Archive for the ‘Bitch & Complain’ Category
Do you have termites? Are you aware of termites? If you answered yes to those two questions then you are eligible to participate in Termite Awareness Week celebrated between March 25-29. Another of those socially responsible and politically correct observances that no one ever pays attention to. I really don’t have more more to say in the matter since it’s a totally ridiculous observance. I just thought it was my civic duty to make everyone aware. What’s the point in having observances if no one is observing.
I’m about to rant a bit about a few things political so those of you with your heads in the sand may want to go elsewhere. This morning my better-half and I made the mistake of going food shopping at a local establishment. I hope your all as happy as I am to see the food prices continuing to skyrocket. It was also a good week for bad news for those of us on a fixed income. Medicare costs are climbing at a rate well beyond food costs, gas prices are climbing to near $4.00 a gallon, and my taxes are going through the roof. Am I I permitted to complain and bitch or is that against the rules these days. My Medicare Supplemental program just advised me that my monthly premiums will be increased approximately 55% in the coming months along with most of the deductibles and co-pays. Just good news all around thanks to the skilled crafters of the Obamacare Medical Plan and the big “O” himself.
My doctor of 12 years announced a month ago that he and his wife (also a doctor) had sold their practice and were leaving the country. It was no longer possible for them to afford to stay here under the preposterous government mandated Obamacare increases and restrictive rules. Remind me to thank the effing President for nothing except maybe destroying the countries healthcare system and the economy in one fatal swoop.
I hope all of you Obama supports will line up at the polls in a few years to help elect him for a third term. I figure he’s been working diligently to find a way to bypass the constitution once again and make himself President/King/Dictator for life. Then we can show the world what a second rate country we really are becoming with our own version of Hugo Chavez.
What a freaking nightmare!
Well, we’re buried under another foot of snow and I’m beginning to hate it. Mother Nature’s taking it upon herself to be annoying and there are a few hundred thousand people here in Maine who are no longer amused. Today was spent sitting in the house and looking longingly out the window for one ray of the ever illusive sunshine. After a few hours of that I was ready to fire up the snowblower and get to work. After clearing the snow I returned to the house to again sit and look out the window until the snow again piled up. Today that is my life.
Around 2 pm I retired to the man-cave for a few hours of computer time and some quality time with the cat. He was no help at all so in frustration I returned to my dry walling project. I set up an area in the garage and began to cut the drywall panels for the room remodel. What a mess. I finished enough panels to do about half of the walls and called it a day when I realized the longer I worked the more mess I was making. Falling back to an always available old saying, "all things in moderation", made it easy for me to clean up the area and walk away. My better-half, that burley female construction worker (sarcasm), assisted me in carrying the panels up to the second floor which was a real backbreaker for both of us. I felt a little better about returning to my snow watching after having accomplished something today. From weather reports it appears the storm will be lasting until sometime tomorrow so I’ll be snowblowing well into the night. Oh joy!
Fortunately my Harry Potter-2 X-box game arrived two days ago (thank you Amazon) and I was able to spend an hour or so creeping around Hogwarts castle looking for trouble. It’s was a great way to clear my head and relax (at least for me) for a little while.
Tomorrow the snow will stop, the roads will be cleared of snow, and I can get back into my spring time mindset. I can’t let this snow ruin my Spring Fever feelings.
OK everyone, let’s all stand up and cheer for the ever so popular ACLU who has again come to the rescue of Americans who have little or no respect for their county or their fellow citizens. It seems that I’m reading a steady stream of ACLU involvement defending indefensible positions much more than in the past. It seems that the Obama administration takes many of the same politically correct positions giving the ACLU the courage to increase their politically active agenda.
Over the years the ACLU has morphed from defending the constitution in many important decisions to an organization more concerned with political activism than the law. It’s an organization comprised of a fanatically driven group of attorneys and liberals desperate to destroy anything that doesn’t fit their concept of what American life should be. The United States was doing fine before this organization came along and in my opinion would be doing much better without it. For most of my adult life I’ve consistently spoken out against the ACLU and it’s policies. Their recent forays into political correctness will speak for themselves:
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In an effort to help Sen. Larry Craig, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy. Craig, of Idaho, is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport.
