Suspension of Disbelief

Usually when I write it's about something I'm passionate about. Therefore, usually it's also to complain about something as it is now. Of course that's not all I am, but it does tend to be the most vocal part in this forum. After all, I'm rarely inspired to take the time to write about things that I like or that are going moderately well. And more so, rarely do things go so absolutely well that I feel compelled to write. Understandably, I come across as angry or cold or argumentative from time to time. Thusly then I would like to break up the unpleasantries... Enjoy.

So I just tabulated the number of days for the first time this vacation and since I'm heading home (back) on the 25th, that'll be 29 more days. Not too too bad considering that summer consists of some 101 days. Oh well, I got outside today so at least now I'm in a bit of a better mood. When I'm not in a good mood, I tend to sulk and that doesn't help. So getting out into the real world helped. In the very least it was a change of scenery and that helped as well. Sunlight is always a positive in my book. Unfortunately I may not be seeing much more of it this break, other than the Wednesdays this month that I'll be heading back to tutor. (High school is still in session and I promised I'd help during finals period.) I've got to create my US History I curriculum for next semster as well as start on my US History II stuff as well. It'll be fun to finally teach but the work beforehand is sort of interesting and sort of irritating. Other than th...

So, yup. Vacation, if I can call it that, is turning out just about the same way I thought it would. Fucking boring and fucking depressing. Oh yes, I'm going to bitch tonight. Fair warning. Here's what my day consists of here at "home": Get up around noon. Do nothing all afternoon except eat meals and watch TV. After dinner relocate to my room and surf the web until about 3 in the morning. Fun huh. Yeah right. There's nothing I want to do. No one here I'd want to be here with. And only about a half dozen people in the world that would make my life enjoyable. I know. Me me me. Well that's all that's here. Me. So it's not like I'm being dramatic or selfish. To be dramatic there has to be an audience and to be selfish there have to be other prospects. Quite honestly if I could sleep the next four weeks and if I didn't have things I needed to do in that time, I would do it in a fraction of a heart beat. Home sucks. Family...

So I've created an audio-blog sort of thing out of Youtube. The link is below... Audio Rants Enjoy.

Facebook uses keywords from your profile to decide what ads you see in the ad bar. I saw this one today. Is there a single reason why I should find this funny? I think not.

So Facebook is stupid... Here are the ads I've gotten lately on the righthand banner that I think are idiotic and clearly not meant for me. Enjoy... And my absolute favorite so far...

Undoubtedly there isn't a person alive who harbors more hatred to vacation than I do. I'm finished with my work. I get to go home, see my family, relax without a care... Except that there are cares and they revolve around my family. I am not myself at home, and I use that term loosely. Home that is. I have to be something else because what I am inside and out isn't quite welcome. Maybe it's only in my head. Maybe I imagine looks of grief and dismay when the perfect son doesn't turn out to be perfect in its accepted definition. I gave up long ago the things that they value. I don't care about traditionality . I am not proper. I am not conservative. I do not believe that I should shun parts of what I am because others believe them to be wrong or incorrect or foolish. In many ways I am everything that they dislike. I am an atheist. I am gay. I am utterly liberal. I am brutally capable at defending myself in argument. And I do not respect them. Th...

It's funny sometimes how the things that I want to talk about hit me. Sometimes it's completely out of the blue and I have to find a pen and paper to leave myself a note so that I can push it from my mind and focus on whatever I need to do first. Ideas seem to come in spurts, two, three, six at a time. Sometimes I'll write something down and completely forget what it means later. I can't begin to tell you how annoying that is. Other times pressure builds in my mind. It builds and builds and I can't do anything at all. Like a foot asleep I cease to function until I post something. When I began this endeavor more than three years ago, I didn't plan anything. I didn't think it would get this large or this far. I didn't think it wouldn't either. It never really crossed my mind. It was a stream of sanity in a sea of nonsense. I have to attribute the longevity of my postings (as I tend to be reasonably disinterested about doing things that don...

