God Hates ME! Or Is holding his sides Laughing…

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I know there are people who would say that God isn’t so much into hate…

Ok, so maybe God doesn’t hate me… But God sure is having a great time laughing.

Here’s the situation…

In the past month I’ve had a firm invitation to go to Paris. This trip would have been almost 2 weeks long, and only cost airfare and food. The person that invited me has an apartment available. I had to turn it down

Within a day, I was notified of an opportunity to go on a dive trip to Utila on a live aboard. That’s a big assed boat where you get to dive, eat, drink, relax, and be pampered. I had to turn it down.

Two weeks later… There was another cancelation on the same boat… I had to turn it down.

Today… I got a notification about an opening with another group diving Utila. I have to turn it down.

Every Single one of these trips is scheduled right around the last week of March.

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!

I haven’t been diving in two years! And I LOVE Caribbean waters.

So There have been 4 opportunities ALL for the same time period. If I were superstitious, I’d say someone is trying to get me out of California at the end of March…

OR God is laughing his ass off watching me lose my mind…

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UPDATE

As of this morning there is yet another slot open on one of the dive trips.

The reason that I’m turning these trips down is because I don’t feel that it would be an appropriate use of my cash right now.

Unemployment has a way of making you think about how you’re going to spend your cash.

There is a part of me that says “Screw it! Take a vacation, it’s cheap and you know damn well that when you go back to work you’re not going to see any vacation for at least a year.”

It’s the story of my life… When I have the time for a vacation.. I don’t have the money.

Who knows…

The irresponsible part of me my yet win this battle. My resolve to do the right thing is weakening by the moment.

Gas Prices

Ok,

I know I’m late to the bandwagon.

I was listening to the news last night and got to thinking about this whole gas mess.

The price of oil is being inflated due to fears and rising tensions with Iran. Ok I get that.

What I don’t get is that gas demand has been a bit light over the past couple of months, So if the demand has been light doesn’t that mean that the gas being distributed right now was purchased at the lower (Pre Iranian tensions prices)?

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If that’s true then why are we paying higher prices on fuel right now? Why is it likely that the high prices will continue conveniently through the Summer months?

Wouldn’t you expect for the higher price to hit us when the oil purchased during the tension actually hits the refineries, or was actually delivered to the gas stations?

I found myself thinking this way because there’s a pattern in gas prices that’s developed over the past decade or so.

Each and every Spring we see some crisis that affects oil prices. It’s like the oil companies go to a big hat and pull out an excuse randomly.

I’m all for capitalism, and all for people making money. BUT I completely reject the inconsistencies between the excuses oil companies give when asked why gas or heating oil prices are so high and record profits year after year.

If in fact the oil companies are hurting… then how can they post ever increasing profits? Shouldn’t we expect their profits to be flat, or only incrementally higher?

I, as I suspect a lot of people have begun to believe that Big Oil is lying through their teeth and actually playing with oil pricing as a means to drive up profits at the expense of the economy and the suffering of the American people.

I’m hoping when congress investigates the sudden disproportionate run up of gas prices this year, that someone at least takes the oil giants to task and calls them liars to their faces.

In the mean time… the only thing we as consumers can do is this…

Use as little fuel as we possibly can. Lets see if we can affect Oil company profits by purchasing as little of their product as possible. Leave those cars in the parking lot folks…

Of course the other alternative is…

Invade and conquer the Middle East then destroy OPEC and pump those deserts dry.

I didn’t say it was a GOOD alternative…

——– UPDATE ———-

Was out & about, the price for premium unleaded at several stations was 4.69 per gallon. There was one station advertising 4.85… needless to say the employees were sweeping and cleaning up the station because there was no-one else in the place.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to see $5 and above real dang soon…

 

Thoughts regarding Sheriff Paul Babeu

When this first broke, I thought that I wasn’t going to comment on it. I changed my mind after watching this news conference.

On several of the blogs that I read, there have been really shocking and horrific comments made about the sheriff. The most venomous and unfair remarks I’ve read were from blogs that cater to the gay world. Even the comments in blogs of the religious right weren’t as hostile.

This left me wondering what about this man had generated such venom. So when I saw a link to this news conference if figured I’d have my morning coffee and see what this guy could possibly say that would generate so much anger from the gay community.

This is a long video. I like a lot of what this man says. Those items we disagree on… well nobody’s perfect!

Sheriff Paul Babeu Press Conference from Paul Babeu on Vimeo.

Several things struck me about this guy.

He strikes me as genuine.

He’s doing his best to hold it together during a very public exposure of his sexuality. He comes across as a very private person and having something as personal as your sexual behavior splattered across the world wide news machine has to be difficult. I give him credit for hanging in there.

