Cheap Bastards

Is $200 (per couple) really too much to pay for three days worth of events at a high school reunion? I figure my failure to baulk at this number is either a sign of my success and/or the taint of living in the Washington DC area and dealing with high prices on everything.
Now I get that we're in hard economic times. For the most part, I grew up living below the poverty level. I'm not trying to be insensitive, but some of the people crying about this sound like cheap bastards. I understand the reluctance for people who have to travel. I happen to be making a twelve hour drive, so add to my $200 entry fee the gas, hotel, and food involved to be able to see these folks after a decade (even I am staying with family friends for at least part of this trip to save money--I'm not against frugality). I do not understand the motivation of the people who live there to complain, though. I suppose when you're in podunk nowheresville Georgia, $200 might very well be a lot of money...
I am so glad I don't live in that pissant know-nothing tiny town. You couldn't even pay me enough to move back to that state, proximity to a big city be damned.

Despite my hatred for BFE, Georgia, I am looking forward to this reunion. It's nice to have something to show for my ten years away from hell.

Sarah Palin

Despite glaring proof in her own family that abstinence only sex education doesn’t work, this brood mare is likely still going to support it. From what I hear, she doesn’t even believe in the use of condoms, either. She just had her fifth kid, and at 44, is it any wonder that it was born with Down Syndrome? Statistically, she was kinda asking for it. But really, how much time does she actually spend with the kids since she’s such a busy politician? I’m sure her nanny will keep her insulated from understanding what real families go through who have special needs kids. (OK, I don't really know if she has a nanny. Though if she doesn't have one now, I imagine she won't be able to be the Veep without one. That or dear old dad will play daddy and mommy. In either case, the woman will remain clueless as to life in the real world for working class families.)
Obviously, this is the move the Republican Party needed to get those evangelicals on board. What better way to get them salivating at the mouth than to put in front of them a pro-life nutbag who (from what I hear) doesn’t even care about possible danger to the life of the mother? (It has been confirmed that she doesn’t support abortion even in cases of rape or incest, though.)
I can only hope that women are smart enough not to fall for the bullshit. It’s like they expect women are going to all of a sudden think to themselves, “She has a vagina. I have a vagina. Why, I should vote for her!” Somehow though, I don’t hold out much hope for the average American to see through the pandering on this one.
I’m ok with new blood and not a ton of experience being in the White House, but damn if I want that wench so close the presidency. And let’s face it, with John McCain’s age, Palin will be closer to the possibility on a daily basis than most Vice Presidents have been. I heard, but have yet to confirm, that her husband used to work for BP and that she sued the Interior Department to get polar bears off the endangered species list. So maybe she’s not new blood after all…

Retro Rant

I'm still not planning to bring all my old rants over here, but this one was one of my favorites when I wrote it. Looking back, it could use some tweaking, but I'm not in the Navy anymore, so I'll let it stand as is, in all its pissed-off goodness:

OK, so I have a MySpace account as well as this one, but I don't blog there. There is a link to my LJ there, but only one or two people from there actually come over to read it that I know of.
At any rate, they have these bulletins and I suppose it's a pretty cool way to get out information to a lot of people, as individuals repost and so on. For the third time since I've gotten the account, I've witnessed some of my friends posting "support the troops" stuff. I see at least 5 support the troops magnets on peoples' cars every time I drive somewhere around here. Speaking of cars, let me just go ahead and list the magnets/stickers that piss me off the most (that I usually see together all on one car): Support the Troops, God Bless the Troops, and God Bless America--all or most with American flag motifs. They're usually also accompanied by Bush/Cheney stickers, but I digress--this rant isn't about them.
So back to what I was saying... all this "support the troops" stuff really annoys me. I am in the military myself, and apart from the magnets people buy from the USO, I'd like to know just how this supports the troops. Now, I wasn't there for, but understand the difference between this show of solidarity and what happened with Vietnam veterans, but seriously... it seems to me that it's all people who aren't in the military patting themselves on the backs for saying, "Thank you," when all they really need to do is say, "Thank you." And not with a pathetic sticker or a bulletin post or a blog. Write to people on deployment; send care packages; cheer when people return from deployments; give to the USO.
I just don't get the "I support the troops" thing when there's no action to back it up. Sorry, but walking all the way around your car to put the sticker on it or taking the time to cut and paste some lame poem doesn't count as action in my book. Oh, and neither does praying for them. Sorry, but that "God bless the troops" shit pisses me off even more--I didn't ask for, nor do I need some stranger's concept of omnipotent blessings. And while I fully understand that you mean nothing but good things by it, why don't you think outside your own little box for once and realize that there are MUCH more universal ways to say/do/mean good things that don't have anything to do with religion? And whether or not you think it's harmless, it's an insult to my intelligence when you say there are no atheists in foxholes. Now, how is insulting my intelligence "supporting" me exactly? Yes me... I AM the troops. I'm in the military, so I think I have every right to this particular rant. I've been on a deployment, and I am serving my country. No one can call me unpatriotic for not putting an American flag sticker on my car like the masses.
To me, it's the same as people who feel the need to advertise their religion on bumper stickers. It's your religion; it should be a personal, spiritual thing... being proud of it is one thing, but certain stickers are quite "holier than thou" about it, and that's the same to me as magnets that "support the troops." Don't put a magnet on your car telling me you're proud of something; go out and fucking DO something! Until you do, you're only supporting the guy in China who made the magnet.