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Did you know that the ACLU has filed a suit to have all military cross-shaped headstones removed and another suit to end prayer from the military completely. They’re making great progress with the help of the Obama administration by banning Navy Chaplains from using the name of Jesus in prayers.
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The Ku Klux Klan has a right to adopt a highway, the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday, announcing that it would accept the white supremacist group’s request for representation in its dispute with the Georgia Department of Transportation. The ACLU has previously said it views the case as a free speech issue, but its state executive director wouldn’t elaborate further.
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A 12-year-old girl in Minnesota is suing her school with the help of the ACLU because she says administrators made her hand over her Facebook password and poured over her account, reports CNN. The move came after the girl got into trouble for some posts: In one, she wrote that she hated one of the school’s adult hall monitors; in another, a mother complained to the school that the girl was talking about sex on the site with her son, notes Courthouse News Service.
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Genuine death threats don’t tend to come with "LOL" and a smiley face attached, notes the ACLU, which has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three expelled eighth-graders in Indiana. The 14-year-old girls were kicked out of school for a Facebook conversation in which they talked about which classmates they would most like to kill, reports the Wall Street Journal. The ACLU says the girls were just engaged in "teenage banter," and their use of emoticons shows that they were joking.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The ACLU started out as an organization with high ideals but has turned into more of a subversive group determined to undermine this country. Watch what you say or they’ll be suing you next. They have assumed the role of the PC Police with a little pat on the head from Barack Obama.
I hear often from friends and family alike that I’m a cynic, sarcastic, have a bad attitude, and don’t think much of this human race I’m a part of. Here’s a news flash people, I’m all of those things and a bag of chips. I was raised to do the right thing whenever possible regardless of the consequences and it’s one of the main reasons I became a police officer. But things have changed dramatically in the last twenty years. Some good changes but many that aren’t so good. I certainly wouldn’t want to be a young child being raised now. They’re all eventually turned into fearful and paranoid little people who are afraid of everyone around them except for their mother and father. I understand that in most cases it’s a necessity considering all of the lunatics and perverts running the streets but it is a sad commentary of everyday American life and values.
We as a people have become so ‘paranoid’ of each other that courtesy and helpfulness between individuals can no longer be expected. I find myself affected in this way in my dealings not just with adults but also with children. I know if I saw a child in distress I would assist immediately but in the back of my mind I would be thinking and worrying, “ Is someone going to sue me or falsely accuse me of wrongdoing” just “to be on the safe side”. I’m afraid that a majority of men in this country are “paranoid” to the extreme in matters like this. I don’t doubt there have been occasions where young children appeared disoriented or lost and people continued on about their business because of these fears. How many times has it been reported that people have stood by and watched as others are raped, stabbed, and murdered without even taking any action as simple as a 911 call.
Years ago when I was in the police academy we were educated about a law called the ‘Good Samaritan Act’. It supposedly protected law enforcement and fire/rescue personnel from lawsuits resulting from their assisting injured individuals. They stressed during this training all of the required certifications you should have just to ‘cover your ass’. CPR and basic emergency medical training come to mind immediately. That’s great for service personnel but I’ll bet any amount of money that the law is so full of loop holes that it wouldn’t be possible to use it to protect an average citizen in those same circumstances. The current thinking seems to be, it’s safer to do nothing and not get involved.
So here’s where we are now. Women and children should run and hide from all men. Men should run and hide if approached by any female, old or young, any child, or any suspicious looking person. No eye contact with anyone at any time because they may rape, rob, abuse, or manhandle you. If you see a crime, keep walking and maybe call from home later or maybe not.
