Rebate System would help stimulate the economy and get older, crappy, gas guzzling cars off the road. Dubbed "Cash for Clunkers", the program was approved by our government to run for 3 months or for the first 250,000 customers that took advantage of the offer to trade in their old car for a guaranteed 3500-4500 rebate. This of course after the consumer paid their sales tax on the pre rebate number of. This program, with it’s potential 3 month lifespan, came with a budget approved by our representatives of 1 billion dollars.

What was supposed to start on July 1st of this year didn’t go into effect until July 24th. What started on July 24th was the grossest display of greed I’ve seen in a long time. What could have been 3 months of this greed was surely not going to be the case though. The budgeted 1 Billion dollars ran dry in four. Not months, but days. Four days of the Government getting into the Car Sales Industry they went bankrupt. Zero dollars left but they may pass another 2 Billion into the kitty so the “Clunker” program can get to that November 1st mark originally “budgeted” for. My math calculates that 2 Billion to potentially last another 8 days if the first wave of wasted money was a sign but who am I right?

”Was this program a success?” is what I’ve been asking myself. When I immediately say “yes” I know I only speak for myself about myself. The fact is, it was quite successful for me. The cynical part of me thinks that I made an awful lot of my own money back though. Since the government has always taken close to 30% of mine, them creating a system that directly affected my paycheck so positively is me getting them back.

But again, was this a success? My immediate answer was yes, but the bigger picture tells me it was just another system proving itself positive of how big a scale the government can screw up on.

For starters, the fact is the braniacs that passed this program budgeted our tax dollars to last 3 months and it only lasted 4 days. That is unacceptable by any and all standards. If that isn’t a big enough stick in the side, I look at the people that took advantage of this program. Now I don’t know the official numbers but I know what I saw. Most of the people that purchased new cars traded in their second or third cars, their kids cars, or cars they just had for rainy days. These cars that were on the road were not on the road often, they were really just rusting backups in peoples stable. Many of the people that traded in these cars did so because they were frugal or more accurately cheap. It wasn’t because they didn’t have the money. Of the 250,000 new cars sold I’d be really curious to see how many bank loans were written on them. The people I saw and heard about were paying cash. Tens of thousands of dollars that people are sitting on because they haven’t had a need to make payments on that antique 6 year old car they had laying around. They had salaries well above most Americans but now they were in the market because they found a way to screw a government that literally went out and asked for it.

The government bought cars that were worth $1- 500 bucks on a good day and paid 4500 dollars for the privilege. They then turned turned around and crushed them. Forgetting the fact that there is an ENTIRE viable used car, salvage, repair, and restoration industry that could have used the vehicles for their own inventories for less fortunate people to buy up and use. It’s not the green approach but sometimes people have so little that shouldn’t even be a concern of theirs right now. What about countries around the world that could use vehicles and how our throw aways could have helped them? How about the technology that we now have that could have converted the old power trains in these cars to be more efficient. Perhaps they could have been retooled by professionals and reused for the better good. Really, did anyone think anything out on this? No ideas in this at all but 1 Billion dollars (with another 2 Billion on deck) for a program where our government spends our money to save 750,000 people in this country a few thousand bucks on a car they probably didn’t need. If 750,000 people doesn’t really bother you, think about this… We tax payers just helped every citizen of Fort Worth, Texas to buy a car.

Did this program make any substantial change to the economy? Car sales people are living large but are you?

Universal Healthcare makes me sick…

2009-05-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Turn on the television and you’re bound to see a debate concerning universal healthcare in the US and whether we should have it. In my opinion if you even have to ask this question you need to put down your drink, put away the bong and spit the LSD back out of your mouth that is making you out of your fucking mind.

Now seriously speaking beyond the fact that on every level it could never work effectively in this country lets go over a few points on how bad this could be.

The first point would have to be the big brother and big government factor. We spend our entire lives carrying the burden of the “man” on our backs, bitch about things like the Patriot Act that encroach on our rights, complain that the government interferes too much already and now we want to hand over the reigns of our healthcare to them? Is it because they’ve already been in the healthcare business for a better part of the last century and failed miserably at it? The Veteran’s hospitals are shameful, the welfare system is the biggest failure our government could and have ever offered. We still even treat the Native Americans through their programs like shit. How about government run clinics, been to one of those lately?

Another point is taking the capitalism out of the health industry destroys the quality of care we get. Hate it all you want but the profits these drug companies make goes towards the production and research behind new techniques and medicines. Much of it is wasted to experiments that were over expensive and didn’t work but some of its findings made the medicine that saves our lives. The companies that play this game play it with our money and against each other all striving to give us the very best products ensuring we always buy more. We the consumer fund them and in turn they give us a tangible product that we have a choice to buy or not buy. But the government controlling the healthcare system doesn’t work that way. The government would force us to choose one of three packages like they always do and that’s that. They would then have the leverage on the big drug companies to limit the monies going back to them. The government would have the ability to drum up fear in an American public with smoke screens like the “Swine Flu” and make companies produce more medicines to treat just that. When the government is involved in making those kinds of decisions the drug companies lose their ambition to be creative in treating many other issues. Companies lose their ability to control their own production and even worse their research. Obviously with this retarded amount of money the current Administration is spending the government will have a “great” grant and loan program that we'll pay more for and the drug companies can take advantage of. Once those companies have latched on the government can have one more control over them and their finances. If you don’t believe that to be true ask GM how they lost their CEO and they’re still going to file for bankruptcy protection.

