Shooting Politics

Here we go again.

Some deranged loser goes nuts and kills a bunch of people.

The reactions are both predictable and occasianally sickening.

I swear, if I hadn't paid so much for my DeWalt jobsite radio, I would have thrown a hammer at it a few times over the news reporting on the shootings at Va. Tech. I knew, I fucking knew in advance how the story would be covered. You would think I would be past outrage at this point in my life at the shoddy, predictable "journalism" I have been exposed to for 46 years.

You may have a problem with Rush Limbaugh. But you have to admit, when he talks about "templates" that the news media have he is right on. As I said, I absolutely could have told you how the news would cover this. I could probably predict what the next few days would bring right down to the "key words" they will use.

I guess the tipping point for me, after hearing the usual bullshit coverage, was when they started reporting how this guy had "shown signs" of being a fucking nut job. Gee, ya' think?

Look, there are two ways these things go. Either the neighbors express shock and dismay "He seemed so normal" or some people are found to point out the perps abnormal behavior before the incident.

In this case it's the latter. I was bombarded today with reports of how weird this scumbag was. Well, NO SHIT. HE JUST SHOT A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF INNOCENT PEOPLE! YOU THINK MAYBE HE HAD SOME ISSUES?!? (Sorry if it seems I am yelling at you. I'm taking my frustrations out on reporting agencies and the questions they leave hanging.) So what's the point? Do we start locking up people for "showing signs" or something? Who the fuck is going to be the judge of when the next homicidal maniac is about to go off? Can we start right now by locking up war protesters, dirty hippies, vegans, environmentalist extremists, and Goth Chicks?

I mean, Good Fucking God, what is the point of reporting that the shooter was a bit strange? Are you trying to pave the way for lawsuits or what? "Someone" maybe should have seen this coming? That's always the way, isn't it? "Someone" should have done "something", right? I mean, that's where the coverage seems to be going. Well what the hell were they going to do?

Ahh. I feel better now. On to the next rant, which is the predictable political reaction from gun banner types.

"We need to stand up and do something"

So said Carolyn McCarthy, a (surprise!) Democrat representative from New York.

Predictable, again. Every time there is some shooting that draws attention like this one has, there are a few things that happen:

• The news reporting agencies piss me off
• There is a candle light vigil
• Democrats start trying to nullify the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution in violation of their Oath of Office

It's really kind of sickening in a way. Here you have all of these lives affected by the killer. Politicians, could you at least give the families some time to grieve? You're taking advantage of a terrible event to push your agenda. If holding hearings and such is so important, why wait until now? It's craven, it's transparent political maneuvering. It's why so many people don't vote.

Here's a good example of priorities, with an elected official I have actually met and talked to. He is a lying piece of shit. I am ashamed that he is from Texas, the best part of him ran down the crack of his momma's ass. Lloyd Doggett shows the courage of his convictions here:

"Unless we get some leadership from the White House, we're not going to take this kind of political damage bringing up something that would never become law," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.), a gun-control advocate.

Oh, I get it. You care so much about your position on this issue that you won't take it up unless you are sure of success? Asshole.

What Lloyd is saying here is that the gun control advocates have a solution to prevent a future mass killing but that it is not worth a political risk. Typical Doggett, politically calculating bull fucking shit coming out of his mouth. (I know, I was the camera man for an impromptu field interview when he was running for State Representative 20 something years ago. Hasn't changed a bit, it's all about him getting and keeping power. That's why I use such strong language in denouncing him and his motives. I know.)

So, anyway, gun control advocates, why don't you grow a fucking spine and announce publicly what you really want? I know why, and Lloyd Doggett, in what surely must have been a weak moment, voiced it. Your politicians don't really give a fuck about stopping incidences like this one now, you and they just want to gain power over the rest of us. You just don't like guns, you have an irrational fear of them. You are like MADD, there is no law too punitive and restrictive of human freedom for you to punish the rest of us for what some irresponsible or insane asshole did to you.

Was anyone but me alive in the 1990's and paying attention? Boy, that Brady Bill, when it became the law of the land, it was going to put a stop to this kind of thing! Remember? Oh, but now it's not enough.

It never is with these people.

