CAPITALISM KILLS THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

It's true, and I know this from both sides of the coin. Most prominently from behind the counter, as the working stiff who has to cater to the greedy hands of the buyers and the sellers. This is made manifest by having to work on Christmas Eve instead of being home with my family relaxing and enjoying their company. Working the day after Christmas - at 5:30 a.m. so people can rudely go out and return the gifts that they didn't like and buy yet even more shit they don't need.

And the same is true for another day of the year that I like to celebrate symbolically: New Year's Day. I'll be CLOSING on New Year's Eve and I'll be opening on New Year's Day - all instead of being home and celebrating the last day of this year and the first day of the new year. I am a somewhat sentimental person... I like the meaning behind these sorts of days and I like to be able to reflect upon an enjoy them. And now I can't, and it's all thanks to Capitalism.

Of course, this is just my little pity pot story - if you watch Michael Moore's new film Capitalism: A Love Story, you'll get a nice strong dose of the evils of capitalism on the grand scale. But for the everyday Judy, such as myself, enjoyment of life is extinguished.

Cry me a river, I know. But it's a noticeable result and I despise it.

And by the way, to the critics: yes, I too am a consumer. We all are. Every human being consumes, and we woud die if we didn't. I buy things I need. I buy things I don't need. Read my post again if you think I am a hypocrite, because what I am saying is that being held hostage to the demands of the general public and the money-grubbing of the capitalists behind the corporations and having to adjust my life and thus sacrafice the enjoyment of my life for this reason, is just the fucking pits. Period. Those of you who work retail know the woes of which I speak.

Waiting for the Old and Ignorant to Die

A Little Nightcap of Politics

Ah yes, "Fair and Balanced," indeed...

Dear Naysayers:

What a crying shame that this couldn't have been determined during Michael's life. I have ALWAYS been a strong M.J. supporter and never believed that he was bleaching his skin. He said he had vitiligo and I believed him. He was healthy at time of death, contrary to many reports that he was weak and depleted. How very sad that his life ended so soon, that his childrens' father has been forever taken from them, and that the world lost the best, nay, the GREATEST star the world has ever known.

Love ya, Michael. Wish I could have met you...

Jesus H. Christ Hangin' on the Cross

These people (Phelp's people) are so. fucked. up. I am so grateful that I don't live anywhere near them. Oh my god...

Gay Banditos

Funnyman Lewis Black on how "the gays" are indeed a very real threat to the American family.


(FUCKIN' CONSERVATIVE DICKWADS!)

Dia de Lost Muertos

This sugar skull is the template for my next tattoo. I like the basic layout and will only be changing a few features like colors and getting rid of that ghastly cross in the middle of it's head. Pretty sweet, though.

Because I Can't Say Them Right Now...

I'll let good ol' Georgie do it.

... "say, those things are... responding!"

Are We Really All That Evolved?

I don't think so...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge has given a 90-day jail sentence to an Ohio firefighter accused of killing his dogs to avoid boarding them while he went on vacation.

Forty-three-year-old David Santuomo of Columbus pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool _ a homemade silencer he used on the end of a rifle.

Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson says Santuomo shot his two mixed-breed dogs Sloopy and Skeeter on Dec. 3 after tying them to a pipe in his basement. She says he dumped the remains in a trash bin behind his firehouse.

Prosecutors have said he bragged about the killings to colleagues.

Defense attorney Sam Shamansky calls the crime an isolated event “totally out of character” for his client.

Is Glenn Beck Really A Monster?

No. Is he a saint? Well, he is a Saint, but not a Saint.

You know what? I'm no conservative (shocking, I know) - not by a long shot. But I really don't like it when people intentionally give misleading information to others and present it as fact.

This happened today on a blog in my blogroll (you'll find it if interested). The blog author gave the post a nasty title about Glenn Beck and proceeded to copy and paste text from another web page - not run by Beck, nor a site about the book - about some passages from Glenn Beck's 2003 book, The Real America. This particular passage went into a somewhat disturbing bit of detail about a supposed fantasy relationship Beck had with his sister as a young man. Fine. Weird. But that's all the author of the blog posted. From this blog author's link to the web page they took this information from, there was a further excerpt from Beck explaining that he used this story, whether it is true or false was not stated and really doesn't matter in this case, to further explain a larger point he was making - a parable of sorts.

What I think of this story, or Beck's politics in general, have nothing to do with this to me. I am defending him in this instance because this poster was misleading their readers by only posting part of the truth and presenting it as the whole truth. That's just not thinking critically, which is what intelligent and thoughtful people do. When you have a captive audience, you are bound by Socratic eithics, in my eyes, to present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Especially when using someone else's words. Period.

The Call of the Abyss

I can't outline my emotions right now, but suffice it to say the only proper outlet for them is the music below. Enjoy the greatness that is Ihsahn.

Public Safety or Police Brutality?

The video below shows a man dancing at the Coachella music festival this year. He is also naked.