Not to mention the government controlling the healthcare system stifles physicians and surgeons and significantly reduces their compensation. Again check your local VA hospital and see what that’s looking like. With government run healthcare you’ll not see any pioneers as you may see today. With their fancy offices and ridiculously expensive cutting edge equipment they are on the forefront of medicine at a level we see and feel as the capitalist consumer. Everyone seems to forget the government grows and limits us more and more each time it does. The government will lowball ALL doctors every chance they get until ultimately they take the incentive away to even be in the profession in the first place. A buzz topic always seems to be “the best Physicians are from foreign countries so they must have a great health system”. What is always forgotten when that is said is, “but all those best doctors come and work here”. They’re the best in their field and they’ve come to the United States for what? Could it be our charming personalities? No, it’s the money. We the consumers, with our Baskin and Robbins assortment of health insurance policies, pay good money for what we’re getting done. They love us for it and we love them for fixing us… done.

In England where the healthcare system is run through the government someone gravely ill could potentially wait weeks for aid while the bureaucracy finds everyway to rear it’s ugly red taped head. Here in the States you can walk into a hospital or immediate care center with no insurance card and a splinter. You’ll leave with a bill but with every exam under the sun. There are many horrible instances we have in the hospitals too where people aren’t getting the care they deserve, unfortunately they’re usually veterans and welfare recipients. Odd huh? We the free American and the professional consumer do what we want when we want, when the government gets involved we get more deadlines and more orders coupled with more restrictions and more privacy invasion.

Oh but there is the argument of those without health insurance and how it’s their civil right to be taken care of. EXCUSE YOU!? Most of the people in this country who don’t have insurance are either illegal or crack heads. I’m supposed to feel bad they’re not being paid for in a health system that struggles in part because of them and the programs they come attached to? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. My family got here off a boat and they stood on the damned line to get in. If you jump that line and get sick now that you’re here that’s karma and tough shit. If you went through life and never had a job, preferred drugs over food and now you are homeless with no health care… fuck you too. There is no reason that I should feel obligated to help you through my taxes. You should have stepped up and did the right thing. Fortunately for fuck-ups like you, the illegals, and God forbid those people that actually really need assistance, the mentally handicapped and abandoned have all kinds of charity and privately funded aid to help you in getting the care you need, a roof over your head and some clothes on your back. They’ll feed you, educate you and start teaching you that in America you have a 95% chance of having affordable health insurance if you meet one requirement… get a job. If you’re the other 5% working without any you have an assortment of programs to help. If you’re this supposed 23% of “American’s” without health insurance you’re generally beyond any help I’m willing to give but still you have many private foundations that will aid you in anything you need. However, your health should not be someone else’s financial burden. The most you should get from us is a buck on the street corner in a tin can before you get up and get what’s on the silver platter this country already affords every one of it’s citizens.

There are far too many reasons on why universal healthcare in America is such a ridiculous idea but here is just a start that has already tired me out. The government tangles every web it weaves and truly my fear is to now say we’d like them to control our health.

Follow Up: to Science and who is in the right? How to start arguing for our causes...

2009-05-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

The way to argue for a cause and get any kind of real change is going to take a new course of action.

Jim, my only blogger follower, you recently asked me "What a conservative do" and the question confused me. What I pride myself in is not to conform to the idea that I need to do what a party or philosophy would do but to what I would do. The conservative movement is the movement that most closely follows my ideals but I'm not quite sure they would get to some ends the same way. Perhaps they would (especially the RLC) but again I don't base my ideals on what they would do rather I do what I do and they just happen to agree much of time.

An example to a societal conundrum of current day is Gay Marriage. If asked what a conservative would do I couldn't give a shit but what I would do is limit the government's role in marriage. While everyone questions whether it should be legal or not, I question whether or not we should even ask that question. Who makes the government so mighty and powerful that they can tell us who we can and can not love for the entirety of our lives?

This should be at most the decision of the sanctioning body that instituted the marriage. If Church A doesn't allow gay marriage because they say God frowns upon it; OK. There will always be a Church B that says "Church A is out of their minds, God loves everyone and come get married here". If Nutley doesn't allow it, you know Belleville will because one group ideology in a place where people had to live together prevailed. A towns ability to issue a marriage shouldn't be more powerful than any other approved institution. We get the choice of where we want to marry and who we want to marry and get more of those choices. The only role the Government has is to set laws that One human made arrangements through a certified body IE Church, Town Hall, Cruise Ship, Little Vegas Wedding Chapel or whatever to FINANCIALLY tie the knot for life to another Human and or Humans.