I'm going to have to spend some time someday writing about how people tend to project their inadaquecies onto others. And how politicians take advantage of people's willingness to lose their liberty to pass laws to make people feel good that "something is getting done" about some problem. Then, the same typical assholes break the law, fuck up the plan and more useless laws are passed. The cycle repeats. But I guess I just did.

Free Speech: The Two Way Street

Bravo, Mark Davis. You have absolutely nailed it:

What do the following three people have in common?
1) Pitcher John Rocker, who said some ugly things about New Yorkers and earned a suspension without pay;

2) Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines, who said a hateful thing and earned vast public scorn;

3) Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who absurdly agreed to market an insane 9/11 conspiracy movie, earning waves of negative reaction.

The answer is: all three believe they were involved in a free speech controversy, and all three are wrong.

There are even some talk show hosts who believe they are involved in a free speech exercise each day. While that is the freedom enjoyed by anyone who pontificates for a living, broadcasters (and athletes and singers and billionaires) hardly ever actually find themselves in a first amendment issue.

Most things that we paint as free-speech issues are really issues of marketplace speech followed by even more speech in the form of reaction. The first amendment says government will not outlaw our freedom of expression. In no way does it guarantee that we can express ourselves without consequences.

A little over seven years ago, Rocker made some blunt comments about New Yorkers. While there was some support for his rant against the tricky human tapestry of the Big Apple, there was a flavor of intolerance around his remarks that alienated many and brought embarrassment to his employer, the Atlanta Braves. He was suspended without pay and asserted that his free speech rights were violated.

Nonsense. He got to say exactly what he wished. The Braves, meanwhile, mortified at his clumsy blathering, did what they had a right to do, and punished him.

Natalie Maines is now famous for two things: her incredible talent as a singer and her stunning stupidity for telling a London crowd in 2004 that she and her fellow Dixie Chicks were “ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”

Country radio all but disowned them and countless fans registered profound disgust. She asserted that her free speech rights were violated.

Again, nonsense. She got to say exactly what she wished. Country stations and fans then did exactly what they wished as well. Isn’t freedom grand?

Then, mere days ago, we learned that otherwise lovable Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has a massive moral blind spot. His decision to allow his movie company to distribute a 9/11 “inside job” conspiracy film is a massive lapse in judgment. He thus places himself in bed with the hateful psychopaths who believe America killed its own people to justify the war.
He reacted to the understandable public revulsion by arguing that the film had a right to be seen, and that he was part of a noble tradition of standing up for the first amendment rights of unpopular material.

Except that there’s no free speech issue here, either. No one said the filmmakers should be barred from creating such garbage, or that some sorry outfit could not distribute it. The issue was always about what people thought about his sad lapse in judgment.
Just as John Rocker learned what people thought of his free speech, and Natalie maines learned what people thought of hers.

The first amendment arises only when government seeks to curb certain expression. Your constitutional rights are violated only if government seeks to shut down things you have a right to express.

Clip the following paragraph and place it where you can retrieve it easily:

Free speech does not guarantee the right to speak out without consequences. If you speak out and feel the blister of rebuke in return, you have seen free speech travel both ways."

I listen to Mark fairly often. He done good on this one.

Rambling On

BOHICA!

Hey Americans! Happy Tax Day!

Doesn't it just give you the warm fuzzies to realize how much of your earnings are legally stolen from you by the Federal government and distributed to others with a political connection of whatever type? I mean, no matter your political bent, you have to agree with me. The government fucks some people out of their money and hands it over to others. I've said it before and I'll post it here: The Federal Government of the United States, with its power to tax and spend, is a protection racket. You all fired up to get money and corruption out of politics? Fine. Here's how you do it: Get politics out of our fucking money. John McCain and Russ Feingold can kiss my insignificant ass with their unconstitutional campaign finance law. How's that working out?

Cut the purse strings to Congress. Demand that they only fund those things required in our Constitution. Yeah, I know. Good luck with that. Too many votes to buy.

~~~~

I'm off that subject. Pisses me off when I think about it.

On a happy note, I am away from the AIQ (Asshole In Question, to be referred to in such a fashion forevermore) job foreman for the foreseeable future. Now, I can't dance for shit, but when he handed me a piece of paper with an address on it, I asked him what we were going to be doing over there and he said "I don't know" I had to hide my elation. The fact that he didn't know what was going on likely meant that he was not in charge of this job. I wanted to do a happy dance then and there. I told Brian what the AIQ said and he responded with a fist pump. Yessssss!

Elation, that's the word. We showed up at the new project and I started saying "Free at last, free at last," and Skeeter chuckled and finished the saying with me. "Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!" It just bubbled up from our guts, you have no idea how happy we all are.

We're fucking professionals and we act so. Treating us like Wal Mart Associates is a sure-fire way to fuck up a good day. Ah, free to be professional again. Without the goddamned micromanaging and second guessing and all that bull fucking shit.

I'm so happy again. I have my old job back, the one I love so much.