This kind of behavior is destructive to our society on many levels but I do understand the underlying reasons for it. As the country continues to permit individuals to rationalize any and all bad behavior up to and including murder, the situation will never improve. All of the psycho-babble in the world cannot justify or excuse hard core criminal behavior. Where there’s a carrot there must be a stick. Lack of societal deterrence for crimes is to blame. If a crime occurs there must be swift punishment to send the proper message to others and maybe convince the new generations that this isn’t a land full of adult predators who are out to get them.
Excuse me for a minute, I need to check my alarm system, my door locks, my deadbolts, and it’s also time to feed the alligators in the moat. That should keep me safe for another night.
We’re well into the month of March, one of the more religiously celebrated months of the year. The following days are observed by millions of people in many varied religions and countries. They are this year; St. David’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Saint Piran’s Day, St. Urho’s Day, and of course Easter Sunday.
I tend to get mixed messages because at the same time we have a total of 287 other daily, weekly, and monthly observances in March that are anything but religious. Here are a few odd and unusual observances that are in my opinion completely ridiculous.
Atheist Awareness Day, Root Canal Awareness Day, Pig Day, Day of the Dude, Corn Dog Day, Snowman Burning Day, and Earmuff Day. Go figure.
I myself have only one observance in March that interests me enough to mention. March 15-17 is Sherlock Holmes Weekend and I celebrate it each year by reading selected stories from my Sir Arthur Conan Doyle collection. Of all of the detectives written about over the years Sherlock Holmes has had more staying power than almost all of them. Alex Cross, Jack Reacher, Travis McGee, and Eve Dallas all have a huge followings around the world but nothing comes close to the Sherlock Holmes contingent of which I count myself a proud member.
Not only is it fun to read detective stories written in the late 1800’s but it’s also amazing to me how many of the skills developed by the Holmes character eventually became talents developed by many real life investigators. I was a criminal investigator and interrogator for more than than thirty years as a police officer, private investigator, and then in the private sector. The most successful investigators have an ability to look at a series of facts and circumstances from a unique angle that most people are unable to do. They place themselves into the mind of a criminal or victim which in turn helps them to understand the simplest of actions and statements which under normal circumstances might go unnoticed by the untrained. My first exposure to that way of thinking was through the Sherlock Holmes stories.
You can’t really appreciate Holmes without giving credit to his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died on July 7, 1940 in Sussex, England. Six years and one month later I was born. Approximately twelve years later I read my first Sherlock Holmes story and saw my first Hollywood movie version staring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I’m not saying that Sherlock Holmes was the inspiration for my career but I can’t tell you how many times when I first initiated a case I thought to myself “Watson, the game is afoot” .
One of my all time favorite Holmes mysteries is The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Find it, read it, and enjoy it.
Also thank God for my IPad, I still carry Holmes with me wherever I go.
The start of another work week for everyone and unfortunately for me as well. It’s becoming painfully obvious that I’m working much harder being retired than when I was actually working. For some reason I expected that taking early retirement was going to be the end of my labors and believing that makes me a gigantic moron. I should have know better.
I started with a huge and complicated goal when I took retirement. I sold my home and together with my better-half we decided to update and repair her home. I must have been brain damaged as a child to even think to take on a project like that especially dealing with a thirty year old home with five bedrooms. I now only have one wish. I want to meet the effing a-hole who built this place and I want to beat him with a huge stick for about an hour. There isn’t a square room in the entire building, the wiring was a complete and utter disaster, and who in their right effing mind puts drop ceilings in the kitchen and bedrooms.
I thought I was some kind of handy-man when I started this project but I’m a whole lot smarter now. In the last five years I’ve touched damn near every wire, board, window, door, and floor in the freaking building. Guess what? I’m still not finished. If I’m lucky I’ll have the entire house completed except for the kitchen within the next eighteen months. I won’t even begin to tell you what a nightmare the kitchen will be. It has to be gutted completely and redone from scratch.
With my luck I’ll finally get this place finished and then I’ll get hit by a truck getting the mail from the mailbox. I’ve done a few things in my life that deserve a karmic slap but I for the life of me I can’t remember doing anything bad enough to deserve this house. KMN
Enough of the whining. I just left Lowes with a load of material so I can get started on the drywall installation in my bedroom remodel. Lowes should make me their official mascot for this particular store since I spent enough money here to drive their sales for the last four years.