Here are a slew of answers all tied into one. Could gay people marry? Of course. Polygamists, sure why not? You love each other, you have the bond and you have every right to be financially tied to that person(s) for the remainder of your life if that is your so choosing. The government has no right to intervene when it comes to whether a significant other can visit an ailing mate, if they're basing it on whether individually the socially sanctioned group to which they belong to doesn't agree. If my local, state or federal politician's religious or party affiliation doesn't agree on whom should be married it should not be allowed to be a factor on how they vote to benefit "us".

Why I write this is simple. While the socially liberal debate is to beg the government to see their own way and allow them to marry whomever they choose and socially staunch religious people beg the Government to see theirs instead, we all need to put our Government in check and remind them they work for us. We shouldn't be begging for anything. Religious zealots would not be hurt because the institution they belong to would still not issue marriages outside their core beliefs. Gay people would not be hurt because they would find many institutions that believe the same as they do and would issue the marriages. And the people we hire to employ our government can not make laws that govern on their own individual beliefs to supersede what we the people want to believe. As long as an institution validates themselves as one that can issue a marriage by the government's "should be" standard of human to human(s) their is nothing else to argue. We are protected in our freedom of choice, freedom to practice religion and freedom from an overbearing government.

if none of that makes sense forgive me... I'm heavily medicated with this bug and get dizzy to even try to proofread. :P

Is Science Ever "Right"?

2009-05-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

There has been a slow but steady move in our country to blame and ridicule Christians for their theological beliefs. Being raised an Atheist and believing as such for my entire life I have my own set of beliefs that ultimately could be proven to be very wrong. Obviously, my belief is so strong that I don't leave myself on the fence but this recent influx in Christian slander is really leaving me sitting uneasy. The world is clearly a crazy place when a non believer feels the need to step up and defend the people that do believe.

Christians are being denounced in many places of the most left leaning parts of our nation and it amazes me that the ammunition of those nay sayers could be used as the same argument against their own progressive beliefs. "Because Science proves it". When all is said and done, the final straw that breaks the proverbial cow's back is that any non believer proves their stance by quoting the "scripture" of Science books. Christians are then rebutted into their losing corners as their proof is only in their hearts in the form of the morals they were taught in the bible. They can say that life is proof of God's existence but again, a non believer will show the science of how that life was created through the Earth's evolution.

Anyone that has debated me knows they never get to the core debate because I ask too many questions before hand. Perhaps we should all ask these questions because frankly I'm not sure Science is always right.

Christians believe that Homosexuality is a sin but what do Scientists believe? A Scientist essentially agree wouldn't they? They would say that humans can be born this way because of some malfunction in their chromosome structure or some miscalculation in their DNA. They would say that these people are not destined to survive the evolution cycle for the simple reason that they're mentally not designed to procreate.

Now me as an Atheist can jump all over Christians and remind them that people are people. That homosexuals have every right as I do to live in a world happy and carefree. They're contributions to the world thus far have been immeasurable and forcing their misery through restrictions and ill will is immoral and just plain wrong. Science however doesn't support me on this.

This same argument could be used for many principles and ideologies that face our nation today in the "questioning" arena. Skin color, body shapes, ethnicities, intelligence, health etc. Hell, Science even says people with Dimples are "deformed". So what gives? In my most humble of opinions I have to say "Science isn't always right". And surely "Science is never really Right"

My morals tell me this and nothing else. Some peoples morals are based on their religion and why is that such a bad thing? This is what they believe and if it gives them solace so be it. As long as what they preach doesn't physically bring harm to another it's not my place to question them or make fun of them. Other peoples morals are founded like mine, passed down from generation to generation and tweaked to be appropriate for the times and how they chose to live. My grandfather's generation had us being respectful to everyone but everyone was generally a the heterosexual WASP or heterosexual western European. Throughout the years morals have changed and we get to my generation. The someone I am is one who accepts anyone and everyone and only have a limit drawn to say don't hurt me in your process of liberty. My morals tell me that I don't give a crap if a woman marries a horse and adopts a guppy, if it doesn't hurt me directly it's none of my business. My morals also tell me not to judge her for what she believes or how her body is physically and chemically composed. Christians would call this person a sinner, but Science freaks would call this preposterous but would hope that natural selection would rid people like her from the planet.

Science proves a lot of things but using it as ammunition against the hate on Christianity is flat out wrong. I may not believe in all of what the Bible preaches nor do I believe it for historical content but I don't necessarily believe in Science either. Both of them assault my morals in many instances and I'd rather just go by my gut when it comes to judging people and their beliefs. We all need to approach our arguments differently and start asking the right questions before trying to come to an agreeable answer.

For you...

