I don't need drugs even if you do.

I have a couple of topics to deal with today, but will try not to blend them all into one big mishmash. It may not go over well,

As so many folks over the years have accused me of doing drugs, its time to clear the air, permanently, on the record, and smack them into the wall, face first.

Just because you have or had a drug use issue, does not mean I do, did or ever will. I have never taken more than a prescription drug, and don't even like those much. I have over-reacted to most meds given me in the past, even simple anti-biotics. I don't drink constantly, I either drink for social comeraderie, or to ease a physical pain or dull emotions for a short while. I can live without my pipe, even though I would prefer to have it just as it reminds me of someone I wish I was wired more like than not.

The funny thing is this. those who make these accusations often have some substance abuse of their own that they deny or have set up on the altar of self pity that the addict recovery groups make. My vices are simple, I like a drink, I like a smoke, I love my ice cream and other junk foods. But, I can take them or leave them, as I please, to quote the words to M*A*S*H's theme song.

Look, in all my years of being on this planet, one thing has come down to me. Over two thirds of the folks I know use "recreational drugs", abuse their booze, or take perscription meds in amounts and methods not condoned by the FDA, their doctors, pharmacist, or common sense. Yet, these folks get jobs right beside me, and never get caught, even if they do something stupid.

Take the job where the buddy of the boss I could not fire when I was in charge, got my position, I had to still do all the work, while he screwed off and sold drugs out the side door of the company. His brother was part of the deal, even though he never got caught, and in the end, he got the job, and I was out the door, even after the cops came looking for the dealer. If I had been allowed to fire the two idiots for insubordination when I tried, things would have been different, but I don't have a flux capacitor, and can't afford a deLorean.

Too many times, I am surrounded by those who despite breaking the laws about drugs, who get drunk too much and at the wrong times, and lost something, usually my temper, sometimes my job, and often the respect of others. I am not the one screwing up first, but I pay the price.

I have had friends and family who were alcoholics, dated women who washed down anti-depressants with booze while telling me *I* needed medication, and been surrounded by more folks who faked for their drug tests than I care to dream about. I had several bosses and co-workers who damned near maimed or killed me with their working under the influence, or managed to hurt someone else. Yet in the end, the druggies kept their jobs most times, their positions in society, their lives, and I lost everything. Not the way it should have been, the way most folks say it is. No, its the ones who walk the straight and narrow, who don't come to work drunk/stoned or hungover that tend to pay the biggest price. We are the ones the others hurt, kill, or leave in such a rage over their behavior and the failure of society to punish them that we take the beating for not being sensitive to their needs.

What about my needs? Huh, jackasses? Look, this is all I am going to say. If businesses want to save a ton of money, ditch those drug tests. You rarely catch the users, and all it does is encourage them to get more radical in their usage and demands that we accept their endangering their co-workers. And can that crap about tolerance of their medical condition and allowing them rehab if it causes an accident or they get busted using on property. Just fire their asses when you do catch them. Those of us who obey the rules will thank you.

To the rest of you, if you do drugs, walk away from me, don't tell me about it. If you do, I will let you get what you deserve, and refuse to hit the safety stop from now on. You made the choice, live with the consequences. Or die with them. I refuse to support you and your lifestyles.

　

We are all Damned in some way....

I took some time off this to get the initial interview in and do the fretting that comes with job hunting as you wait. But you can only wait so long before venting some steam. Today is a good day to vent, and I have a good one to share from my beliefs.

No matter how good a christian, muslim, jew, or other faith you believe yourself to be, we are all human, and thus fall short of the ideals of our religions. This goes doubly so for myself. I am trying to live better, do better, but still the little things trip me up. Let's face it, I will go to Hell for a cheeseburger, and by the Law, it is "verboten" as the Germans would say. Not to mention a pizza, chicken cordon bleu, and other mixings of foods that are expressly in the Bible/Torah as no-no's.

What I am out to say is tougher to get across than just that I am damned. We all are. Look, I can smack most folks with their own canon of faith. I have a list some where in this bag of chapters and verses most folks fail, and few can even abide the 10 Commandments, let alone all 613 in Numbers. Yeah, there is a whale of a lot of commandments, not a guppy that most folks envision. I don't believe that God has no mercy on us for failing, as long as we try. But we have to try, and not just pick and choose commandments, but keep to as many as we can, trying to keep all. Some no longer make sense, some seem foolish but have a grounding in science that we miss, others are just common sense.

Its not just the three monotheistics I am talking about here, either. At least Buddhism has it built in that we will fail, but still some act as if they have achieved perfection even in those type of faiths. That is what I am trying to say. We are doomed to fail, but as long as we try, and try to keep it all, we have a chance. But not if we pick and choose. You choose which of the commands of your faith you wish to follow, and claim to be just and perfect, you are going to burn with me, over the coals of Satan's Barbeque.