Just a quick one for tonight... We see things based on how we feel (good, bad, or in between). There is a sliding scale of responses that we could have to each thing that occurs in our life. If we're happy we have one response. If we're unhappy or even slightly less or more happy, we have a different response. The key to happiness is to be happy. When we are happy, we make good decisions and have good experiences. Therefore we are more happy. Sadness is self defeating. Sad people make bad decisions and thus become sadder. Sad but true. Happiness and sadness (as well as all other emotions) are self fulfilling and cyclical. So be happy. There's something to be happy for, I'm sure. Personally, I'm thankful for good friends this Thanksgiving. Truly they make my life much more happy and I am grateful for that. What are you happy for? Peace, love, and Happy Thanksgiving, FFF

Allow me to demonstrate... We are presently in a period of no job creation. Employers are laying off workers and no jobs are being created to replace them. If the auto industry fails, as it very well could (and perhaps rightfully should if only the CEOs would be affected) that would dump another 3.5 million or more unemployed people into the system on top of the 6.5+ million now collecting unemployment and countless million others who have now run out of it. This massive number of unemployed (likely over 15 million) equates to 5% of the ENTIRE population of the US, INCLUDING CHILDREN, INCLUDING those collecting Social Security. With approx. 151.4 million working Americans that equates to 1 in 10. Decreased buying power results of this, first from those who can't afford to spend for more than necessity anymore (the unemployed) and soon thereafter by those who still have jobs that, realizing the crisis at hand, stop spending as well. This has already begun to happen. Look at the auto...

It's been a while since I've touched on the subject, of which I am a full participant (as much as you can participate in atheism at any rate). I would like to delve back into my old arguments and try to make my position as clear as possible. The following statement is some four years in the making and so far as I can now tell, it is complete -- proof that atheism is the one true belief (or is it non-belief...). . . . Time and space are inextricably linked, both mathematically and logically. Einstein and his followers have delved into this field deeply and all knowledge points at present to a dualism of time and space. Physicists use space-time and the curvature thereof to explain many things, but I will use space-time (which is proven to exist) as an argument against the necessity of a "creator god(s)". If matter exists, time will exist if or when there is a change in that matter. If time does not exist, matter will go on unchanged in every sense forever. Clearly...

What a tangled up mood I must have been in... ten minutes ago... Hmm ... lol (for lack of a less tired phrase). Oh well, enjoy trying to figure that one out. Regardless, have a riddle... I am to anyone else empty, but to you or I -- a King. I am easily born but hard to kill, A wily, creative and destructive thing. I can be false or I can be true, But in the end you will see, That the world is nothing at all If by chance it is devoid of me. -Anonymous

Boy oh boy have I been busy lately. And boy oh boy am I glad that this political season is finally over. The way the MSM drones on and on and on... It makes me want to puke. I just sit there and hope that the talking heads all explode one by one, yet to no avail. Anywho... I'm bored with politics now, so I'm going to stop talking about them for a while. This has been a very strange couple of months for me. Very strange. And very fast too. I can't believe that the year is almost over. 2008 still seems so fresh. I don't know. 2009... It doesn't seem like a good number just yet. We'll see. A month til Christmas, holy crap! If you've got a bit of money this year, I'd definitely go looking for a deal or two; there are bound to be many good ones. We'll see. After having to buy a new computer (I spilled garlic sauce on my laptop) I'm not in the spending mood. Still in the getting mood though. ;) . . . It's been a strange couple o...

I've added a links page to lessen the clutter on my main page and also allow people to see past links that I've used. To get to it click on the "Links" tab on the header.

I figured since everyone else was going to voice themselves, I might as well too and here it is. The purpose of Constitutions and laws in the United States was as a protection against a dictator king figure arising in the United States and taking power for him or herself. The only time at which the Constitution or federal law delineated the removal of rights it was the removal of rights that belonged to the federal government. There is no instance at this nation's inception that either of these founding systems was meant to restrict the rights of American citizens. Quite the opposite in fact. The Bill of Rights for example. In the case of Proposition 8, Californian citizens voted on whether or not to allow same-sex couples to marry. They chose not. Regardless of the fact that this flies in the face of the founders of this nation in regards to the intents of the systems used to remove such rights from said people, it is what it is today and that which it is is oppression. Lik...