2009-05-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

--- Your flower the Orquidea

--- Your Chocolate from Godiva...

--- a hug on the way...

--- Some love with a few more flowers for good measure

--- The warmth of the Sun

--- and a long slow kiss...

:)

NBC Pop Culture Statistics…

2009-03-26T19:06:00.001-07:00

So I’ve been watching NBC’s morning shows for the past few weeks and getting reacquainted with Matt, Merrideth, Al and Ann and when I’m home during my day offs maybe even a little Hoda and Kathy Lee. That’s right, I admitted it… now what? Well, what I’ve learned is nothing spectacular but some of what I’ve been told I’ve been consumed with leaving me a good mix of skeptical and disgusted. Pop culture changes for each generation but here are just two of the stats that have boggled my mind and some of which I can continue to hardly believe.

The worst example I heard was… 1 out of every 3 relationships can be labeled as abusive. The Today Show never clarified what constitutes abusive but never strayed from the implied physical but still… what the hell? 1 out of every 3? If that stat is even remotely accurate society needs a swift kick in the ass or to be locked up in cells with missing keys.

Another, much less important statistic was 70% of men think it’s sexy for a woman to pay their way or to pay entirely when dining out. Which ever man thinks that’s sexy is a serious tool. Obviously women are just as capable but what happened to being a gentleman? Sure it’s decedent to be treated once in a while but a habit of this is BS and simply an example of men just being cheap. This is an ongoing gripe on many levels so I wont exhaust myself with bitterness on the subject but 70%? Are we friggin kidding?

First Donation of the Year…

2009-03-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

And the winner/recipient will be Sarah Palin. Though some of you may read this with complete distain for the woman that’s fine; but know that she is also a fellow American that extremist groups are taking advantage of financially and judicially tying up our courts and an acting governor.

Because people didn’t like her as a candidate she has a slew of lawsuits being thrown at her over the most erroneous of things and it’s despicable. There is a lawsuit seeking punitive damages for her not declaring a holiday quick enough to appease its supporters. Another seeks retribution for one of her aids using a state computer to reply on someone’s blog during the election season? How about a lawsuit alleging that she has pandered to a business for wearing her husband’s snow gear at a race he participates in because the sponsor “Arctic Cat” is visible?

Here is a woman that did nothing but to have an opinion and run for an office in government. Many have picked her to death and she’s gone back to Alaska keeping to her states needs and probably trying to forget the half of a welcoming she received when she was introduced to us.

With all of these frivolous lawsuits going thru the system and wasting tax payer’s money she’s left with a debt forecasted to be at least 600k dollars. That’s a lot of money for 6 cases already thrown out, 3 more pending and countless others just lining up. From all accounts I can’t see one instance where she’s asked for the State’s aid or dipped from any taxpayer pool of money to cover any of her legal defense fees.

There is talk that she’ll start up a fund to pay for this and I for one will be donating what I can. It doesn’t take her policies or whether I agree with them or not, it takes the fact that she’s obviously a good person just trying to live the dream like the rest of us. She endured an onslaught never seen before led by the Press and IMHO she’s taken enough for me to not even try to help.

Masters of Puppets

2009-03-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is a quick entry I’m writing because for you to invest in the content of what is said you’ll need to dedicate the next two hours of your life to hear what some like myself have been trying to say.

If you’re into a good conspiracy theory, enjoy theatrically dooming narration and are like me with having almost no trust in the current machine we call our Government you should watch this. Through video and commentary they’ve stayed completely unbiased and this movie should be at least reviewed if you can find the time.

Speak of the New World Order over 10 years ago made me stop registering as a Democrat and then again 5 years ago with leaving the Republicans. Now as an Independent I still know it’s all a bunch of BS and movies like this are needed to remind us all what is right in front of us. Recently aligning myself with the RLC, a Republican based Libertarian sect I hope they are the most truthful in what they say but still you just never know when it comes to a politician.

Take the time to watch, even if you don’t believe it… it’s worth the listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw

Money Well Spent?

2009-02-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

It looks like part of our governments new cherry in spending is coming in the form of 600 Million bucks to buy a fleet of new fuel efficient/hybrid vehicles.

Since the TARP plan and its ridiculous amounts of money we had to pour into the American industry after our government all but bankrupted them in the first place… “we as a people” better be buying American cars.

The friends I speak to keep bringing up the name Prius and describing a new America where government employees drive them but I sincerely hope not. Those fine folks over at Toyota have already significantly delayed the opening of a Prius plant in Mississippi and has opted for instead, the idea to build in China and import them into the American market.

My hope is that our government will spend that money on technology like that of what GM and Chrysler share in the full size hybrid segment. The government loves their big SUV’s and Chevy’s Tahoe, GMC’s Yukon and Cadillac’s Escalade all come in a Hybrid setup. With Dodge’s Durango and Chrysler’s Aspen using the same setup these are great quality viable options. Since most of the spending won’t start until 2010-2011, ideally much of that money can be spent on Chevrolet’s Volt and Saturn’s version of it if they decide to make it. Take about a fuel efficient state commuter car. 40 miles door to door solely using electricity.

