I know it isn't election time, but I still urge you to keep tabs on your elected officals from time to time. For a nice easy website go HERE.
Put your zip code in the search bar at the upper left and it will retreive a list of all your elected officials and if you click on their names it gives you a summery of who they are and what things they've voted on.
Now you know
And knowing is half the battle.
Yo Joe!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Revolution
The Revolution
Unless you have been living off the grid, or are a hippie, you know the current state of affairs in the U.S. government is a tad wonky to put it lightly. Several things became clear to me the other day. Why have we, as a people, allowed this to happen? How can we stand by and let the government walk all over us like we were nothing but a mere annoyance, someone who is only important at election time easily won over by promises and bribes.
Not only our founding fathers, but the founding people of the United States as a whole would be more than ashamed if they saw what we allow to happen in these times. The sad part is I know the truth. I know why. Our people have their ears glued to their cell phones, they have their fingers tapping out five-hundred words a minute on an iPhone text messaging their bff Jill. Most people would fail a simple civics quiz such as “who is your congressmen” and “What is the second amendment”. This saddens me, because the people in office know this and use our collective short term memories to play their little game of power with each other, scrambling over the backs of their so-called constituents. It’s so sad, that I have to laugh. But that laugh comes out more like the maniacal laugh of a madman. Let me illustrate.
As a people:
We asked for more security on our borders.
Government said ‘no’
We asked for enforcement of immigration laws.
Government said ‘no’
We fight for our 2nd amendment rights.
Government tries to pass a weapons ban
We said no to a massive government bailout of failing companies.
Government ignored us and passed it anyway.
We said no to a massive spending ‘stimulus’ package.
Government ignored us and passed it anyway.
The list continues on from there. Yet we keep voting these people into congress because they basically bring us blood money into the state, via their pork barrel projects or in the case of Iowa they keep re-upping the farm bill, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog. Should congress have term limits? Our president does, yet our congressmen can theoretically run for life. Should they be allowed to vote on their own raises? Did you even know they voted for their own raises? I don’t know about you but if I was able to vote for my own raise you better believe I would be for it every single time, lol. Or the biggest slap in the face, should congress people get to vote on bills they haven’t even read. Oh, yes this is a regular practice. Can’t blame them though, have you ever tried to read one of those things? Hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages written in legaleze, politicseze, ancient sumarian, there’s no way any sane person could read them and understand them. This needs to change.
So what am I asking for? I’m not saying you have to read every bill that goes through congress, or start campaigning for someone. What I do ask is this: Be aware. Be aware of what is going on with your government, local, state and national. When election time rolls around, at least browse the webpage of each of the candidates and find out what they actually stand for. And finally, don’t let the government placate you with baubles, silver tongues and bribes. Make them make the hard choices, and when a bill comes up that hits the news and you disagree with, for the love of God let them know! Believe it or not your emails and letters and phone calls are not ignored when we do it en masse. We need to act as a people, and make the government work for us as the framers intended.
I feel there is a revolution coming. Not in the immediate future but soon. If things continue the way they are going I see the public finally tearing themselves away from their text messaging long enough to rise up and let it be known they will not be taken advantage anymore. The only question is, will it be a peaceful revolution or a bloody one. Hopefully it’s the former, because look at the French revolution. That did not end so well. The revolution that I hope happens, is widespread protests at all of our injustices. Widespread voting rallies where instead of a paltry 20 some odd percent of people vote, we see 60% or 80%. I would like to see mass pressure for campaign reform, lobby reform and more transparency in the government. I’d like to see a big push to place government back in the hands of the states rather than the fed. Who knows, maybe things will end badly, maybe too many will choose the route of the French revolution where fighting and bloodshed will be unleashed. I think that would end very badly for us.
The question I pose to you is; if the revolution comes will you take action? Search your soul and ask yourself whether you would become active and awake from your slumber or will you be happy to remain complacent and keep your head in the sand. The world of tomorrow is going to look a lot different than what it does today. Lets just hope that its better. Lets hope that one day we can look up at our flag and be proud of our country and proud of our leadership. We shouldn’t have to apologize for our leaders anymore. (George Dubya anyone?)
Unless you have been living off the grid, or are a hippie, you know the current state of affairs in the U.S. government is a tad wonky to put it lightly. Several things became clear to me the other day. Why have we, as a people, allowed this to happen? How can we stand by and let the government walk all over us like we were nothing but a mere annoyance, someone who is only important at election time easily won over by promises and bribes.