For these last 22 months we've gone back and forth trying to elect a competent person to the presidency and now it is all done. Thank heavens. What a race! While the numbers aren't all tallied yet, it is clear. We have a new president. I have called the election officially at 8:24pm as NBC calls PA for Obama. In the immortal words of the immortal Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- which will be no doubt recited ad nauseum in the coming days and weeks by pundits and laymen alike -- Free at last! Free at last! Thank god almighty, we're FREE AT LAST! Allow me, with no undue pleasure, to introduce you to the 44 th President of the United States: Barack Obama. Yes We DID, FLYFREEFOREVER

In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty crass for a liberal. You know, a wimpy, limpy , namby , pamby lib-bib-bib- eral . Well to be perfectly honest, I think that political correctness or " pc " is quite possibly what caused Reagan to take hold as strongly as he did. And we did it to ourselves. Now, starting tonight, I'd like to set the record right, beginning with team mascots with American Indian icons. The Washington Redskins. The Cleavland Indians. The Atlanta Braves. The Cincinnati Reds. And dozens if not hundreds of more at other levels in sports right down to school mascots and team names. So what's the big deal? It goes without saying that most of these names stem from a period of time when such names were used as a derogatory statement towards American Indians. By the way, it's American Indian -- as in American Indian Movement -- not Native American, as that's not only not preferred, but also historically inaccurate to boot. Re...

So I've been in a funk for most of this year so far -- bitch / rant warning -- and I have no idea why but let's take a look at a few possibilities. Reason number 1: John McCain This country must be really, and I can't stress enough, really stupid if the race is still as close as it "appears" to be. Need I threaten to move to Canada again? Does anyone else realize, and apparently not, that he has NO PLAN. None. He's just going to fix this and that. But he doesn't have a plan to do so. You just have to trust him. Sound familiar? Sounds like the last 8 years to me. Think about this when you go to vote on the 4 th (or before): The next president will likely be replacing three liberal judges on the Supreme Court. IF we don't elect Obama, we could be feeling the effects of a Bush presidency for twenty to thirty YEARS! We as a nation are almost bankrupt after 8 years of this blind so-called leadership. But, I'll tell you want. IF McShame...

So I poured something onto my computer and now it's iffy at best... I've got some things in mind for posts, but I am trying to lock down a bunch of issues right now. Hopefully, I don't need a new computer. FFF

"It's A Hard Life" by Queen I don't want my freedom There's no reason for living with a broken heart This is a tricky situation I've only got myself to blame It's just a simple fact of life It can happen to anyone You win - you lose It's a chance you have to take with love Oh yeah - I fell in love And now you say it's over and I'm falling apart It's a hard life To be true lovers together To love and live forever in each others hearts It's a long hard fight To learn to care for each other To trust in one another right from the start When you're in love I try to mend the broken pieces I try to fight back the tears They say it's just a state of mind But it happens to everyone How it hurts - deep inside When your love has cut you down to size Life is tough - on your own Now I'm waiting for something to fall from the skies And I'm waiting for love Yes it's a hard life Two lovers together To love and live forever in each o...

Less than an hour before the latest McShame speech, someone visited this site from where he was speaking, Virginia Beach. Coincidence, probably. But it is certainly ironic. Click on the photo capture for a clearer image. FFF

John McCain spoke this morning trying to settle his campaign down. He said nothing new and insisted it was new. He said that "yes we will" as Hillary said in that embarrassing pre-loss move. I almost died laughing. They say that we have to have "hope" and that "yes" we will do this and that. "Yes, yes, yes." Sounds sort of like "yes we can." It sounds like McCain is trying to latch onto the wave of Obama's support and in doing so using tired old tactics of "fear, fear, fear" and now a new stupidity "mine baby mine". Yet again I have to laugh. Yet again he claims to be able to fix everything but cannot figure out where the money is coming from. Lower taxes, but give all sorts of money for education and healtcare, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this new Main St. bailout that he promised even as he abused Obama for suggesting the same thing (that extra 1 trillion dollars comment). John McCain proves...