Here is a chance for the money that we put into our economy to make a real return and truly help us and help the environment. For anyone reading that feels I may be wrong because you believe that the American manufacturer doesn’t make a good car you really need to go out and drive one. They’re far better than many give them credit for and in many instances they’re quite a bit better than their Japanese and even German counterparts for a fraction of the cost.

I work for GM and support their products but this isn’t a commercial. Our government has ramped itself up to pay all kinds of money for businesses in need. Many people think we should help these companies… I believe we should buy their product. With the 600 Million of new money about to be spent, let it be spent in wise places.

Sarah Palin: Storming a nation or bringing the storm?

2008-10-04T09:59:00.001-07:00

This blog is being written solely as an inquisition in to what some of you may think about America’s new most polarizing politician.

Long ago I accepted the fact that politics brings out the nutties on both sides of the aisle, that we as a people wholly are team based and will shake our pom poms for whomever’s jersey we wear but ultimately we all want what will be good for ourselves and our own.

Now tying into my hate in American politics note, what is with the Sarah Palin polarization?

If you disagree with Conservatism… ok. If you disagree with personal responsibility opting instead of government intervention… ok. If you disagree with our current class system thru capitalism… ok. This is all what I’m used to when it comes to the differences between governmental approaches… but…. Ummm… the storm.

The storm is this turbulence of Pro and Anti Palinist’s out there.

My questions to whom that disagree with her are not how you do so, those fundamentals I understand. More so it’s where the slander comes from in doing so?

Your cat is more qualified? Palin is stupid and ugly? Women’s liberation takes 3 steps backwards with a person like her in an elected office position?

If you post in response please let me know how you define “stupid”? Please define to me what you would consider to be a successful woman and which women you would accept as being a better example. If what she offers isn’t as prerequisite experience, what requirements do you expect?

Before answering… if anyone will; I offer you this. As many of you know, I support both the Conservative movement and 90% of the people that run in my jersey. My jersey happens to have an Elephant on it but I realize some of our cheerleaders are “Dumb”os. If I have been brainwashed, show me where I am wrong. My assumption remains though, she is the epitome of women’s liberation, she is proving herself to be more than capable, and she captivates me in a way to once again feel included in my government.

As always… Me :D

Peoples Hate: A place in American Politics?

2008-09-13T16:38:00.001-07:00

Every four years I’m reminded of the disgust I have for certain people who are innately angry. This is a statement I make, with all intentions to be vague because these people I speak of never seem to be clear on what they actually hate. And though their hatred is universal it seems when people run for a public office the rest of the haters come out of the woodwork to speak their piece.

This isn’t a diatribe against Republicans or Democrats, Liberals or Conservatives, Tree Hugging Hippies or War Mongers but the fringes of all of these groups and how idiotically cruel I find these people to be.

As I mentioned, the four year reminder is election time. For a year leading up to the Presidential elections I am forced to sift through mistruths and accusations generally started by one of the haters that anger me so much. They start blogs, forums, online society groups spewing nothing but venom and never with any substantiation. Either they’re too lazy to confirm the truth from the falsities or their hate is so strong they would just rather omit the truth to help justify their opinions rather than admit that it is they who are clearly off their rocker.

Again I won’t pick specifics as I believe all of you can pick an instance of what I’m talking about but I ask us all to be a little more diligent when deciding on what we dislike about something. Once that has been achieved maybe we can reserve ourselves from impulse name callings and derogatoriness and try to convey our points in a more humbly respectful way. Anger is a natural reaction and one I think we should all have. It gives us our passion and feeds us the energy to put up a fight. However, we don’t need to attack others that share a common bond in wanting what’s good for country when doing so just because we disagree on the course to follow.

Practicing what I preach is a daily struggle for me as well and I’m no innocent when it comes to what I’ve referenced but I’m more and more conscious of it all as my days go on. Make the effort and make a change.

Meet Al and Marie...

2008-09-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

A true short story about Al and Marie.

This is something I'm writing for anyone that's interested in a snippet of an elderly couple's life. To me they're a symbolism of what the best of society can sometimes offer. It is written in two parts because originally this was a two day story from start to finish. I've kept it separated the way it was originally written to keep its mood in the original context.

9/4/2008
Earlier this year I met Al and Marie in the showroom of my dealership. Al was looking for a car that he could replace its 14 year old predecessor with. It had to be safe for Marie, with temperature settings just for her and a bench seat for ease of entry and exit. Both Al and Marie are in their early 80's and what we take for granted they found to be bare essentials.