Not only our founding fathers, but the founding people of the United States as a whole would be more than ashamed if they saw what we allow to happen in these times. The sad part is I know the truth. I know why. Our people have their ears glued to their cell phones, they have their fingers tapping out five-hundred words a minute on an iPhone text messaging their bff Jill. Most people would fail a simple civics quiz such as “who is your congressmen” and “What is the second amendment”. This saddens me, because the people in office know this and use our collective short term memories to play their little game of power with each other, scrambling over the backs of their so-called constituents. It’s so sad, that I have to laugh. But that laugh comes out more like the maniacal laugh of a madman. Let me illustrate.
As a people:
We asked for more security on our borders.
Government said ‘no’
We asked for enforcement of immigration laws.
Government said ‘no’
We fight for our 2nd amendment rights.
Government tries to pass a weapons ban
We said no to a massive government bailout of failing companies.
Government ignored us and passed it anyway.
We said no to a massive spending ‘stimulus’ package.
Government ignored us and passed it anyway.
The list continues on from there. Yet we keep voting these people into congress because they basically bring us blood money into the state, via their pork barrel projects or in the case of Iowa they keep re-upping the farm bill, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog. Should congress have term limits? Our president does, yet our congressmen can theoretically run for life. Should they be allowed to vote on their own raises? Did you even know they voted for their own raises? I don’t know about you but if I was able to vote for my own raise you better believe I would be for it every single time, lol. Or the biggest slap in the face, should congress people get to vote on bills they haven’t even read. Oh, yes this is a regular practice. Can’t blame them though, have you ever tried to read one of those things? Hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages written in legaleze, politicseze, ancient sumarian, there’s no way any sane person could read them and understand them. This needs to change.
So what am I asking for? I’m not saying you have to read every bill that goes through congress, or start campaigning for someone. What I do ask is this: Be aware. Be aware of what is going on with your government, local, state and national. When election time rolls around, at least browse the webpage of each of the candidates and find out what they actually stand for. And finally, don’t let the government placate you with baubles, silver tongues and bribes. Make them make the hard choices, and when a bill comes up that hits the news and you disagree with, for the love of God let them know! Believe it or not your emails and letters and phone calls are not ignored when we do it en masse. We need to act as a people, and make the government work for us as the framers intended.
I feel there is a revolution coming. Not in the immediate future but soon. If things continue the way they are going I see the public finally tearing themselves away from their text messaging long enough to rise up and let it be known they will not be taken advantage anymore. The only question is, will it be a peaceful revolution or a bloody one. Hopefully it’s the former, because look at the French revolution. That did not end so well. The revolution that I hope happens, is widespread protests at all of our injustices. Widespread voting rallies where instead of a paltry 20 some odd percent of people vote, we see 60% or 80%. I would like to see mass pressure for campaign reform, lobby reform and more transparency in the government. I’d like to see a big push to place government back in the hands of the states rather than the fed. Who knows, maybe things will end badly, maybe too many will choose the route of the French revolution where fighting and bloodshed will be unleashed. I think that would end very badly for us.
The question I pose to you is; if the revolution comes will you take action? Search your soul and ask yourself whether you would become active and awake from your slumber or will you be happy to remain complacent and keep your head in the sand. The world of tomorrow is going to look a lot different than what it does today. Lets just hope that its better. Lets hope that one day we can look up at our flag and be proud of our country and proud of our leadership. We shouldn’t have to apologize for our leaders anymore. (George Dubya anyone?)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A loss...
Today I am more sad than I have been for a very long time. My dog Haplo got loose yesterday and was hit by a car.
I'm sure it may be silly for some of you reading. But loosing Haplo is like loosing a best friend. Mrs. Kimpak and I are still reeling from the shock of it and I'm not sure if its fully sunk in yet. I do know that things will be different now.
Maya, our other dog is doing ok. She knows there's something wrong but doesn't understand of course.
Dealing with loss is something I've traditionally been good with. This time though its really effected me. In time, I'm sure I'll get over it. But right now its just too fresh. So if I seem a bit distant to any of you don't take it personally.
I'm sure it may be silly for some of you reading. But loosing Haplo is like loosing a best friend. Mrs. Kimpak and I are still reeling from the shock of it and I'm not sure if its fully sunk in yet. I do know that things will be different now.
Maya, our other dog is doing ok. She knows there's something wrong but doesn't understand of course.
Dealing with loss is something I've traditionally been good with. This time though its really effected me. In time, I'm sure I'll get over it. But right now its just too fresh. So if I seem a bit distant to any of you don't take it personally.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Watchmen
First of all, I haven’t read the graphic novel, so everything in this blog is related to the movie. I do plan on getting it now though. Anyway here we go.
