This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Unemployment, school debt, wars, budget deficits and a lack of funding for our infrastructure has put our young folks in quite a pickle. Seems like our country doesn’t want to have it’s kids educated nor do they want them to have any sort of solid footing as they get out into the world. The recent rate hike for new Student Loans is another example of our government not giving a shit about its youth. The young are what make our country. They make it strong with their ideas and ideals. To make things tougher for them is not the way to make this country great. There will be hard lessons learned in this country in the next 20 to 30 years. If we do not improve how we teach our children and if we do not teach them how to think. (Critically think I mean) We will be heading to a society where only a select few will have the knowledge and the ability to actually see what is happening in the world.(Who knows, not to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, maybe that is what our government and the 1 per centers want). “We the people” will be an old ideal, a memory from another age.

From education institutions that just want the enrollment check written to these mega-corporations that don’t look for growth and just sit on their stockpiles of cash, we are heading for a world that will have an even bigger separation of class than it does now. The ironic part of all of this, it is that people are voting against their own self interest. People still believe in “trickle down economics” and “No Child left Behind”. Look around you people, it is not working. Companies want to bleed their workers dry while maintaining maximum profit and positive reports for their shareholders. The employee is just a commodity, easily replaced by someone ready to work for peanuts or replaced by someone from another country that won’t speak up about anything at all. I am not saying they are not allowed to make money, they are, but at what cost? The cost is the loss of self respect, the loss of working towards a meaningful existence where we can look at what we produce with pride and with respect. Talk about a “greater good” will get you laughed and sneered at in some circles, but it is a concept that is worth looking at. We are all in this together. We can make the world a better place if we just try and make our own country better in the process. We are the richest nation in the world, but we lag behind in many areas: Healthcare, Education and Social Welfare. We do however rate # 1 in military spending. I guess that is something. We have to build up our country again. We have to start making products here and we have to be able to look each other in the eye and be willing to help our fellow man. Until we get to the day when we can look past our own noses and look towards the common good of society, we will just be mindless husks running around, sipping our lattes , not caring that there are people out there who are trying but not making it. People have become clones of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street with attitudes of “I got mine, screw you”. It is frustrating, sickening and just saps the hope right out of me. We are being manipulated to think that there is no solution or that there is no hope out there. If we keep snuffing the candle that is our young folks, there just may be no hope left.

Things are not much better for folks my age (42 here). We have to compete in this cut throat job market and try to adapt to a world that is changing, not for the better, but for the worse. We are “commuters in cages” to quote Ian Anderson. We plod along in the hopes we scrape up enough savings to keep our house and not to have to eat dog food by the time we retire. We work longer hours for less wages. Our dollar buys less than it has ever. We are being shoveled bullshit down our throats by politicians who can about nothing but their next election. We are being molded by fear. Fear of losing your job, fear of terrorist, fear of not having any money when we do decided to quite this rat race. I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of feeling like I have no hope. I am sick of not doing anything about it. Feeling like I can do nothing about it. I am going to strive for change and I am going to start doing my part. Maybe someone will read this and think. Just think about how things are out there and how good they can be, if we just stick together and work for a common goal.

Thanks for reading,

Lefty

Paula Deen the Butter Queen-some thoughts

Well I guess I am not surprised by the cluster-fuck that is the Paula Deen saga. I mean should anyone really be surprised that a 66 year old woman from the south has the attitude that she does? I am not condoning it, but I am asking why all of the shock and the “condescending attitude” that our press and our infotainment news corps are bringing us? Be angry and shocked if you want, but it takes away from the real discussion. I mean prejudice is out there and it is alive and breathing. Let’s discuss that issue and not the fact that Paula Deen herself has these certain ideas and these ways of looking at people. She is the sideshow. She is the current poster child for what is wrong with the South. The real issue is how prevalent these ideas are still in 2013. I mean, not her specific idea of having black men dressed up in suits and standing around at a wedding (a Plantation Style Wedding, I might add). I mean come on…that is pretty fucking weird, but the idea of hating someone because of their skin color. I will also add that it works both ways. Not just white on black prejudice but black on white prejudice as well. It is out there and both sides are responsible. We need to address that and we need to understand why people feel the way they do.

In my opinion, she is a giant phony and this little ruckus has brought that out to the forefront. She will lose her sponsors and she will lose money over this and she will have this giant stain on her that will not be forgiven by some. I also feel that is is one tear-stained Oprah Winfrey interview away from being forgiven by some people. That is just the way things work these days. If you haven’t seen her “apologies” on the internet, you should check it out. The first one was heavily edited and it was embarrassing. The second one was a little better, but she doesn’t seem to have the best PR team around her. Food Network dropped her like batch of bad biscuits.

Another issue that needs to be brought up in this little footnote of entertainment history, is the issue with her brother. If you have not had a chance to read some of the deposition from the trial from her brother, I suggest finding it and reading it. If it is true, he is just another bad example of what is wrong with the south. I love the south. I was born and raised there. You will find some of the nicest and honest people you will ever meet. You will also meet a bunch of ignorant assholes who cannot look past skin color.

Well these are just some random thoughts I had about this. I will be posting more soon! I missed writing and it seems like the world is giving me plenty to talk about!

Take care

Lefty

NSA or No Secrets Anymore

Hello folks. Looks like a lot has happened since I last posted. Our government, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the Constitution really is nothing but “a piece of paper”. I am not fooling myself, I am not surprised at what is happening with the spying on citizens. Our government has been going this in some form of the other since the 1950’s. Call it “McCarthyism” or “The War or Terror”, it doesn’t really matter. The results are the same: Divide Americans with fear and we will slowly give away our rights and liberties. It is scary what is happening to our country. The scariest part is, we are helpless to make any change. “Vote someone else in” or “Write your Congressman” doesn’t seem to be helping when both political parties are basically the same. Both are bought off by special interest groups, mega-corporations and anyone who has a fist full of money. The interest of the people is decided by political donations, not votes. There is money to be made with war. There is no money in your vote.

I used to think that the “conspiracy” nuts were just that, nuts. Look closer however and you will find some flecks of truth sprinkled on the canvas normally painted with aliens and Bigfoot. I am not saying that the government has this master plan to enslave us and to start this giant Oligarchy, but I wouldn’t put it past them. Americans are trading their Liberty and Freedom for safety. That safety however, is not guaranteed. Boston, Sandy Hook, the Oklahoma theater shootings. These were all events that happened while the NSA has been keeping tabs on us. No one entity can guarantee our safety. Our country is too big and too spread out to even try and make that claim. If we do not speak out, we will truly have lost the war on terror.

This is just my 10 cents worth. A lot of people are saying the same thing. I won’t bore you with Benjamin Franklin quotes or quotes from the Constitution. They are out there. Just keep in mind that what we are really losing is a real sense of security that can only be provided by the people of the republic, not the government. The government works for us. We are the government. “…with liberty and justice for all”.

Take care

lefty

Kenji Utsumi (内海健二) RIP

Rando here with some sad anime news. Kenji Utsumi has passed away. He was 75 years old.

He was best known by me as the Japanese voice actor for Major Alex Louis Armstrong from the Fullmetal Alchemist series.

Enjoy a clip. (Copyrights are owners’, I’m not the poster.) He was probably in his mid to late 60’s when he recorded this. That’s pretty awesome!

Thank you Utsumi-san for all of your great performances!

Rando!