For whatever reason… ok we'll call it my charm if you insist ;) … they took an immediate liking to me. Though my informative stage of the sales approach was really no different, because of their age I treated them with the patience and absolutely no pressure approach. Quickly they had opened up to me and soon after I felt myself growing attached to them. Maybe it was the protective quality in me or perhaps the complete sap I can be but their demeanor had me in a position where I felt I couldn't do enough for them. It was this amalgamation of good will and trust that formed what I thought was good rapport and now realize to be friendship.

You see, Friday is their 60th wedding anniversary. A point of interest I had learned when they were buying their car from me. But, this was also the very information I reminded them of when they came in for touch-up paint Monday. Al got tapped by a shopping cart at the local Shop-Rite and I, the "good boy", got whacked by my Service Dept for an $8 silver paint pen. Al and Marie also got a well wishing from me for their upcoming big day. With what I had remembered both responded with a look in their eyes where how touched they were, was plainly evident. They seemed overwhelmed with joy and without fear of sounding too feminine, it really was…cute.

Because of our new found relationship I will be visiting them tomorrow afternoon in Newark. Fine folks like these two, with the history they have, are the real deal. The "why" is simple. Not only have they been together for more than 6 decades but they still live on the street they grew up on. The house they've owned for so many years is only 3 doors down from the house Al grew up in. Marie is the girl from the other side of town, 8 doors down. They have invited me out to dinner and what could I say? They're really great and I expect it to pan out as nice opportunity to smile with them.

What I'm assuming in advance is it will be an experience that stays with me forever. The way these two jest with one another and use the marriage one liners is cliché but completely appropriate with them. Undying love is epitomized with them. The intense care they share for one another should be documented now because the frailty of life won't really give them forever. Telling this story, I can help keep them forever when the need arises.

As always, thanks to those who make it to the end…

~Me

9/5/2008
My evening with Al and Marie

I will preface this with a big thanks for all of you that messaged me about what I had written concerning this loving couple.

When I had called Al this afternoon, again it was evident how excited he and Marie were that I was going to follow through with their offer to take me to dinner. In his words, young people are too preoccupied with the fast pace of life and he never expected I would want to slow down to their pace and enjoy an evening of nostalgic small talk.

He was wrong and I'd suspect that the feeling they have left me with will keep me warm when life makes me cold. When it's our family, we often overlook the knowledge our elders give us. Maybe the same stories are told too often, or maybe that pace of life we live in just doesn't have room for the time they have to share but as an outsider to be invited in, they had my utmost attention.

Walking down Bloomfield Ave, each of them holding on to either side of me, we visited some of the places of the neighborhood that had seen change so much. They hold onto memories of watching High School football games in City Stadium and summer get-togethers at the Italian-American club where a nickel bought you a night of dancing and soda. Through their eyes, I envisioned life as what they saw through the landmark reminders of places the city has forgotten.

We got our dinner from a local Italian Restaurant where Al and Marie still argue what they'll be eating. Never to be mean but they're both in a position where they may know each other better than they know themselves. Finishing each other's sentences, hearing the slightest sounds each other make and constantly ribbing each other; reminding me that a life together for so long... "isn't as easy as it looks". But they did, they made it look so easy. There is no way for me to put into words how much they completely adore one another.

After a dinner of me gushing all over them and the waitresses gushing all over us we picked up our dessert from the local bakery. With a coffee ring in tote we made it back to their home of 60 plus years. Marie made us coffee and Al provided the stand up routine and for another hour we talked of life's ups and downs. They explained to me that though they had made it this far and how they joked of it constantly, marriage really isn't that easy. Al and Marie had real hardships in their life, the loss of a daughter, a neighborhood that turned into a war zone, a family that had made lives for themselves further away then their generation had done and battles of sickness and ailments for both of them. Immediately I always understand that so many of us have really had some turbulence in our lives but seeing two people that have beaten its adversities so handedly is nothing short of heroic for me. It's strength like theirs that makes me want that same strength. Stories like theirs that make me remember that my stories have just begun.

~me... again

ps: While there I also took care of that shopping cart damage Al got that Marie is not letting him live down. We also reviewed some of the Al's bells and whistles to make sure he really understands the nuances of his car. Though I was there for pleasure, I figured working a little bit for them may just go a long way for them and their comfort.

2007-05-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Finally someone has laid out a list of why she hates the President and the reasons for why we need to be onboard with that. Joy Behar makes a compelling argument by listing whats wrong with Bush, but was lazy in articulating what her disgust really was. My take to follow up her itemization...

Stole the election:
As usual both parties had their share of antics; Democrats found a few hundred thousand dead people and vagrants to vote while the Republicans rounded up the Military and the geriatrics. If an election was really stolen, there would have been a lawsuit. A mandate to all the branches for law change of the Electoral College and a complete overhaul of our electoral process would still be rearing its head years later. Is a stolen election seriously still and argument? If you know anything about politics you'd know that race was over as soon as Ohio came in Blue. She's the state that's been predicting Presidencies since the 1950's, spot on every time, and when she said Bush was her daddy; we should have listened. The theory that his brother helped him into power with Florida is crap. The land of the newly wed and nearly dead has been Republican for years, the voters were not duped… doped maybe but clearly not duped after 208,384,212.4 recounts.