Sheriff Babeu explains his life philosophy pretty well. He says he’s a man of duty, and that duty and honor are both at the top of his priorities even when duty and honor may result in personal difficulties. He points out that he’s never lied about being gay. From another published comment attributed to Sheriff Babeu, He’s also never worn being gay on his sleeve.

Sheriff Babeu explains why he contacted an attorney to represent him in a disagreement with Jose. One of the things that caught my attention later in the news conference is that Sheriff Babeu refused to discuss the particulars of the relationship. It’s hard to make out but I think one of the reporters off camera asks something about the length of time the relationship lasted and when it ended. Sheriff Babeu only responds, “prior to September” and goes no further.

The Sheriff states a couple of times that he’s a single man, and that he’s done nothing wrong or illegal in dating other adults. At one point the Sheriff tells someone in the crowd that the minute details of his personal life aren’t anyones business. The person in the crowd doesn’t like that answer but quiets down pretty quickly.

During the whole interview I saw nothing but a guy dealing with a tough situation with a commendable amount of grace under pressure. Hell, I’d vote for him.

Sheriff Babeu didn’t come across as a racist,  hatemonger, liar, or abuser of power. So I was still at a loss to understand why the gay community as represented on the mainstream gay blogs were so hateful in their comments about this guy.

Then the Sheriff addresses the allegation that he threatened to have Jose deported.

AH HA! Here we go, THE HOT BUTTON ISSUE! Immigration…

Because every gay person should be completely happy with, and supportive of illegal immigrants. (Even though a large percentage of them are devoutly Catholic and by church doctrine are opposed to gay rights)

Sheriff Babeu says that he didn’t threaten Jose with deportation, and goes on to say that to his knowledge Jose’s immigration status was the same as anyones.

The commenters on the gay blogs and some of the blog sites themselves have locked onto this single allegation and in one of the most  hypocritical twists of logic have tried, convicted, and condemned Sheriff Babeu without any evidence whatsoever.

How can the gay community demand justice, freedom, and equality while at the same time stomping all over those very principals?

Sheriff Babeu, is an example of both what is right … and wrong in this country.

Here’s a guy that just lives his life. He works, contributes, serves his country, serves, his community, dates, and has bad breakups. He’s no different than any of the rest of the people in this country. In fact he’s the ultimate guy next door.

Here’s whats wrong in this country.

By saying “I’m Gay”, somehow all the contributions this man has made are thrown into question. Many people, in politics, the media, and some in the communities he serves will now look at Sheriff Babeu differently and few, will even seek to limit his freedoms.

Is it any wonder at all that folks like the Sheriff work so hard to keep their private lives private?

Our society creates and reinforces an environment where your choices are;

Be gay, open, honest…. And stigmatized… In corporate America, You’ll never gain promotions, achieve anything of note, or move up the corporate ladder to success. In the political arena, with few exceptions you’ll have to be a Democrat, can’t be conservative, and will probably not be taken seriously and therefore your career will always be limited. OR Hide.

Given those options which would you choose?

I hope that Sheriff Babeu is a tough as nails. I think the next few weeks are going to be very hard on him.

I sincerely hope that his friends continue to rally around him and that he’s never lacking for support.

I shouldn’t write anything when I’m sick, EVER!

I really shouldn’t write blog entries when I’m sick.

I wrote a blog on Thursday, then posted it yesterday and as I read it today, I thought “Damn I sound like a crazy person”.

I got lucky. According to the “read count” no-one had read it yet. So I pulled it safely back to draft status.

If in fact anyone did read it … apologies. I’m not really that crazy…

I will probably rework the posting and then repost it. Some of the post is valid, but I honestly don’t remember writing the last half of it.

Obviously I was pissed off when writing the post, I’m not sure exactly how much of my anger was just from being sick and how much was real.  Admittedly I get worked up pretty easily. So it’s possible it’s 50/50.

On the other hand sometimes when I write stuff while I’m sick it’s just DAMN strange.

There is part of me that says fuck it! Leave it posted as is and give people an insight into my strangely twisted mind.

As I re-read the post, it comes through loud and clear that I don’t like users. I don’t like people that take advantage of me. I really don’t like people who won’t help themselves. And finally I don’t particularly trust my current neighbors.

I suppose the bottom line is that I really want to live in a community where we all work together. My little corner of my little town used to be that kind of place and I was happy to be a part of it.

Times change and with time people change too. My little corner of town is becoming a lot like the anonymous suburbia that I grew to dislike so much, I haven’t a clue about how to make it better.

I guess that’s a dilemma that lots of folks are facing now-days.

Locusts

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The author John Ringo described a kind of people in one of his books as Locusts or Grasshoppers I don’t remember the exact wording. For the purposes of this post the difference between the creatures isn’t all that important.