I’m going to finish this bedroom and then I’m taking the summer off. No hammers, nails, paint, or anything else. I going to relax, take lots of photographs, visit distant lands (within Maine), and enjoy the warm weather and the beach. That should clear my head enough to prepare me for next winters project.
Someone help me, I’m trapped in Maine and I can’t get out.
It’s March finally and we’re well on our way to April. Over the last few days it’s snowed twice more and made this one helluva Maine winter to remember. I’m happy because snow cover is good for our perennials and herbs and offers perfect protection against the wind and cold air. Last year we had very little snow that lasted for any length of time and the plants suffered. Almost forty percent of my herb garden was lost including many older plants that I’ve tended for years. That noise you’re not hearing is me crossing my fingers.
The Maine aquifers are full and any threat of drought has been eliminated for the foreseeable future. I’m hearing that the celebrations over at the Poland Spring bottling plant could last for weeks. This winter is not only great for their business but also for revenues of the towns where they buy water.
Today was a good day for me because I was able to sit on my ass and watch while my room remodel continued. I finally wised up and hired someone to put down the new hardwood floor. It was done quickly and expertly and looks incredible and I didn’t spill a drop of wine in the process. Life is good sometimes. I actually was hoping it would take more than one day to do so I could loaf for a while longer. Because of the installers efficiency I’ll now be forced into beginning the dry wall installation. Another good plan foiled.
I’m sitting here listening to the Maine winter body count on the radio. Another three snowmobiler’s dead. They attempted to cross a partially frozen lake and went down with the ship. It was announced that the search for their bodies has been postponed until spring when the ice melts. What a terrible way to die.
For those of you living in warmer climates you need to understand that there are probably more snowmobiles in this state than people. We have areas up north that are snowmobile superhighways requiring places where you can stop and eat and even occasional police patrols to enforce the speed limits. You can travel for miles and miles and never see a road or even the ground. I’ve sat at one of the hundreds of snowmobile crossings in this state while thirty or forty snowmobiles rode by. Husbands, wives, kids, and even a pet of two. It’s really amazing to watch.
With that many people out and about on them and the large number of lakes in the state it’s just inevitable that fatal accidents will happen. Sympathies to the families for sure but more Maine winter casualties can be expected and will almost certainly occur. It’s a grim fact of life here in snow country.
I can smell some really excellent pizza cooking and my glass of wine is almost empty. That’s a Maine winter emergency I can do something about. More snow expected is through the night tonight and another winter wonderland in the morning. Hooray!
I closely follow the news every day, not through the Main Stream Media but on the web where “fair and balanced" reporting can still be occasionally found. To say things have become quite scary in recent months is no joke.
Last month I celebrated two years of blogging on both this blog and a year and a half on my former blog, Anti-Stupidity Central. I suppose my initial timing with ASC was fortunate with the upcoming presidential election helping keep me focused and supplied me with lots of material. On that blog I’ve written a number of times voicing my concerns for our country and the apparent fools who someone (definitely not me) voted into office.
One of my biggest bitches and complaints involved the evolution of political correctness, it’s negative uses, and everyone’s lackadaisical attitude and failure to take it seriously. In recent months it’s become worse due to the re-election of Obama in his last lame-duck term. It’s motivated the left to push the limits of responsibility and common sense like never before at the expense of our country, our well being, and our children’s future.
Political correctness is an insidious and evil method used by some to undermine what was once a stable and proud country. That’s been eroded away slowly by decades of influences from liberal Academia, the Green movement, the ACLU, the liberal media, and the liberal special interest groups and politicians. In my opinion it’s become the norm in this country and is so ingrained in our society that it may never be able to be stopped. I hope I’m wrong but I’m no longer even sure it’s possible to fix things.