Throughout the years I've spoken on a vast number of issues. Political issues, social issues, economic issues, and just plain people with issues (like myself some have said). But I want to set the record correct here and now. What I say on a given topic is not the end all and be all of my belief on that subject. Many times I'm simply being facetious. Other times I am poking fun or pointing something out. Still other times my opinion will change. It happens. Flipping and potentially flopping back to the original is not a sign of weakness, it's the sign of an open mind and an accepting mindset. More so, I usually don't spend too much time on a single article, although there are some exceptions. And I don't go back to see what I previously said on something to make sure that nothing I say contradicts something I am going to say. Modesty aside, that would take forever. So, the best thing to do would be to trust my most recent words on a particular topic (if n...

I felt it necessary to share a gem describing Sean Hannity . It was written by John Cleese and read last night by Keith Olbermann on Countdown. Enjoy. "An Ode to Sean Hannity " by John Cleese Aping urbanity Oozing with vanity Plump as a manatee Faking humanity Journalistic calamity Intellectual inanity Fox Noise insanity You're a profanity Hannity .

What is the McCain Campaign to do when all else fails? Lie. Lie out of their asses. Lie and say that they're not lying. Lie and say that Barack Obama is lying. Lie and say that they never lied even if it's on film. Lie about lying. Lie about lying about lying. Just plain lie. The John McCain Campaign has moved into desperate mode. Now that most major polls have McCain well below Obama in their surveys, they've decided to pull out all the stops. And, instead of sticking to their proverbial guns and staying the course in their campaign for the White House, they've dug deeper into the Rovian handbook. Lie. Distort the truth. No. That hasn't worked. Don't mix up numbers and fool with wordplay making what you say technically true by intently inaccurate. No, that hasn't worked. Push it one step further. Just lie. Call Obama a terrorist. Tell him that he wants to raise taxes for the middle and lower classes. Tell him that he waffles on the economy. ...

Okay, before we begin let me point one thing out that's really been bugging me. You know that $700 billion in "taxpayer" money that's going to be used at some point to "bail out" the financial industry? Well, guess what. It's not taxpayer money, unless you're talking about the taxpayers who own Chinese and Western European banking conglomerates. They will be giving the US government the money to "bail out" or otherwise entitled buy out parts of the financial industry. This isn't money that has ever come from the taxes of you or I. If we had that kind of money, why are we financing two wars with foreign money? Why is the national debt expected to hit $11.4 TRILLION (that's $11,400,000,000,000 for those keeping track) because of this buy out? Because it's not money that we own. It's money that own us to them. That's all. ----------------------------------------- And on to what I really wanted to talk about tonigh...

President Reagan had an idea about how the world should run. He deregulated Big Business. That is, he removed the restrictions put in place that kept companies from cheating. He removed, primarily economic oversight. He said that it was unAmerican that in this capitalist society that such oversight, such restrictions should exist. To him, these concepts flew in the face of that illusive, figmentary idea we like to call freedom. He wanted Big Business to have the freedom to do what it will and believed that in doing so, said companies would check themselves. They would check themselves because it was in their best economic interest to do so. Yet, what he didn't realize is that what was in the best interest of Corporate America could be unknown to Corporate America itself! That Big Business could be akin to a compulsive gambler who as they fall further and further into the hole panic and begin making riskier and riskier bets, thus then subjecting themselves to even more debt ...

The greatest victim of George Bush's abstinence only education program are the children that he claims to be protecting. Teen pregnancy is the highest in the western world with 53 pregnancies in every 1000 girls aged 15-19. That's a little over 1 in every 20 girls. The number of teen pregnancies in the United States is almost three times that of Canada, England and France (about 20 in a 1000 or 1 in 50) and 17 times that of the Netherlands (3 in a 1000 or 1 in 333). All are western nations and all except the United States provide comprehensive sex education in public schools. Now let's move on. One half of all new STD cases are in people between the ages of 15-24. HIV leads all other STDs in % increase between 2000 and 2004 at 42% amongst teens. It, unlike many other STDs, becomes almost immediately re-transmittable and yet can show no symptoms for years. It may not even show up on blood tests for six months or more. It is transmittable and affects people of all ra...

Oh, and this.... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA! McSame is suffering from advanced dementia! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Ahh, now I feel better.