Yes, I say I am failing, the only way I will get into Heaven is if God issues a general amnesty over pizza and other meat and cheese mixtures, not to mention the miscegenation clauses of mixing gene pools. its all those mixed fruit cocktails and the like. Not to mention I smoke, drink and cuss... but I never found the exact commandments against those... just words saying to moderate them and not criticize others who fail, for we have our our shortcomings.

Now, if you don't mind, I am going to dream of the cheeseburger that will damn me to Hell for eternity, as I wait on the second interview call for a job I am trying to get. If I am lucky, I might actually have the cash soon to have the need to resist the temptation it represents.

Our National Shortcoming...

I hear the cries of the folks Irene flooded, and I sympathize, but the media forgot the real big flood this summer.

Parts of the Missouri River Valley are still under water, and have been since June. You folks back east can get a taste for what has happened in the midwest now. And I hope some of your claims get rejected for Irene just like the Great Corps Deluge of 2011 has bugged folks who had whole counties denied their disaster relief requests after the Corps of Engineers opened the gates of the dams, and their bloody levees failed. You can say what you want out there, but these folks lost sight of their land and roads back in June and its just now receding so they can see the higher parts.

There were two great inland seas this summer, one north of Omaha, and one south. Go to YouTube, hell, amatuers did a better job covering it than the media did. Oh, I'm sorry, did your sound bite driven ADHD personality just get offended by that, national media? Good.

Once upon a time, we had a real media, one that covered stories, was patient and not worried about the ratings of the news, and rarely covered the entertainment gossip save as a light thing on a slow day. We had local papers that covered all the minutes of the city council meetings, school board meetings, and all the other things we need to know about.

Not anymore. Or if they exist, they are too damned few and way too far between.

Look, the problems in this world don't start with what you neighbor is doing folks, but with that freak in the mirror. The one that cares more about the fashions of Lady Gag'me or how the Phats are playing, than about what is going on in local politics. When you accept that, start reading the papers, even if its the E-version, maybe the bozos behind the curtains will realize they bought that barrier from the dude who sold an Emperor some clothes.

The best way to transparency is you giving a damn enough to actually read or finding out yourself what your elected bozo's are doing.....
and my apologies to all clowns out there for insinuating they are as incompentant as politicians by the comparison.

And look at what happened to those counties in Iowa.... actually look and think about it.

Hair, the new Green Energy source????

There are three things guaranteed to me in this life....

First, I will continue to have women offer me money to keep my clothes on.

Second, folks will after hearing me pay me not to sing.

Third, My hair will refuse to lay flat when I need it to stay down.

While one and two I never see a payoff on as I never persist until the moeny hits the table and I can pocket it, I have a weird idea about #3... Can I harness whatever power makes my hair stand up no matter the substance used to make it quiet? How many watts or ergs, or whatever method of energy measurement you wish to apply, does it create?

This all comes from the age old battle I have of getting my hair to lie flat during important moments, like interviews. Today, when I had one, the right and left spray affect was going, and it only decided to behave in the last few hours of the day. Well, at least most of it, the center could no longer hold, out that is, and decided to stand up now so I have one of those Dennis the Menace rooster tail's going. Yeah, at my age, my hair still acts like its only in the kid era of its life. Which gives me hope, could I live a long life due to this?

Yes, I know, this is not what anyone may have suspected from me today, but whats on my mind is what is going here, not what's on yours... get your own blog to perform memory dumps and thought spills on if you don't like it.

Back to the energy I could generate (yes, I am joking but still, run with me here, will ya?), think of how Green it would be, natural static electricity, harnessed by some broadcast means (I refuse to be tethered to a Hitenshion line), and trasnitted to the masses for power... I should be able to generate at least a watt an hour, so figure, less than one one hundreth of a cent....

Never mind, sounds suspiciously like one of those work at home ads... its got to have a catch... besides, if my hair is not standing up in the morning, I might walk into reflective surfaces, failing to realize that is me coming towards..... well, me?

Ah well... it was just an idea...

Tired of too much tech being shoved at me.

I have started to get a laugh out of the number of companies who feel I should have their app on the smartphone I don't own.....

No, I am not a Luddite, just broke and smart enough not to dig the hole deeper with gadgets and their gizmos that I cannot truthfully afford. But still, I get all these emails and popups, acting like if I don't get this app for my phone, I will be lost and confused. The only confusion I have is over why folks need all this stuff. We got by just fine before it came along, and some of us do not wish to move everything into the hands of Big Brother, where with a flip of the switch, its changed and edited to fit our new puppet masters' whims. Let me stay off the clouds for my data, let me have a full laptop as my smallest computing device and just a simple cell phone with text and voice only, no need for GPS, I have a compass folks, and know how to use landmarks.