I’m going to very liberally describe what I took away from Ringos book. With apologies to Mr. Ringo if I screw this up too much.

Ringo describes a class of people that are essentially users, They contribute little to the society except telling all the rest of us what we’re doing wrong and how the contributors in the world are damaging, the Earth, the sky, the water, crops, whatever… you get the picture.

At the very same time these people have high expectations. They believe that they will never have to go hungry or thirsty, or shiver in the cold. They believe that the system, the state, the world can , will, and SHOULD take care of them no matter what.

One of the characteristics of these people is that they will move into a nice area, consume the resources, demand changes in laws, rules, and local societies until the nice place they moved into is no longer nice.

Streets can’t be fixed because the asphalt is bad for the environment and stinky, besides.

Pesticides can’t be used to grow our crops because the pesticide is dangerous. We have to grow everthing organically because it’s better for the environment, (What? We get less edible food growing organically? you must be doing something wrong.)

People can’t smoke in their homes because the smoke might hurt someone living 2 doors down and you can’t smoke outside because it’s a bad example for anyone who might see you smoking. (As an aside I’m glad I quit smoking, but Damn! All the anti-smoking laws and ordinances are just plain wrong!)

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After the locusts have been in an area a while, the very things they liked about the area are gone. Swept away in a tide of legalese and nonsensical Locust/User thinking. At this point the locusts move on, property values that were artificially inflated by their presence plummet. While the locusts don’t have an agenda of scorched earth… the effect is the same.

His description, is apt and I think I have a Locust or a perhaps groups of Locusts living next door to me.

It’s a pity really, because the former occupant / owner of the the house immediately adjacent to me was a love and I miss her dearly.

The house further up the block was occupied by a guy that was for all intents and purposes Crazy with a capital C but he pulled his weight and minded his own business right up until adult protective services put him in a hospital when the neighbors figured out that he was living in his car. Yep, he lived in his car parked in the driveway of his house, he only went inside to poo and get ice from his fridge.

Both of these people, one 70 years old and the other crazy as a loon would clear the snow from their driveways, and help in clearing the snow from the common street in front of our homes. Why? because it was in all of our best interests and neither of them were locusts.

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They looked after their yards, they picked up trash they saw around the neighborhood even if it wasn’t theirs… You know, sometimes a bag or peice of paper gets away from the trash truck and ends up blowing around… It’s not a difficult thing to go pick stuff like that up and put in in your bin so that next week the trash truck does haul it away.

Give me old folks and crazy people rather than what I have now!

Right next door, there are at least two 18 to 25 year olds (one male & one female) Plus an older woman, older yes… but younger than me!

I don’t really know how many people are living there, the number seems to fluctuate fairly regularly. That makes me nervous enough… What annoys me is that these Locusts have not and apparently never will get their asses outside to shovel even Their OWN Driveway much less the little strip of street in front of their house.

The house of the crazy man has been purchased, donated, or by some fashion come into possession of an animal shelter.

The owner of the animal shelter came down and introduced herself. She had an accident last year and since then I haven’t seen her. What I do see is a single fairly young woman, in a red truck. Who on more than one occasion has treated me like THE HELP. Including suggesting that I started earlier on the shoveling since she couldn’t get into the street and had to walk up to the house.

SAY WHAT?!?!?!

I looked at her for about a millisecond and said “I’m not the groundskeeper, the road isn’t county maintained and you’re benefiting from my largess in the first place. Im not getting paid to do this.” She actually motioned for me to get back to work and walked away.

I was stunned… Then I figured lets just back this train the fuck up.

I stopped shoveling and pulled my 4×4 into position in my shoveled driveway. I can easily drive over 6″- 8″ of snow without even putting the transmission in 4Wheel LOW.

Screw ’em!

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I’m an asshole! it’s MY Nature! I was trying to be nice… it’s a lot easier for me to think about their houses as potential food stores when the zombie apocalypse comes.

The point is. I’ve been mentioned in town as “The Nicest Neighbor…” and that seems to mean to these people that I’m their servant.

Well screw that! I’m only shoveling The bare minimum for my 4×4 to get out and they can remain snowbound by 2 inches of snow or get off their lazy asses. Fuck ’em!

If you aren’t prepared… you deserve what you get!

I cleared my driveway, and the road from my driveway down to the main road. All it took was 30 minutes simple… Why would I do it since I don’t need to go anywhere? I want to be able to take the fun car also known as the (Aryan Eco-Destroyer) out over the weekend if I feel better.

The sun hitting the pavement will make that happen. So I was being selfish….

Now I’m going back to bed to sleep the rest of this cold from hell out of my system.