We Yell for You

Well, he is not literally here, in my office, but he is now the official president.  I admit that I didn’t listen to his speech, but from all the things I have heard, it seems that it was a very somber speech.  He did “attack”, if you will, the Bush administration, but that is neither here nor there.  What I do hope is that he does the best job possible and, if there is truly something he can do (as that power of the president is not what most people imagine it to be, but that is a story for another day) to help out the country, I’m all for it.  Unlike the haters, those preachers of vial words and fear, I know that it is better to support the person that has been elected, by a clear majority, and placed into office.  Of course, I suppose that since I am in the minority now, I could do what all the minority groups like to do and make claims of injustice until the majority bends, again though, I digress.

**What inspires me is that he did not make mention of him being black, mixed, or African-America (as I am not sure how he refers to himself).  Maybe it is the fact that he comes from a mixed family that grants him a view of the world not focused on race or maybe he is smart enough to know better; regardless, I think that it will upset a lot of people that make their livings by keeping people down (*cough* Jesse Jackson *cough*).  It is time that we, while never forgetting who we are or where we came from, realize that no matter the color of you skin, you are simply a person.  That is why this election didn’t break any history to me and that is why I felt yesterday was just another president swearing into office and not a landmark event (also, I have a lot of the “Meet your new boss, same as the old”).  People say that the healing can start now, but if you are still feeling that way, you are never going to be “healed” and I don’t think you ever wanted to be healed in the first place.

So, to paraphrase, 1) Unless Obama has a grand plan to ruin the country, support the president and make sure your representatives know what your feelings are in regards to issues you hold close as they have as much say (collectively) as he does 2) It’s 2009 and a person is a person.  You just have to deal with it.

** A very good fact checker (and someone that listened to the speech) pointed out that he did make mention to his race.  It was towards the bottom and I just skimmed over it.  Well, I am still holding to my points and I do feel that the way he mentioned it was in the corret context and not the “I am *insert race of choice here* and *insert emotion here*”.  It was a “short while ago, people were treated differently, but I stand here today to show you that we are indeed the same” meaning that I took from it.

I had, a blog it was www.web-land.blogspot.com.  I quit writing on it about two months ago.  I realized it was more theraputic for me than it could have ever been for anyone reading it.  It was my outlet, and without it my fury has grown.  So now I have a new outlet.

You may want to check my old blog out.  The story about the Roomba’s is a particular favorite.  In that vein, did anyone catch the Simpsons last night?  I think they ripped off my doomsday scenario.

Ok the thing I have gotten really fed up about recently is the disperate treatment of Republicans and Democrats by the popular media.  This is beyond the fact that the United States has a sick obsession with President-Elect Obama.

My first reason is Sarah Palin.  She tried too hard to be cute and folksy.  I will give you that.  But the media jumped all over her for saying she has some foreign policy experience because she is governor of a state that essentially borders Russia.  She said something to the effect of “You can see Russia from my backyard.”  The media took this story and completely ripped her.  She was simply being too cute but trying to get across she is governor of a state that is used as the launching point for missision over foreign soil and she as governor had to work to coordinate these type things.  I didn’t really mind the media jumping on this subject because it did sound kinda stupid.  Then Obama named his Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.  This selection received quite a bit of acclaim.  The media and other liberals in power patted Obama on the back and told him he made a great pick.  Why was she a great pick?  Because, she is the governor of Arizona.  HER ONLY QUALIFICATION IS THAT SHE IS GOVERNOR OF A STATE THAT BORDERS MEXICO.  Yeah there is a bit of a double standard there.

Next point.  Saturday Night Live has made a name by making fun of political figures.  They generally are harder on Republicans, but are fairly equal opportunity when it comes to such things.  I also remember them making fun of Bob Dole who injured his arm in World War II, Ronald Reagan who suffered from dementia, and Dick Chaney who has had serious corinary problems.  They completely ripped on Sarah Palin throughout the entire election.  Sarah Palin was a good sport.  Bob Dole went on the show a number of times.  So last Saturday SNL did a bit where they made fun of the legally blind governor of New York.  The partially made fun of him being blind but also made fun of his past drug use and admitted infidelity.  Here is the clip. http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-gov-paterson/881501/ Well today the governor of New York whined that he was being made fun of and every news outlet is reporting it.  It is a complete double standard.  Nobody complains when they make fun of a President who helped end the Soviet Union because his brain was slowly deteriorating.  But the second they make fun of the governor of New York the whiny PC police show up.  The best part of the whole thing though is the quote from his press lady  who said that the Governor has a great sense of humor and often “engages in humor.”  Seriously?  That sounds like something our future Roomba overlords would say.

-WWTJD

I read an article that someone posted from the New Yorker because they said it was good/interesting.  It was pretty much what I expected from something that has had a liberal slant for so many years.  With that said though, it brought up something funny (rather said something funny):

“As a buzzword, “socialism” had mostly good connotations in most of the world for most of the twentieth century. That’s why the Nazis called themselves national socialists.”

I find it funny that saying it had mostly good connotations and then saying that it is what the Nazis used is very defeatist.  I understand that the author is implying the Nazis came into power under the banner of the “good” ideals of socialism, yet it turned out quite terrible in the end (see where I am going here?).  Anyway, I just thought that was funny.