Many of you reading this will certainly try to downplay what I’m saying and even ridicule me personally. That’s one of the benefits of free speech that I see this administration attempting to pervert and eliminate. Ask Bob Woodward how he feels when he’s openly threatened by the White House for disagreeing with the President. That’s not only a blow against Freedom of Speech but also Freedom of the Press. Only a damn fool or a total idiot can’t understand what a dangerous road we seem to traveling down.
I guess my interest in “Political Correctness” started in earnest approximately twelve years ago when I read an interesting speech written by Bill Lind for Accuracy in Academia at American University. As you read these excerpts from that speech try to remember that it was written more than ten years ago long before the country had slid so dangerously close to the edge of that smelly cesspool of “political correctness”.
The Origins of Political Correctness
“Where does all this stuff that you’ve heard about this morning – the victim feminism, the gay rights movement, the invented statistics, the rewritten history, the lies, the demands, all the rest of it – where does it come from? For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic.”
“We have seen other countries, particularly in this century, where this has been the case. And we have always regarded them with a mixture of pity, and to be truthful, some amusement, because it has struck us as so strange that people would allow a situation to develop where they would be afraid of what words they used. But we now have this situation in this country. We have it primarily on college campuses, but it is spreading throughout the whole society. Were does it come from? What is it?”
“We call it “Political Correctness.” The name originated as something of a joke, literally in a comic strip, and we tend still to think of it as only half-serious. In fact, it’s deadly serious. It is the great disease of our century, the disease that has left tens of millions of people dead in Europe, in Russia, in China, indeed around the world. It is the disease of ideology. PC is not funny. PC is deadly serious.”
“If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I.”
“In 1923 in Germany, a think-tank is established that takes on the role of translating Marxism from economic into cultural terms, that creates Political Correctness as we know it today, and essentially it has created the basis for it by the end of the 1930’s.”
“These origins of Political Correctness would probably not mean too much to us today except for two subsequent events. The first was the student rebellion in the mid-1960s, which was driven largely by resistance to the draft and the Vietnam War. But the student rebels needed theory of some sort. They couldn’t just get out there and say, “Hell no we won’t go,” they had to have some theoretical explanation behind it. Very few of them were interested in wading through Das Kapital. Classical, economic Marxism is not light, and most of the radicals of the 60s were not deep.”
“We can envision a future, if we can only destroy this existing oppressive order, in which we liberate eros, we liberate libido, in which we have a world of “polymorphous perversity,” in which you can “do your own thing.” And by the way, in that world there will no longer be work, only play. What a wonderful message for the radicals of the mid-60s! They’re students, they’re baby-boomers, and they’ve grown up never having to worry about anything except eventually having to get a job. “Do your own thing,” “If it feels good do it,” and “You never have to go to work.” , “Make love, not war.”
“In conclusion, America today is in the throes of the greatest and direst transformation in its history. We are becoming an ideological state, a country with an official state ideology enforced by the power of the state. In “hate crimes” we now have people serving jail sentences for political thoughts. And the Congress is now moving to expand that category ever further. Affirmative action is part of it. The terror against anyone who dissents from Political Correctness on campus is part of it. It’s exactly what we have seen happen in Russia, in Germany, in Italy, in China, and now it’s coming here. And we don’t recognize it because we call it Political Correctness and laugh it off. My message today is that it’s not funny, it’s here, it’s growing and it will eventually destroy, as it seeks to destroy, everything that we have ever defined as our freedom and our culture.”
I hate being forced to write such depressing news but not only is this blog meant to inform the readers it’s also a way for me to maintain my sanity by venting when necessary. I find it necessary right now. It’s just frustrating for me when I see more citizens of this country attempting to tear it down than to build it back up. A true recipe for disaster.
After yesterday’s serious posting I decided to lighten things up a bit today. We snow bunnies here in Maine are celebrating again as we await yet another two feet of snow to play in. I’ve spent most of today with my new best friend, my snow blower, and we’ve been out doing our thing four times already. It’s a real bitch since this snow is extremely heavy and wet making everything doubly difficult. If I don’t continue to keep up with the snowfall then tomorrow when the temperature dips low again I’ll be up to my butt in ice.