Well, as you can tell from my last post, I've been feeling very random tonight. But, I think, in randomness there is a lesson to be learned. That lesson? I'll make sure to get back to you on that when I figure it out. Regardless, or perhaps irregardless of that, I'm heading back tomorrow. That should be fun. A couple of days of rest and relaxation before getting back to the daily grind. I always find this time of year interesting. Not this year. So I suppose I should say that I nearly always find this time of year interesting or that I used to find this time of year interesting but now I don't. Damn, I need to digress. I did a lot of new things this summer and they were a lot of fun, but I never really got around to thinking about myself, which is something I believe that everyone should do at least for a week every now and then. It's unfortunate too because I need to free up some more space in my active memory if you will. There's too too much bounci...

Well, for this whole thing to be effective, and yes pointed, I'm afraid that I must in fact use more than just one word. The idea of "one word", not taken literally, as it never is, is in fact a stand in for I'd like to speak shortly or frankly about something. Honestly I'd love to walk up to someone, and you should try this too, tell them that I want to have a word with them, pull them to the side, say " ducksauce ", and walk away. I think it would provide a powerful insight into the idea that much of language is based on inferred meaning and not on the actual literal content of its words. But I digress, to a completely different topic might I add. I don't do "observational" pieces; I do however often do observational pieces. See the difference? No? Then it's a good thing I'm still here and in such a flaky mood. (Corn or frosted, I can't decide...) "Observational" pieces talk about events or settings or peopl...

If silence is golden then is noise leaden? Why is it that when we're alone for long periods of time we begin to sense impending attack? Or is it just me? Have you ever noticed that in a box of Fruit-By-The-Foot that the Strawberry flavored ones will always be left to last? Surely after the box is long since gone, there will still be a few Strawberry ones left over. Isn't it a bit ironic that all those who think that Ron Paul is the best candidate (or that libertarianism is the best ideology) are those people who believe that if the government removed all support systems that they above all others will rise to the top of the pyramid. Isn't it just ironic that some how they believe that removing all government assistance will catapult them above those people who already don't use it. Ironic. No? From what I can tell fans (ceiling, floor, desk, etc.) all rotate in the clockwise fashion. Are there any that buck the trend? At what point does one become a veteran? I'm no...

I hate philosophers. They make the world needlessly complicated. Read some of their ramblings and you'll understand what I mean. All of them needlessly complicate life and needlessly complicate the language that they use to convey it to give their position more assumed importance. You don't need to be a master linguist to be a philosopher. Isn't a philosopher just an observer who makes reasoned guesses? I think so. Will it sink or will it float? Autumn leaves--float. Check. ...Grandma in a Buick--hmm... sink. Who'da thunk it? ...Erm... excuse me a second... ...Where was I? Oh right. My philosophy about everything is that everything is blatantly simple. Sometimes things are so simple that we don't even realize them for what they are. Like for instance, George W. Bush is a braying jackass. Had we realized in 2000 that the desire to have a beer with one is synonymous with buffoonery, we would've saved ourselves a lot of trouble. Go figure. In the e...

Whenever it rains on a sunny day, Whenever night sweeps noon away, Whenever your dreams are delayed, And fate lets come whatever may, Remember that it happened -- my way.

Now that I think of it, I think I've stumbled across a Bill-O talking point. That's Bill-O not Jell-O, although I hear that they are both comprised primarily of bone dust, corn syrup, and food coloring... Regardless, let's take a look at Monopoly. It's a very socialist game if you think about it. You start out with $1500. Imagine that. $1500 for nothing. It's just given to you, by the bank, the central governing authority. And everyone gets the same amount! Wow-wee! What a deal! Then there's GO. Every time you pass GO you collect ANOTHER $200! For what? Don't ask me. And just when you need it here comes Community Chest! A local slush fund for your spending needs! What about Luxury Tax and Income Tax! Profit sharing! 10% or $200 for Income Tax. $75 for the Luxury sort! It's criminal! And you know that everyone lands on Income Tax more often. They plan it that way some how! They must! Who ever lands on Luxury Tax? Only the rich! Of c...