This is news?!

Seems like it's feast or famine, eh? In any case, let's get on with it.


Seriously, CNN? Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

This is news? And from a senior writer, no less? That shit is not what I should see on the front fucking page of your website. Ever.

Besides the fact that you went for an easy bullshit piece about moms, who apparently are the standard easy-to-write-about subset of Americans, who the fuck is this NOT happening to besides the rich? What a fucking cop-out. CNN just disappoints more and more every day.

This isn't news. It's happening to everyone. What the fuck makes moms so goddamn special? Why not just make it about poor people in general; you know, the ones who are being hit the hardest by this economic down turn? Why not make it about the struggling (and shrinking) middle class? Why not a story about how the eldery on fixed incomes are trying to deal with the higher prices of everything? Moms? That's the best you lazy sons of bitches could do?
This is a goddamn special interest piece.
A lame one, at that.
I don't begrudge CNN the story, but I am annoyed that it's on the front fucking page, with breaking news. Why the fuck should I care that moms have to make their own detergent to save money any more than I care about everyone else in the entire country that might be doing the same thing?

Where the hell have you been, young lady?!

I feel as if I've neglected this rant-o-rama room.
It's not that I haven't been pissed off enough to post things. Oh, I've been pissed off. Horribly so.
I've just been too fucking tired to articulate the depth of hatred I feel for the asshattery of late.
I imagine things won't slow down again until June, at which time I will no longer be wasting my time and money being treated like some truant middle schooler at a certain supposed institution for higher learning.
Then I'll take my time and money to a school that's more into treating people like the working adults they are. But I won't even do that until at least the fall, if not next spring. And when I do, there's no way in hell I'm going to try taking classes full time while working full time. Fuck that shit. Fuck it hardcore.
Lesson. Learned.

Hate, they name is... harsh?

I can't stand it when people puss out on hate. "Oh, I don't hate anybody. Hate is too harsh a term."
Seriously? What the fuck is your imbalance? If you can love something or someone, you can hate something or someone else. Not only that, but you probably should. I'm all for keeping your enemies closer than your friends, and I'm all for turning the other cheek when it's appropriate (which is more situations than not), but I draw the line at loving your enemy.
I think too many people confuse hating with acting on said feelings. Just because I hate someone doesn't mean I'm going to go out slash his or her tires. It doesn't mean I'm going to be a slave to my hate and get the jitters until I piss in that person's coffee. It just means I have a healthy dose of the other end of the emotional spectrum flowing through me to balance out the love stuff that's also there (even if it's not apparent in this particular blog). I don't let it ruin my life, my relationships, or my blood pressure.
I've heard people say that hate just eats you up inside and is a waste of energy. I respectfully disagree. It will eat you inside if you're weak and stupid enough to let it. I bet the same people who get completely eaten up with hate over some things/people are the same ones who fall headlong and hard in love and let that define them, too... for as long as that love lasted, anyway. Hate and love are the extremes, and people who try to live in one and not the other aren't healthy. The hate-filled folks are just as unhealthy as the love-only folks, but I find that the love-only ones really come off as major pussies.
It's not like I'm saying you have to both love and hate every object or person in your life like there's some weird Yin and Yang deal in everything on the planet. I'm just saying you ought not act like you're "too good" to hate something or someone. You're not too good. You're off kilter. Fucknut.

If the State of Georgia was a person, I'd like to slap the stupid out of him.

Georgia and I have a long, sordid history.