What I am really here to talk about today is why I find the ideals of a welfare, socialistic, or otherwise similar nation problematic.  I am going to explain it with two simple anecdotes.  One I am paraphrasing from what I can only imagine as something one of those emails that gets forwarded around says and the other is something I was thinking about in regards to the many thousands of teachers thinking we are on the right path.

First, the anecdote I am stealing, but paraphrasing as I don’t have it in front of me.
Jenny goes off to college.  It is the first time she has been away from her family for any stretch of time.  Her dad is a hard working, small business owner who has done quite well in life through his many years of hard work.  He and his family (Jenny included, if only for the fact that she doesn’t know enough about politics other than what her father tells her) are all very conservative.  After she comes home following her first semester, she immediately goes up to her dad and tells him that he has been wrong all these years and that her roommate and college professors say progressive liberalism is the only thing right in the world.  Any conservative is quite evil and heartless.  Jenny told her dad she is now a democratic and he should be one too, unless he is cruel.  He was a bit taken aback, but he didn’t get mad.  This was the conversation that followed:
Jenny’s dad “Well, that is all well and good.  Let me ask you something though.  Did your roommate ever pull up her grades?”
Jenny “Not that it has anything to do with it, but no, she kept on partying and is probably going to flunk out as she has four F’s.”
Jenny’s dad “That’s too bad!  How did your grades end up?”
Jenny “Well, I spent a lot of time out of the room so I could study, didn’t get to many parties, but I managed to get four A’s.”
Jenny’s dad “That’s wonderful! Well, now that you have four A’s, I think we should call the school and ask if you can split them with your roommate.  That way, instead of her failing, she will have four C’s and you will have four C’s.  That is one of the most fundamental principles of what you said you now believe in…”
Jenny “But, that’s not fair!  I worked hard, she didn’t work at all!”
Jenny’s dad “Well, the liberals believe they know better than me on how I should spend my money, so they like to take extra money from me because I have more than most.  I have more than most because I work harder than most.  They want to take my money and give it to those who don’t work as hard.”
Jenny recanted.

Anyway, I think in paraphrasing, I actually made that a much longer story.  The next one is not quite so long.

There are a lot of teachers that voted for Obama.  They, at least the ones I have read about or seen in the news, feel that he was right for this country and that his ideals on a national health plan and a redistribution of wealth will help them out considerably.  Don’t get me wrong, I think teachers are vastly under paid, but I would like to pose this to them and see if they agree:
Herman is a straight A student.  He is not one of the greatly gifted students that breeze through without working.  He is one of the students that knows the best chance he has to better himself at this point in life is through education.  He works extremely hard.  He doesn’t get into fights or hang out with the “bad crowd”.  He has plans and ambition.  He is that kid you see that makes you proud to take a job that is under paid and under respected.  Bill, one of his classmates, is not.  He is the kid that, despite your best efforts, brings down your entire classes average.  He makes it known that he isn’t going to college and he plans on doing as little as possible and having as good of a time as possible.  Well, the end of the school year is approaching and the principal sees that there are a few “Hermans” and a lot of “Bills” in the school.  He decides that the best course of action is to make sure that everyone, regardless of how hard they worked, passes.  He does some math and decides that there are enough points in all of the “Hermans” out there to bring up the GPA for all of the “Bills” so he has you, the teacher, discard everything you have been doing for the last 8 months and simply gives everyone the same grade.

I know the stories are similar, but I think the second one has merit on its own because similar (though not so drastic of course) things have happened in schools.  I know that it drives teachers crazy to have an administrator essentially tell them that they need to more or less give “free” grades to kids that do not deserve them in order to make the school look better.  If you (teacher) do not think it is fair for someone else to tell you how you should teach and grade, why do you think it is fair for someone else to decide how to spend our money?

With everything that I have said, I want to be very clear in that I think everyone does have the right to health care.  Teachers are under paid, doctors are over paid, and the price companies are charging for equipment and drugs is outrageous.  The whole system needs to be reworked to make everything fit right, but it has gotten so big now, it would be more than any one president or congress could do.  What I do not think though, is that the government should have such a big say in how our money is used.  If you work hard to earn it, it should not be taken away and given to those who do not work hard.  I understand there are some people who really and truly cannot work.  For real instances, exceptions need to be made.

This site was originally developed to YELL about all the crummy aspects of what could be a typically good thing… For example, your favorite restaurant has good food, but horrible wait staff.  Well, here would yell about it for you.  We had a good number of posts, but they were very specific to our own experiences and, while that is what we did intended, that never had the appeal or the audience we desired.
Things have changed since we started this site.  The economy, for some, is not doing so well, stocks are low, houses are being foreclosed on, etc.  Today, we are reopening this site as a place for social commentary.  The slant here is going to be conservative/moderate, but we welcome all views and opinions.  The topics will be PG-13 (at worst!) and there will be none (or hopefully very little, lest I should have to put down my powers of moderation) of the name calling and hate you see at places like the Daily Kos.  They will range from affirmative action to zoological innovations with all topics covered in between.  We will try not to make this our own personal whine and moan session, but I can’t make any promises.  Currently there are four bloggers, but if you would like to be a guest contributor, please send me a message.  All comments are on approval right now to watch for language.