In the beginning of the video, the three policemen present were trying, albeit rather patiently, to get the man to put his clothes back on. But the man continued to refuse, albeit nonviolently and without the use of profanity. A few minutes into trying to coax him to re-clothe himself, the policemen seem to collectively lose their patience with this man and begin to use violent force. While it is hard to tell how much strength someone possesses on video, it seems the man wasn't struggling to break free of their grasp all that much, being perhaps just a little squirmy.

Ultimately, they end up kneeing him in his side, smashing his face into the dirt, twisting his arms back into what appears to be very painful positions, and then tazing him several times. All the while he resisted not, he never even swore, and just said, "I don't care, I don't care!"

All for being naked. Naked.

Over the last couple of days that I've known about this video, I've read on several different forums and blogs a lot of support for the policemen's actions, some even going so far as to say (paraphrasing), "What if he were to have raped some little girl or something?" I strongly, strongly disagree with this poorly reasoned comment. He in NO way was insinuating any type of sexual behavior, intent, or otherwise. He was simply dancing about with a couple of boas. Harmless.

So yes. If the rules of the event were such that one must stay clothed, fine. Cart him off to jail for refusing to redress himself once asked a few times. And I would even sanction them resorting to some type of physical restraint to control him if he were posing a physical threat to anyone there. Perhaps this guy was a little crocked - fine. Cart him off to jail. But in no way, in NO WAY, was it acceptable for the police to use so much force on this man. No way. It was quite barbaric and in my opinion, a very clear abuse of power on the part of these "authorities".



Naked Wizard Tased By Reality from Tracy Anderson on Vimeo.

Politically Incorrect

Discrimination

You know, I just don't get some people.

Without going into too many details, I will explain something that has been part of my life for the last five years and will continue to be part of my life, so long as I am married to my husband.

From the outside, there is an obvious physical difference between me and my husband. That alone makes people draw their own conclusions about us, mostly negative. From one of us there is an ex who is hell-bent on telling ghastly lies and spreading any kind of rumor they can conjure up to try to make us look bad to our kids' friend's parents. In this, they have succeeded. Nevermind that this ex chronically gets fired from jobs for screaming at co-workers and patients (a "nurse"), loses significant others to infidelity and rage, gets evicted from homes due to unacceptable disturbances, alienates friends for being undependable, and of course, has done one hell of a job of making their kids hate them. Now. We, on the other hand, have literally and truly never had one of these things happen to us, in all our lives - both together and before, and yet we are the ones who are looked at and treated like freaks. It is really, really frustrating.

Now that our kids are getting older and are starting to see this for themselves, they are getting upset because they are seeing that friends are not allowed to come over, etc. All because of lies. We have lived in the same home for over 5 years, have had the same jobs for that amount of time, are happily married and you won't believe this but have never ONCE even yelled at each other, and yet we are somehow the bad guys. I am just appalled at the foolishness and immaturity of these people, who don't even take the time to get to know us for who we are. It literally is just that bad. We go to all the school functions, volunteer in both kid's classes, go to all the sporting and musical events, host sleepovers and playdates (with true friends), and have a normal, kid-centered life.

I can't begin to express how this really gets my hackles up. Of course, we have good and true friends who see us for who we are and know the truth. And for them we are so glad. And really, obviously these other people aren't worth the time in the first place. But it is really frustrating to have people thinking and saying untrue things about us when we're the ones doing all the right stuff.

I can really understand and empathize with all people who have been discriminated against for various things, whether it was/is for interracial marriage, disabilities, economic status or social class. It all hurts. I guess some people never got the memo about thinking for themselves and drawing conclusions based on real life experience. So long, suckers!

It's a Sad, Sad Day Indeed

Bad news, my friends. Very, very bad news. One of the greatest movies of all time is most unfortunately being remade, which in and of itself is already a crapper, but to make matters even worse, they've already slotted Tom Cruz to play the main, and coolest, role. Yes, I'm talking about the remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

*sigh* I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this story. As evidenced here, this is one of my all-time favorites, and there are countless reasons why. Two of the main reasons are that two of the best actors the silver screen has ever been graced by star in this film. I am of course talking about Robert Redford and the late Paul Newman. Why oh why in the name of all things good was Tom Cruz picked to play Sundance? I mean, Brad Pitt? Yes. Tom Cruz? No. Even if they made it into a comedy with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson that would be okay. But this, really not OK.

At least we still have the original. I refuse to pollute my good memory with a new "improved" version.

Hey Hollywood! Get some damn originality! Stop doing remakes of the classics for money! Actually hire a good writer or two. It did you good in the past. Oh yeah, that's right. There aren't any good writers anymore. Only the ones who produce mindless drivel or shoddy remakes. pfft.

Squeaky and Itchy

Dood ~ Allergies doth abound today. Shite. I've never really had allergies, but today I sure as hell do. The usual symptoms, which I am sure you're sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to hear all about in detail, alas are really not all that important or interesting.

More important, however, is my really annoying new neighbor who has just sprung out of the woodwork to make my life more interesting if nothing else. GOD this lady drives me up the wall. For starters, this lady doesn't know the concept of modesty, not even in the most general sense of the word. Let's just say that she has no problem letting it all hang out. Of course this bothers me, but mostly because she has decided that my HUSBAND is the best thing since sliced cheese and is now over daily, yes daily, to chat or bum a cigarette or generally parade around in front of him. Bless him, he's just too damn nice to people and they come to him in droves, all kinds of winners. They actually come to me, too, I'm just better at being a dick than he is.