I hated Georgia while I lived there, but was ok with calling it home once I left.
I was not ok when, due to some new rules, I was unable to continue registering my car in my Military Home of Record where I was paying state taxes simply because I had a license from the state in which I was living due to military orders.
I was not ok when they changed the flag. I don't give two shits about the "Stars and Bars," but both of the flags that followed the confederate cloth read: "In God We Trust." Great, so now, not only was I being pissed on by my state for daring to be in the military and not living in the backwards ass fuckhole of Georgia, but I was also being excluded from the citizenry as an atheist. I'm not saying that there should be a denouncement of God, but come the fuck on. Even in Georgia, there are at least *some* people who don't believe in an invisible sky buddy.
I was not ok this morning, when I heard the latest about the water talks/fights between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama as they try to deal with the drought. Of course, talks have stalled between the states, and really, who came blame them? I wouldn't want to work with a fuck like Sonny Perdue who thinks that the other states just "still don't realize how vital and how critical Georgia's water needs are."
So what do they want to do? These fucks want to redraw the boarder to take over a piece of the Tennessee River!

Jesus Fucking Christ, I take it back. If Georgia were a person, I wouldn't want to slap the stupid out of him, I would want to beat the fuck out of him for being such a self-centered asshole who can't see past his own nose.

Wow, lady. That sure is an ugly baby.

Just in case anyone out there is reading this, I want you to know right now that you will never see pictures of babies in this blog unless I'm making fun of ugly ones.

I sometimes choose to use the 'Next Blog' button to peruse the other blog offerings here. I've noticed that a lot of them are dedicated to families, and especially to children. I can see why people would do this; it's a convenient way to keep up with family from all over without clogging up their inboxes. Blood relations or not, no one appreciates 102 pictures all at once. Plus, you never know when some stranger might come by and comment on how cute your little snot factory is. And let's face it, who doesn't like compliments from strangers?

I wonder if people with ugly babies ever notice if/when people don't tell them their baby is cute. I wonder if they even realize thay have ugly babies. Do they know it deep down and deny it? Or is there some sort of invisible blinder that slips only onto the eyes of parents whenever they look at their little bundle of newly hatched flesh? I've heard of people being afraid they might end up with an ugly baby, but apparently none of those people ever realize their fears... or they don't seem to think they do.

This blog now has a purpose

So, I changed the title to reflect the new purpose of this blog. This will be for my rants and any other unsavory thoughts of mine.
I've toyed with the idea of cross posting some of my old rants from my LJ here, but will hold off on that for now.
I like to use my LJ to generally keep up with folks. I don't update it daily or even weekly with the minutia of my days, but I do hop on from time to time to let people know I'm not dead in a ditch anywhere.
I like to use the Myspace blog for things I think are important/thought-provoking (always cross-posted to my LJ).
I've used the notes feature on facebook a few times, but they're also always cross-posted from/to my LJ.
I'd like for this one to stand alone. I do a lot of cross posting because there are always a few people in each of those communities that is not in one or more of the others. So far, I've linked to this one from the others, but not advertised its existence to my friends. I still haven't decided if I want to or not. There's no hiding my identity; it's all connected. I'm ok with that.
It's just that, while I don't anticipate it ever actually happening, I would kinda like it if this blog turned into something that other people from outside my other/usual circles were to start reading and posting their own rants and frustrations here, too. But there's plenty of places for that on the internet. This one's nothing new.
And yet, I find that I'll use this blog all the same.

I'll take the express elevator down, thanks.

I saw a woman in the mall today with two little kids. I don't remember hearing any conversation between them to confirm my suspicions, but it seemed likely enough that she was their mother.
My first thought was, "Holy shit. Someone had sex with her. Twice"
Ick.

Certified Morons

Pop quiz, people.
You're driving on I-495 (Outer loop of Washington DC) on your way to work. The speed limit is 50 in the construction zones and 55 elsewhere. 85-90% of the traffic is actually driving 70 miles per hour. There are four lanes.
You feel like going 60-65 mph. Which lane should you be in?

If you say anything other than the far right, you're a certified fucking moron!

I drive this corridor every weekday. People fail this quiz every weekday.


If you drive with your blinker on for more than 30-45 seconds and you don't actually do what your blinker is warning people your'e about to do, you're a certified fucking moron.
If you drive with your blinker on for 5-10 minutes while you're going down a road on which there are no places to turn, you should have your car keys taken away and they should be used to beat you about the head and shoulders for the same amount of time you drove with your blinker needlessly lit.

Blog, yo.

I wanted to use Google Talk to catch up with some people. So I ended up with this login.
Might as well use it.
I haven't decided how much I'll use it, but all my sites are generally linked to one another.