Seriously, Why should I join you in the Tech Jungle? I like my set up, leave me an out, some way I can be comfortable, not always on edge about "is it charged? Can you hear me now?" Give me the option for a level of tech I have and desire, then accept those desires if I say "Enough! No more!".

I mean, seriously, if you cannot wait until I get to where I am headed to "tweet", "Comment" or Vidmessage me... you have the problem, not me. The same one the bunny from the old milk flavoring ads had... impatience.

Slow down, turn the ringers on the phone off, disconnect and lie in the sun or shade at the park someday. Trust me, if you do it once a week, and let folks know this is your relaxation hour.... you will be healthier, wiser, and smile as the silence falls.

And stop playing the baby sounds for your ring tones, it makes me want to move to an asteroid to get away from it and the idiots who them.

Morals have a high cost, but one worth it.

Well, its interesting how many friends storm off when you gave them a taste of your own politics and views. The strangest part is this, I never had to start on their personal issues the way they did on mine. Makes me wonder who really is the disturbed one. But that is not going to stop me anymore. I am willing to risk it all now, lay things on the line with folks so they know just what I believe, and stop shooting their own mouths off around me as if I should agree with them.

First, lets talk about something I rarely do talk about. Stop acting like I have no morals. I do, if I did not, I would not be in this spot I am in. Yes, a stance I have taken on morals is what is getting me deeper into this mess, but not all of it is from my choices. The general downturn of the economy is a greater part of my long term unemployment. Let's face the truth here folks, times are tough, and there is a huge competition for each job opening. I took the leap as the short-lived revival was going this year. I am being bitten by the continued economic uncertainty, caused by actions in the markets I have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL OVER slammed the brakes on every few weeks this spring and summer.

Yes, I have no control over the markets and banks. I am not a participant in the stock market, I no longer even have a bank account that is open. Flipping houses was not my thing, when I ran into those shows on TV, I kept pointing out it was a bad thing for the economy, causing rampant inflation that priced more folks out of the market each time. This was not my train wreck folks, but the cars jumped off the track and ruined my little piece of the world in a way I am not happy about.

But this is about the morals that others preach, but only I seem to practice. So many folks scream about those who get welfare, food stamps, unemployment and other assistances as lazy folks. These same folks have their hand out for every damned dime they can get from those programs when they qualify, acting as if trying not to pay for them, they still deserve everything they can get, and then some.

Here is the moral issue, I have held that those programs and assistances are for the truly disabled, people with small children, women and the elderly. So, me not getting them is not what irks me most, its that politicians still got paid for their incompetant performance this year with our economy and budgets, while so many of those programs took it in the shorts. I am not getting those assistances, and the only one I really want is a job. Don't tell me about the various job finding things out there, I did register, and got not a single damned notice of jobs from them. You have to be on the dole to trigger those, and I never got a job through one of those anyway. It was always me, going out and dropping the applications that got me a job.

Note, it is my moral stance, that I am not elderly (and I define that by the retirement age for this), not a woman, don't have children or other financial dependents (and those who count their pets are truly the ones needing medication, not me), and I do not have a disablity that prevents me from working. Unless having morals, taking a stand on them and trying to keep the line as I do is a disablity. If so, I can name some others with similar problems, who like and don't have a history of bad reactions to pharmaceuticals out there to try your meds on.

So here is the question, who is the better bet to hire, the guy robbing his current employer of productivity as he applies with you for a job, or the one whose morals make it so he goes hungry from time to time rather than take the food from the mouths of those more needy? Think it over.... and if you chose the first guy, you have to face you god and the face in the mirror. Best of luck with that.

Stock Markets are just nasty kids with ADHD

If you think I have a problem, take a look at the ADHD poster child called Wall Street. Everything has to be about the Markets and their hiccups and mood swings. They are just glorified Attention Whores, so used to being the leaders, they forget who really built this country. You want to know how the economy is really doing? Don't talk to these bozos, go find a farmer, a small business owner, a miner, any blue collar worker. Don't trust the dweebs in suits with stock portfolios to tell you what the country is in, talk to those victimized by their mood swings and the panics created by those actions.

You might get a surprise as to what needs to be done, and it won't be what the fat cats and other parasites of the corporate world think, even in their darkest nightmares.

Serious, do it. Stop listening to the talking heads, the annoying mouth pieces of talk radio and the others. Go talk to the folks taking it in the shorts in this economy, and see what they think of it and its prospects. Take your heart medication first.

Then go to the mirror and ask who is in a feeding frenzy or death spiral. Maybe we need a way to directly invest in local business more easily.... There used to be a stock market in every major city that traded the stocks of local companies, for local investment. Should we go back to that model? Up to you folks, I won't gamble that way anymore, but feel free to do so yourself.