~~~~

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball sixty years ago today. All I've been hearing and reading about is what a great guy he was, how he laid the foundation for black players, and later coaches in all of sports and really in society in general. And that's all true, I'm not trying to minimize that in any way.

What I will minimize, in a way, is the way that all the coverage in the media that you see or hear presents his story. Yeah, they all talk about what a great man he was, how he endured the insults for the greater good, he was the best player on the team. I have a problem with the general slant of everything I have ever heard about the man, and here is my slant. I think it paints a far greater portrait of the greatness that was Jackie Robinson.

See, I could not have done it. Neither could you. I think I'm a fairly tough minded man. You probably think that you are fairly tough as well. Face it, neither you nor I could have done what he did. I know for a fact that I would have snapped.

You like your job? I like mine. Now, what is the absolute worst part of your job? Most people, including and obviously me, would say it's some dickhead that has to be dealt with at work. (Side note - could you imagine the pressure if there had been blogs and the current proliferation of media back in 1947? I wonder what Jackie Robinson's blog might have looked like. Go ahead, take that imagination trip, it's a hoot.)

Jackie Robinson worked at baseball for a living. He had to start out with co-workers that hated, shunned him for no good reason. They simply didn't like the color of his skin. The boss said it was so and they didn't like it one bit. Bobby Bragan tells it like it was. Then, then, you have to leave your family, go on the road, and take all of the worst abuse imaginable, all because you were just doing what you had been hired to do.

You think you could stay at a job like that, no matter how much it paid? Imagine going to work every day in an atmosphere like that. No, I could not do it. Most of us couldn't. That was Jackie Robinson's greatness. He not only overcame all of that, he excelled at his work despite the distractions. Just amazes me when I think about it.

