Political ads, or why Republicans still don't get it.

I'm going to be short and sweet this week.  Pete Hokestra looks like an angry tea party moron in this spot.



See the spot.


I also love jackasses like Rick Snyder that keep talking about "silly regulations" and too much government. 

See the Spot.


Yeah ok, like the "silly regulations" that WOULD have kept us out of this economic mess but were DEREGULATED under the last four presidents? Or the corruption that allowed "big government" to look away and left the oil companies with no plan in case their wells explode? THOSE SILLY REGULATIONS!? THAT BIG GOVERNMENT!? Government is NEEDED to counter rampant greed, end of story. At every turn we see corporations either stealing our money, raping our environment or poisoning our bodies with dangerous pharmaceuticals.  Not to mention tax break after tax break even when they ship all the jobs to some other country.  Regulations keep these people in check.  How stupid is the public to fall for this fear mongering snatch and grab mentality anymore?  Capitalism, as these guys know it, is dead for now, but they also know that fear and ignorance can resuscitate any bull shit they want.  

So fleeting.

Someone died.  Someone I didn't even know but has nonetheless effected my life.  Not me personally but someone who is very important to me.  He was my girlfriend's ex husband, Kevin.  From what I've heard he led a tortured life.  Among other things, he had epilepsy.  Last night he had a seizure, hit his head and died, alone.  My girlfriend just called me and let me know.  She was upset even though it had been years since she talked to him.  I never know what to say so I just listened and silently damned myself for having a retarded emotional intelligence.

 

News like this always makes me think how fleeting this existence is.  I often do anyways.  I'm an atheist so when you're gone, I believe, you're gone.  At best the energy in your body just slips away and whatever made you you is now unrecognizable.  Without a brain there is no soul.  So what solace do I have?  How do I go on knowing that everything is pretty much meaningless?  I don't know.  Its probably more instinct than intellect anymore and the fact that leaving anytime soon would probably hurt the ones around me.  There was a time when I was more optimistic.  I looked forward to a time, maybe even within our generation that the disease of aging will have a cure and possibly be reversed.  But to what end is that even a remarkable goal?  To live forever?  The universe loves entropy and seems to want nothing but nothing in the trillions of years it has left as solid matter.  The quest for eternal life, be it a soul in heaven or a body made perfect, will always be a distraction for us.  A distraction from the only thing that matters.  Now.  Now is all that matters.  The end of suffering here and now should be the only goal.  Quality, not quantity, of life is all that matters.  That quantity, not just represented in longevity but in the sheer amount of life.  In other words more lives makes more suffering.  To create another life at all is just creating more inevitable suffering.  The energy that makes all of us is finite.  To think otherwise is to believe in some kind of infinite magic. Death is the ultimate end of our suffering and when its time is due we should all look forward to it thankfully.  There should be no sorrow when it happens as other life now has a chance to grow stronger.  At least for a while.  Try to live well while you can.

Independence day?

Why the question mark after "Independence day" you ask?  Well, thanks for asking.  Because very little about this country seems to be about independence any more.  The most obvious dependency we have is energy.  We are still dependent on dirty fossil fuels that either we dig up as coal and ruin million year old mountaintops or OH YEAH that thing in the gulf is still happening.  Not to mention we don't even churn up enough to support ourselves.  We have to buy it from other countries that at the same time use the money to fight against us in wars.  And if you think that "drill baby drill" was EVER a good idea, know this, "Since oil is a global market, the relevant measure for that vulnerability is not U.S. dependence, but world dependence on Middle East oil -- and that has not shrunk."  (http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/trade_text.htm#Import Dependency)  ITS A WORLD MARKET!  That's the thing the Redumblican "Earth Pokers" don't fill you in on.  ANY oil drilled ANYWHERE goes into a giant exchange "vat" that everyone gets to bid on.  And what's WORSE, because we are one of the few nations that has not nationalized our mineral production companies, private industry has ZERO incentive to sell what they produce here.  The highest bidder gets it and lately that's probably China as they are the only ones with money because they actually make things people want.

The unavoidable and truly depressing fact is that the world's entire economy is based on oil.  Just switching to something else would most likely collapse the whole economic system as oil is the only tangible thing that our money is based on.  We once had a gold standard.  Every dollar actually was backed up with a dollar's worth of gold.  There was a time when you could bring your "gold certificates" to a bank and get some gold.  Now, there is no gold, silver or large rock doughnuts to make a "standard" to back up anything.  At least with gold, you KEPT the gold around.  Oil we just keep burning up until eventually it will be gone.   Ok, ok ok, we get it, Ken.  But do you have an alternative?  What are we supposed to do?  I DON'T KNOW!  If anyone has an idea I'd love to take it and win a Nobel for Economics.  Ill pay you in the only thing left that has value.  Pop rocks.  Or my slice of the Jesus cross.  I got a certificate and everything!  Happy "Dependence" day!  Ill be drunk and passed out in a kiddie pool soon, hopefully, waving my "flag."