It's hard sometimes keeping faith in mankind, but you know that every now and then if we look hard enough we can find something that sort of proves to us that no matter how fucked up this world gets somewhere someday everything will be alright. Monopoly is one of those sort of universal experiences that we all have and something therein I believe is very bolstering in the faith department. Say we've been playing for a while and most of the properties are out. And you know, some of the players have houses and hotels by now and others are just barely hanging on, playing the dice version of Russian Roulette every time they turn the corner after Marvin Gardens. It's a really cutthroat game too sometimes. An "in it to win it" mentality if I do say so, but I digress. Very competitive. Sometimes dangerously so in fact. But you know after the dice are rolled and your fate is set in stone, Pacific Avenue and that big old red roofed inn, you don't balk out of your...

I don't know how to begin to describe the impact that George Carlin had on my work and on my life. I suppose that's as good a start as any come to think of it. Regardless, he taught us to laugh at all the bull shit that society was founded on and to tear it down piece by piece. Politics, religion, social mores, the whole lot. He taught us that laughter was as powerful a weapon as any and that to live life successfully one must not take it all too seriously. It's the serious ones that you have to look out for. The serious people are the ones that cause all the trouble in this world, if I may borrow a concept. He taught us that when life kicked you in the balls to kick it back in kind. His was a labor of love. What good is it to live if one does not love what they do? And, his observation will be missed by the fringe Left. His foresight was a burden that he bore for more than 50 years, 22 albums, hundreds of television appearances, and thousands of shows. He taught...

In the past weeks I had been getting very bored with my old design. It seemed too drab. I stumbled across this new one. I hope everyone likes it. As I said, I've redone the format. I know I can here you cursing now, so shut it and get back in line. Anywho ... Elsewise I will also be introducing a Photo Album feature. It is currently up and running, but seriously lacking content. I'll get on that soon enough. Likewise, I have a new Guestbook. Mostly, it's because I've lost the link to the old one, and it may change again as I don't like ads on my pages. Sigh! And I'm sure I'll think up a few other new things down the road. As usual with this process... it is a work in progress. So, if all the features don't work just yet, bugger off until I fix everything! Alrighty then. No complaints. FFF

Wikipedia-ism is the idea that some information services are unreliable because the content of such sources cannot be controlled by the establishment. What is fact but truth as it is accepted by the establishment? 2000 years ago, the fact that the earth was flat was undeniable, yet people knew and could prove otherwise. The idea that doctrine and even thought could be fluid and not a controllable entity scares the establishment, be it governments, religion, or the local 4-H Club. They fear losing control over what we believe. This control is their power and the free exchange of informational "non-fact" can and does threaten the existence and power of the status quo. Wikipedia-ism will continue for as long as there is someone in power who does not want to share it with others. That power is the ability to choose fact. In my opinion, we should all be able to choose fact for ourselves. Of course, we will not always get it right, but then again neither do they now get it right al...

Mankind thrives on conflict individually. Without challenge or inspiration, we fade into complacency and melancholy. We do not live up to our creative potential and many times even take our own lives. Why then should it be any different for mankind as a whole? History is dotted with complications, with challenge, and with inspiration. Dissent from Church doctrine and the ensuing counter movement led to the creativity of the Renaissance period. The wars of Western Europe led to Western European dominance of the world market for some five hundred years. And the U.S.-Soviet Cold War feud spurred the onset of the Space Age. The future will likely continue in such "chaos"; if the species is to survive, I believe, it must. Utopia, in a traditional sense will never happen except to be followed swiftly by the end of a section or of the whole of mankind. Man like a flower must continuously stretch to a light source for food. Remove that light and the plant will wither and die. So too ...

Predatory lending is one of two major causes of economic distress in the United States today, the other of course being oil. It is the idea that mortgage companies have in the past decade given out unwise loans, particularly for mortgages, to people believing that they could assume the debt incurred if they client defaults on the mortgage. Simply put, these mortgage brokerages would take the house from their client, and since the value of the housing market had been increasingly seemingly without end, it was obvious that even if they were to temporarily assume a debt, that debt would be erased, with profit, when they next sell the house and possibly pick up another unstable mortgage loan. They made money off of giving loans to people who could not feasibly pay them off. Many would default on those loans and the lenders would actually make money off the process, off the pain they generated. The second type of predatory lending I wish to speak of is one in which lenders provide so cal...