I couldn't do it in my low profile job and you probably couldn't do it in your job. Jackie did it in the highest profile job imaginable. That is his greatness.

~~~~

I had "heroes" when I was a kid. Johnny Unitas for one. Chip Hilton was a role model for me in the ways of sportsmanship. I wanted to be Mickey Mantle and later Roger Staubach or Reggie Jackson or Cliff Harris.

These people were winners in every aspect of life. Johnny and Mickey are dead, Chip never lived, and Roger, Reggie, and Cliff are still out and about doing what they do. They are all winners, winning the right way. Inspirations for me. I was a typical American kid, wanting to be the football hero or the big league baseball player that wins with one swing of the bat on the biggest stage.

Well, all that sports stuff kind of went away when I realized that I sucked as an athlete. I turned my attention to Chess and Math and later to drugs and alcohol and partying. Fast Eddie Felsen became my hero of the moment and frankly he is not that inspiring. I was a hard - core Christian for a while until my brain got tired of the logical lapses. I went back to partying and trying to get some meaning out of life. I worked, partied, hung out with "friends" which were really just drinking buddies. I met my wife and stupidly took a while to figure out how much I loved and needed her. I ran a business for a while but as an adult I had no hero, no one to look up to. Didn't need one. I was The Man and everyone that dealt with me knew it. I had finally gotten to the point where even my family had to respect me. Oh, I wasn't a jerk (most of the time) but everyone knew not to trifle with me any more. I put up with no shit from nobody, I was in charge. This from the former whipping boy I had been all my life.

So anyway, I had no hero as an adult, the adult I had finally become at age 30 something. Nobody to look up to as a role model. Then...

I watched a NASCAR race on TV one day. At Talladega, Ernie Irvan got into Dale Earnhardt and turned the 3 car around. Dale ended up on his roof, took a terrible hit, and crawled out of the car and walked away. He was holding his arm because he had a broken sternum. I thought, "That's one tough motherfucker!" He proved my assessment correct as he went on the next week to get back into the car and take the pole position at Watkin's Glen, of all places, a road course, with a broken fucking sternum! It was then that I became an Earnhardt fan.

I started watching the races on TV after that. Reading what I could find about Dale. I can say without a doubt that the man was the salt of the earth. The Chevy commercials are attemting to capitalize on his legacy by saying "He was one of Us" and you know what? He was.

He was one of us, and he made good.

I don't cry. I've had a lot of deaths of people I knew and cared about the last ten years or so. Not a one of them affected me like the day Dale died. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Dropped the phone in shock when I heard the news. (I didn't get to watch that particular race) Went to work the next day, saw my computer wallpaper with the black 3 car and had to fight the tears that welled up in my eyes.

I don't believe in regrets much. We all have them, but they are useless. Life is linear. You do what you think you gotta' do at the time and go on with your life. Remembering mistakes later, i.e. regrets, is a big waste of time and yet we all do it. I just try to minimize regrets but I sure as hell regret not discovering Dale before I did.

To this day I tear up when I see him with that shit-eating grin in a picture. Funny thing, to me at least, if you look at our wedding pictures, I have the exact same grin as Earnhardt.

I'm sure that there are about two million fans out there that would say the same thing. All of the old race fans are Earnhardt fans.

Having said all of that, I cannot even watch the Dale Movie trailer without tearing up. I'm going to buy that movie as soon as it is available and I am sure that I will cry like a woman when I watch it.

God I miss that son of a bitch. Before he was a legend, he was one of us. He is still one of us. To us. He is our hero. For sure, he is my hero.

Imus is a Racist?

Unless you haven't been paying attention, you are aware of Don Imus and the comments he made about the women's basketball team from Rutgers University, and you are aware that the professional race hustlers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are after his ass.

Now it comes to me... Jesse and Al are professional race hustlers, to be sure. But I think the more unweildy term "race protection racket profiteers" is more fitting. If you have to think about that, then you really have not been paying attention. I mean, come on, have either of those two jackasses ever done a single positive, productive thing in their collective lives? I think not. They both make a living by stirring up racial strife. That's all. They operate a retroactive protection racket. Somebody says something or does something they shouldn't, and they capitalize on it.

But enough on those two absolutely despicable human beings. (I would not walk across the street to piss down their mouths if their throats were on fire, I surely wouldn't, they suck as people.)

Don Imus created a firestorm by saying some stupid things. Stupid, that is, for a white man to say. A black man can say those things with impunity. Why is that?

Don't hand me some bullshit about how the "white man" has some sort of historical power over black people. I grew up with black kids, friends at school. I damn sure didn't have any power over them! Hell, I have never had any power over anyone.

Yeah, I'm a white man, and I don't buy into the "historical power" racism argument. The black kids I grew up with were as well off as me, at least. I damned sure have never held "the black man" down in any way! I would have gotten my ass kicked if I tried it literally. And I would sure as fuck never try any stupid shit with the black dudes on the jobsites I work at. I may be a slow white boy, but I'm not fucking stupid.

So anyway, why can black people say the most incredibly racist things and get a free pass?

Oh, I know the answer, and discussing this is actually fun with my black redneck friends. They don't buy into the stupid bullshit that Jesse and Al are selling.