So this lady is recently divorced and separated from her husband, has two children - one of which is a special needs child, and yes, we pretty much know all about her life. What really urks me is that when I see her in passing on my own, she ignores the shit out of me, doesn't even smile when I wave or say hi. But when my husband is near, she's just so damn squeaky nice! *GRIN* Boy are my hackles up. And of course, now that he's shown GENERAL KINDNESS to this lady, she's a near-permanent fixture on our porch. Go in, you say? Well, my husband essentially lives on the porch - the man likes the great out of doors, what can I say? So for now, all I can do is hope that she moves - SOON.

When she first started skulking around, I pointed out to my husband that this lady was a lookin' for trouble. Now as a little background, he often thinks that I am paranoid - which I'm not - so he kind of dismissed what I said, even though he's pointed out on several occasions, might I add, that yep, I was right about that one person. *again, GRIN* So, I just admonished him to keep his eyes out, that she's bound to show her cards any time now, she's just that kind of person.

Sure enough, true to form, she's now started up an affair with another resident of our complex (it's really not THAT kind of complex, this is actually the first time there has been anything close to drama in the 5+ years we've been here) who happens to be married, yes married, himself. We know him, we know his wife, and we know his three children. And every day, several times a day, we see him slink into her apartment and slink out several minutes or hours later. He also happens to be the maintenance man here at the complex and is working on a porch nearby so I am sure that his sweet and perhaps unsuspecting wife (though this is so painfully obvious to us just sitting on our porch that I am hard pressed to believe that she is just blissfully unaware of her husband's whereabouts all the damn time) has no clue he's off doinking the new lady. See, this guy tried this with me when I first moved in - 'cause I'm a hot little number, what can I say? But hey, much to his dismay, I HAVE MORALS - AND I'M NOT EVEN RELIGIOUS - IMAGINE THAT!! So he quickly got the picture that I was not available for his late night antics and he moved on to the next newest lady at the time, who has since become my best friend. She was single, and I think, but don't tell her I think this, they had a little thing going on. If nothing else, perhaps some heavy petting, as they say. So, he moved on from her once he realized that well was only knee deep, and I thought we were done with this bright spark. But nope, sure enough he's back and at it with this lady, who has also by the way, detailed to my husband when I wasn't there about how she's lost 100 pounds in the last two years, had a tummy tuck and a boob job, and so she seems to him Maintenance Man like som'in good to eat.

We're the lucky winners of a free spectacle every weekend, too. While the kiddies play in our front lawn with the neighbor kids - even hers, we see this MOTHER OF TWO openly flirt with this FATHER OF THREE in our yard in front of our home. It's really, really fun, in case you can't tell - I'm fucking overjoyed.

In fact I hear her high-pitched squeal outside right now, yelling something over to my husband about only god knows what.

Ugh. How I long for an island.

Bad Business

Let me start by saying that I am not a Capitalist. You're shocked, I know. But in all seriousness, I think Capitalism has done more damage than good. And among the long, long list of bad is, in my opinion, that it has given business owners, both large and small, a sense of undue power over the customer.

Case in point:

I recently ordered a product from a small, independent company. I was told that the product would take "about three weeks" to be completed and shipped. I hadn't heard anything from them for about two and a half weeks so I dropped a quick email to check in with them, yes in all truth to see that they hadn't run off with my money (I was a little sketchy from the start as their website hadn't been updated in copyright for nearly three years). So I just basically said hi, still here, could you give me an update on the product.

The reply email came shortly thereafter (they so far have been pretty good about communication). But it was so short and rude that I had to blog about it to get out my frustration.

They said,

"Hi. It was actually 16 days ago."

And then they proceeded to copy and past their last email to me which said that the product would take "about three weeks."

You know what I want to say to these bastards??

"Well the last time I checked, 16 days ago IS 'about two and a half weeks', jerk. Give me my product and FYI, I will NOT be returning for more business NOR will I recommend your company to others."

Rrrrrrrrr!! I am steaming right now! I can't believe the rudeness of these people. I know how many damn days it's been - I too counted them! And I wasn't accusing them of being late, only asking for an update. &$%&%$^* ##$%!!!!

They WON'T be getting any more business from me or a (positive) referral. I am not sure if I will send said email to them, though. In today's information age, one just never knows if something like that won't come back and bite them in the arse.

So. Why am I blaming this on Capitalism and not the people behind the counter? First off, Capitalism was created by the people behind the counter and it (the Capitalist philosophy) really all comes down to our incessant greed. But also because this is seen all the way up the scale of business. I don't need to layout details to you fine people about events in our recent past that showcase this finery, I know.

And yes, I know that Communism and Socialism ultimately don't work well, either. I know that the Marxist Utopia is impossible, and that, well, never mind. It's really just frustrating.

Hey. I wonder if even saying the words Communism and Socialism on a blog will get Big Brother watching me? Ha.