He killed the surplus with tax cuts:
Our economy was rough after the previous Administration and trending downward. With tax cuts we've all benefited from more money in our pockets. We spent a surplus is the argument by putting money back into American hands... hello? If I've got all my ducks in a row, am I to understand that the argument is that I should have let the government hold onto the surplus ie. extra money laying around instead of them giving it back to me- the money that they had because we pay close to half of our salaries in taxes to the IRS? No USA, you keep my money… I'm sure you'll be able to find a good $400 hammer to buy with it instead of my rebate check.

Wanted to privatize social security:
That bastard Bush, let me tell you... All that money that we dump into Social Security, the system we know will be broke before we ever get to see a penny, was going to be reduced by 25%. Instead of paying 100% to the Fed for them to lose the money before we need it, 75% would go to them while the remainder 25% would go back to us, the people. Son of a bitch, the balls of this President I don't believe it. So not only does he want to give me back money I've been overtaxed to spend at my leisure but he also wanted to give me back 25% of the money the government blows so that I can put that in a retirement account that works like our 401k's and IRA's.

Withdrew us from Kyoto:
So here we are with this shit head President and he can't even be good to the Earth. Though he didn't withdraw us since we were never ratified, he never ratified either. Ratified means we sign the binding contract or pay the fines to the United Nations if we don't adhere. The UN wanted America to reduce its Carbon Dioxide output, obviously at our expense. Using the less efficient ethanol or the million dollar wind generators etc the protocol says we should take on the brunt of reduction no matter how much it costs us. It would have cost the average American only 10s of thousands in taxes and associated fees and expenses every year but hey we're fixing the unfixable, it's a small price to pay right? Meanwhile our man Bush didn't want us to commit to that venture stating it would be too expensive for the US and that it was unfair that China, the second biggest offender set to be biggest by late 2007 didn't need to do diddly. No protocol for them, just us and the rest of the world with the US taking most of the tab. Bush, you jerk!

John Ashcroft:
How is it befitting to hire as your Attorney General a man that was once a Lawyer, a Governor, and a US Senator? His previous jobs were elected positions where he was voted into office. He was the most powerful prosecutor in the country and he was hugely against crime. He hated drugs, sang poorly, and looked like a Republican. What an ass he was as was the man we have in charge.

Read "Pet Goat" on 9/11:
What was that all about anyway? How could he have been cool, calm, and collected? How can you get information about whats going on when you're traveling with 20 of your closest staff all connected 15 different ways with cell phones, computers, PDA's and the sort. Shouldn't he have been scaring the kids in an uproar, running down the hallways of the school waving his arms around, crying like a baby and flying up the first war plane back at our enemies? In 7 minutes one can create all kinds of needless drama, what a waste he was by not doing so.

Lied for war:
Before Bush was President, the need for war was the Democratic message for the 2000 elections. Starting before 1998 President Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and many others saw a need to invade Iraq and disarm them and told us about it. Bush took the handoff and ran with it. Honestly, does anyone believe the audacity of this chump? We speak of invading a country years before it happens, all agree that its what needs to be done and then ask the new guy to pull the trigger. When he does we all look at him and call him the liar... LOL that dope.

No bid contracts:
We have to blame Bush again. Even though this is the Senate and House's job to award contracts, Bush is as fault anyway. The "Why" is because bid contracts are much better. Toilet seats need to cost $350 per and that price should be set in stone. We should also limit the only company big enough to do what it does with restrictions on what money they can charge. They need to know in advance exactly what they'll bill out for because its easy to see unforseen problems. When they run out of money they can let the Legislative Branch argue about giving them more for months on end while progress stagnates in a war torn region. This way we can bitch about that instead.

Abu Garib:
Bush personally picked and trained the soldiers in charge of the prison. He took the pictures that circled round the world after giving the suggestions of how the detainees should pose. It was he that took off their cloths, he who blasted the loud music and he who said cheese when he got 5 inmates doing a human pile on with sexual overtone. What a fucker.

Michael Brown-Katrina:
When in doubt, blame the wrong guy. And when you do makes sure you hate on the guy that hired on him even more...its easier. Bush where are you? You've fucked up once again my friend? Next time we have a national emergency I'd like you to change the responsibility of FEMA. Apparently because we the people didn't realize its not a emergency response system like Police, Fire and Military you fucked up. Though FEMA has a job and did its job, because we want it to be a different kind of agency then what it is, we need a revamp. Next I'd like you to change the nations Plumbers to Dr's and the Cable Repair people to EMT's.