Don Imus said something like "Those are some rough nappy-headed ho's." The nappy-headed ho's comment is what inagurated the firestorm. Interestingly enough, referring to them as "rough" is no problem... But I could be wrong about that part.

Here's the deal. I first heard the term "Nappy-Headed" on a Stevie Wonder song. Never would have heard it otherwise, I was about sixteen. I had never heard women referred to as "Ho's" until black rap became popular in the 1980's.

So, Jesse, Al? Hello pot. Meet Kettle.

That Done It

O.K., so I bitched about the micromanaging dude a few weeks ago. Sue me if you must, don't read on if'n you don't like the subject, but here we go again...

That's right, friends and neighbors, he pissed me off again, and I am going to color you surprised by that fact. In jest.

Here's the deal: After ten years self-employed in Cleburne, three years of tech support hell and a couple of years working as a trim carpenter in the human shithole of Dallas, working for the best people in the world in Ft. Worth was an absolute revelation. No shit y'all, it took me a full year to adjust. I cannot stress enough how different things are, mainly the human relationships. And aren't relationships with other people the cause of about one hundred percent of job-related stress, or hell any stress for that matter?

Speaking of stress, I cannot stress enough how good the people I work for are, from my employers to the homeowners to the guys I work with every day. I am literally in carpenter's nirvana. I could give you dozens of examples but I will limit it to two.

Example one: My bosses say "Thank you" on a regular basis.

Let that one sink in.

The people I work for, that sign my checks and tell me what to do, often say "Thanks, David" when I have simply done what I am paid to do. That happen at your workplace? Happens to me every single time I give one of my bosses an update over the phone.

It's a Fort Worth deal. People are just nice there. Fuck Dallas. (Had to sneak that in. It's a Fort Worth thang.) In fact, the big boss actually apologized to me for sending me to Dallas one day. His exact words were "David, I'm sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to go to Dallas for us. Make sure and keep track of your mileage."

The upshot of the above rambling is this: If you are considering a Texas visit, bypass Big D all together and get a real sense of what Texas is all about by visiting Fort Worth. I can take you to some "hole in the wall" joints if need be. Fort Worth is Texas Friendly, Dallas is asshole yuppies.

But I was going to bitch, wasn't I?

Fine. I will.

I came this close to going on down the road on Monday. Quitting my dream job and going to work for someone else.

The micromanaging dude called a meeting. He managed to piss off the entire crew. Started it off by saying "My Pastor has a saying, I'm going to tell you some things, and if they apply to you, take them to heart and if they don't..."

Me, interrupting in a fairly loud voice: "OH, so now you're going to give us a sermon?"

"Yeah, I'm going to give you a sermon."

I resisted my initial instinct to just walk away. I try to keep my anger under control. I wish I had walked away.

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of my life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet

He lectured us about wasting time, or as he put it, "I seem to see people standing around with their hands on their hips." (Never mind that I have my hands on my hips when I am thinking about the next step in a complicated carpentry project) Told us to act like sub-contractors, we were running out of money on this house. Blah blah blah. Funny, I thought the homeowner was about to offer to suck our dicks over the work we had done (Gawd she was so happy over the back porch) and now he pulls this shit?!?

He fucked up. Big time. All he did was give us a bunch of soundbites to use against him. I told the guys that I never understood mutinies in those old sailing movies but maybe we could tie his fat ass to a beam with an extension cord.

Of course, we heard through a third party that he was complaining to the big boss that we "weren't getting anything done" or somesuch. He threw us under the bus. Way to go, dickhead!

Look, I'm a nice guy. But please, don't fuck with me, don't bore me, and don't insult me. And for goddamned sure don't give me a fucking "sermon" and tell all of my guys to "Take what applies" like you are talking about sin. Looky here, motherfucker, if you have something to say to me, if you have something to say to my brother or my nephew or any of my buddies, you better fucking grow a pair and tell us individually. Tell me if you have a problem with my work, face to face. Don't hide behind a group meeting. I figure the rest of the guys feel the same way. If you got something to say to me, you got to say it right out loud. To me.

In that vein, I almost hesitated to go with the "sermon" retort when he called the meeting. I figure if I expect him to treat me like a man I should do the same. I didn't want to show the dude up.

I would respect the man for his skills. He is twice the carpenter I am. Hell, he should be after thirty years experience. But I can't get past the weasel factor. So, sad to say, I have no respect for the man.

I tried, I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. It turns out, once again, that my first impression was right. Why don't I listen to my instincts? Because I'm a nice guy that has fucked up plenty, that's why.

I could go all Hannibal Lecter on the guy. You remember the part in the movie where he talked the dude into suicide? A good friend used to say that reminded him of me. I could do that to this jerk. He is a big time Christian, even goes on missionary work to South America. I have forgotten more about the bible and such than this prick even knows. I know more about him than he knows about himself. I could talk his ass into knots and have him questioning his own salvation in five minutes.

But I won't because I'm a nice guy. I'm also an asshole, and I hope to have the opportunity to show the dickhead up in another "meeting" because frankly I will say what everyone thinks but is hesitant to voice.

Hey, shit fer brains, if we wanted to be talked to like Wal Mart Associates, we'd go to work for Wal Mart, wouldn't we? Don't think for a nanosecond that I won't say it. Maybe with a different wording...

I'm thinking that Reservoir Dogs is on the viewing agenda. "I've changed my mind. Shoot that piece of shit."