My better-half has apparently lost what little was left of her mind. She’s been out in the snow all day running, jumping, and just being crazy. I fear she may have a serious snow fetish that I was not previously aware of. I gave up years ago trying to calm her down when she gets like this so I just stand back and take lots of pictures. They’re perfect for future blackmailing purposes and you can bet I’ll use them to my best advantage. I’m surprised she hasn’t again suggested making naked snow angels as she’s done in the past. In order for me to be tempted to do that I’d need a lot more alcohol which would in turn would make me especially dangerous with that snow blower. So I’ll pass this time and make sure I get really clear pictures if she decides to get that nuts.
Her one big wish today was to build a freaking snowman in the front yard. Since I wasn’t permitted to give it a nice set of breasts I refused to participate. Being the shy person she is she initiated a conversation with some guy in a pickup truck who was plowing the neighbors driveway who then stopped to look at the snowman. She complained she had no carrot for the snowman’s nose and it really wouldn’t be complete without one. The guy turned his truck around and drove away in the middle of the storm and returned fifteen minutes later, rolled down his window, and handed her a carrot, and then drove away. All in all a pretty cool move.
I suppose I’ll be out with the snow blower at least one more time before calling it a night. I suspect she’ll require me to sit in front of the television tonight with her to watch all of the red carpet hoopla before the Oscar ceremony. Thank God she works early in the morning and will probably go to bed early so I can turn it off. Watching Hollywood celebrities for me is much like having your wisdom teeth pulled with a pair of pliers and no Novocain.
It’s time for a quiet dinner and a glass of brandy or two and then to bed to read a few chapters. The storm should be over before morning and I hope we get a reprieve from the weather for a few days before the next one rolls in.
As I sit here today watching the freaking snow come down I’m a little irked because I have a few people in my life who’ve labeled me a ‘neat freak’. I’ve never been too fond of that negative terminology or the term OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) but I suppose in the end it’s probably true to a degree. Looking through my family tree for any proof of a ‘neat’ gene was no help at all. Believe me there is no indication whatsoever that anyone in my family was ever ‘neat’ at the level I seem to be. I have to admit that my nephew in Texas shows some minor indicators but not near the level I’ve reached.
These days it seems this condition is all the rage but they (the experts) have come up with a number of new names for what they deem a terrible affliction, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) immediately comes to mind, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
Just another excuse to bang the prescription drug drum. More drugs, take more drugs, buy more drugs, and everything will be just fine. Take the small children who may act up slightly in school, diagnose them with a myriad of alphabet diseases, and immediately put them onto some sort of drug regimen. The teachers apparently need their classes to be totally calm and controllable or they just can’t get the job done. Everyone knows its always much easier to control a room full of zombies than a bunch of excited children.
I agree there are some children and adults who are at the extreme end of hyperactivity and may need some sort of medication to calm them but not at the levels we’re currently seeing.
I feel for those people and can’t begin to imagine trying to live a normal life if my ‘neat freak’ affliction were twice as bad as it is. Unfortunately thousands of young children are automatically labeled with OCD, ADD, or ADHD which will then follow them for the rest of their lives. It not only colors how other people see them but how they see themselves. It actually in some cases can give them an excuse for continued bad behavior. "I’m OCD, it’s not my fault, my parents forgot to give me my pills this morning."
My sympathies go out to those people suffering with severe cases of this affliction. My sympathies also go out to the thousands of young children who are being medicated unnecessarily in order to maintain some sort of control in the schools. Being a smart ass with a wise mouth doesn’t make you ADD, ADHD, OCD, or anything else. It just makes you a smart ass with a big mouth who should not be considered a candidate for drugging.
I’m sure that some of you will be pissed off and disagree with me completely. That’s your prerogative but it won’t change in any way what I think or feel on the subject. For those of you who want to rant and rave at me, feel free.
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