Iraq study group:
Here's a real moron for you… I'm so sick of Bush. How do you not listen to an Organization that has been promoting peace since 1981 while studying the radical Muslim fundamentalism that wants to see us and Israel exterminated. Since they've been studying and recommending we've only been attacked by this form of hate merely 12 times, killing thousands of Americans. Now I'm not going to speak for any of you, but my take is definitely when punched, never attack back unless you've been hit at least 15 times first. Choosing to defend yourself is in clear violation to human rights if the right that your enemy wants is to attack you. They called dibs first, we've let them have it right?

Choked on pretzel:
If it was salted with Mustard, this man has issues we'll never be able to fully address.

Waited a week to visit New Orleans:
Oh my god, I hate Bush for two reasons on this one. One because he's changed the definition of a week to a day and a half, the real time it took him to get to a city 90 percent underwater. Secondly because its his fault. Its his fault the Mayor of New Orleans had no evacuation plan, its his fault that Louisiana had been spending Levee Repair money for 20 years prior to the flood on other things like sports teams, and its definitely his fault when the Governor refused federal aid until nearly a week later.

Stood by Gonzales:
Nothing else pisses me off more than a Friend that gets another friend hired, defends him at his own expense when he's assaulted by everyday politics, and would dare expect him to have some of the same principles that guide him. Personally in my jobs, I like to hate everyone I work with so I never make friends, have management leave my side me when times get rough, and fire me at will when my customer says it should be. No questions ask, they're right and I'm wrong so please take their road and send me packing. If Bush was a real man, he'd manage his politics like I've laid out my career for myself.

Stood by Rumsy:
Like Gonzales, I don't know what Bush was thinking here. You must Fire a man after 3 years if by then two wars still look like wars. If there aren't daisies on those battle fields I want the man running the show kicked to the curb and thrown out on his ass. I'm pretty sure there is a rule somewhere that says when taking on a world wide enemy in no less than two countries, reestablishing 2 former democracies in a region where there is next to none whilst taking on the slandering of your administration; it needs to be done, start to finish in about a week…maybe 2. 3 years with no outcome is far too long for what we've done, Bush should have been much more pissed off.

He cant pronounce nuclear:
And people from Massachusetts can't say "car" while people from New Jersey make the number 3 sound like foliage.

Bank of America- WTF!?

2007-03-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

OK Folks, some of you may or may not pay attention to current events which is your prerogative but certain things need to be known.

Recently Bank of America, one our countries biggest lenders, decided it would run a new pilot program in LosAngeles, CA. The program is to extend lines of credit to "migrant" people helping them establish themselves in this country financially. This may be through personal or business accounts, because it's a new pilot program details are limited.

Now, this sounds well and good as the United States is the "Land of Opportunity" but in lies a fundamental problem with their pilot. These "migrant" applicants will not need Social Security info to get the loans. Bank of America, WHAT THE FUCK? Spending 30 years in this country I've had to live knowing that my actions were tied to a number that follows me my entire life. One that shows my accountability through previous bank relations and taxes paid. My work history, my legal dealings, the size of my howdoyoudo etc...

Obviously the surface layer of this is BS. "Why do the rest of our country's citizens get held to a different standard?" But the deeper issue has to be security. Anyone that gets into the country illegally can set up shop to do whatever they'd like on our soil, funded by our banks. Namely one with "of America" as its moniker...if that's not a kick in the ass?!

Perhaps this is no big deal but to me it is. Believing how I do that this country is founded, built and supported by our immigrants is all well and good, but I still believe you should sign our guest book. Get your papers and do it right like many of our families did before us... and I'm content. Because of their actions, I've closed out my Bank of America account today and moved its monies over to my credit union instead for the time being. Finding another local bank is no problem, but one that I can stand by has to be the bigger issue and this is where I now stand.

If you made it to the end, I thank you for hearing me out... If you agree pass it along.

Thanks-FroOch

PS: Ms. X at my local branch of Bank of America told me I was the first to do it but expected and hoped others would follow. Though an employee of the very company that would act so stupidly, she agreed wholeheartedly in my actions. If they are to change their policy or cancel the pilot, I will give them back my business but until then... Does anyone know how Commerce is? :P

They...

2007-03-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

They say, they know, they did, they are, they lie, they forgot, they fucked up, they should, they cant, they thought, they think, they said, they wont, they can, they shouldn't, they will, they came, they promised,they fail, they misunderstood, they are the future, they change, they have spoken, they are sorry, they who?

Their ideas, their principles, their peace of mind, their stake, their will, their wavier, their pride, their reason, their excuse, their honesty, their resolve, their ambition, their control, their opinions, their words, their blogs, their hatred, their propaganda, their spewings, their happiness, their way of life, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams, their disappointments and their triumphs.

There's time, there's a way, there's a light, there's pressure, there's strength, there's perseverance, there's luck, there's good days, there are bad days, there's sayings, there's alternatives, there's better ways, there's worse things, there's things we need to do, there's a proper way to do it,there's so little, there's so much, there's a good chance, there's risks, there's goals, there's questions, there's hope, their wishes, they are here.

~Froochie