Watchmen Review:
7.5 out of 10
Watchmen is a movie closely based on the graphic novel of the same name. The movie follows the lives of two generations of super hero teams, in an alternate world to our own. In the world of Watchmen, Nixon is still president after passing a bill which repeals term limits so he can continuously run for president, its also during the cold war with Russia. However in this universe both nations literally have their fingers on the proverbial button, nuclear war isn’t just a threat, it’s a certainty.
So in the 40’s a group of people in peak physical condition (I.E. no supernatural powers, except for Dr. Manhattan), decide to costume up and fight crime as a team of vigilantes. In time they are enlisted by the government to help with WWII and eventually Viet Nam. Most of them, most notably The Commedian, get messed up by the war and become crazy in some fasion. A new group forms later, and is successful until congress passes a law outlawing the super heros. They then go into retirement/hiding all except for Rorschach who continues to fight crime. At the beginning of the movie we see The Commedian get murdered, and chaos ensues.
The movie was good, the imagery was amazing. Its very dark and disturbing at some parts though, so this is definitely not a movie for kids. The story takes on a lot of issues that are relavent to today; Liberalism, humanity’s vanity, Love, justice, the graying of the line between good/evil. It causes us to take a look at our own values, and wonder what we would do if we were in their shoes. The movie is long, just shy of three hours, but it uses that time wisely to develop all the characters in the story. The movie is really about the characters themselves, and the story of the murder and the war serve as a driving force for the characters rather than the plot itself. There was too much to take in though in one sitting. I’m going to have to buy the DVD when it comes out to catch anything I may have missed.
Why didn’t it get a 10/10….well it’s just my opinion of course, but I think it could have been better. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it just seemed to be missing something, maybe it was just my A.D.D and the slowly developing story. I guess I was expecting some more action, but I understand that it isn’t about that. I’m conflicted. Anyway, its just my opinion.
P.S. There’s also a big blue penis.
Watchmen Review:
7.5 out of 10
Watchmen is a movie closely based on the graphic novel of the same name. The movie follows the lives of two generations of super hero teams, in an alternate world to our own. In the world of Watchmen, Nixon is still president after passing a bill which repeals term limits so he can continuously run for president, its also during the cold war with Russia. However in this universe both nations literally have their fingers on the proverbial button, nuclear war isn’t just a threat, it’s a certainty.
So in the 40’s a group of people in peak physical condition (I.E. no supernatural powers, except for Dr. Manhattan), decide to costume up and fight crime as a team of vigilantes. In time they are enlisted by the government to help with WWII and eventually Viet Nam. Most of them, most notably The Commedian, get messed up by the war and become crazy in some fasion. A new group forms later, and is successful until congress passes a law outlawing the super heros. They then go into retirement/hiding all except for Rorschach who continues to fight crime. At the beginning of the movie we see The Commedian get murdered, and chaos ensues.
The movie was good, the imagery was amazing. Its very dark and disturbing at some parts though, so this is definitely not a movie for kids. The story takes on a lot of issues that are relavent to today; Liberalism, humanity’s vanity, Love, justice, the graying of the line between good/evil. It causes us to take a look at our own values, and wonder what we would do if we were in their shoes. The movie is long, just shy of three hours, but it uses that time wisely to develop all the characters in the story. The movie is really about the characters themselves, and the story of the murder and the war serve as a driving force for the characters rather than the plot itself. There was too much to take in though in one sitting. I’m going to have to buy the DVD when it comes out to catch anything I may have missed.
Why didn’t it get a 10/10….well it’s just my opinion of course, but I think it could have been better. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it just seemed to be missing something, maybe it was just my A.D.D and the slowly developing story. I guess I was expecting some more action, but I understand that it isn’t about that. I’m conflicted. Anyway, its just my opinion.
P.S. There’s also a big blue penis.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Gamer Shave
Marketing has hit an all time low. I submit to you this: The gamer razor. Yes, now there is a Gillette Fusion for gamers. What is different about it, you might ask? As far as I can tell, nothing, other than the fact they slapped the surname ‘gamer’ on the packaging. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Fusion line of razors, but this is a bit silly.
Although it does bring to light a certain paradigm shift in our culture. Not so long ago, gamers and geeks alike were seen as pasty faced zombies in their Mother’s basements twitching their thumbs to the latest incarnation of Mario, or rolling a handful of D6’s with a certain glee as they calculated the damage from a fireball. Now, being a geek is chic. With the advent of more powerful consoles and superb marketing, we now have gaming in the mainstream media. Heck, with the creation of the Wii, we even have senior citizens playing video games. I’ve even read news articles about schools purchasing Wii’s for classroom use, for games like Wii fit and Wii Music. Dungeons and Dragons has even gotten over some of the social stigmas it had back in the 70’s and early 80’s. Let us not forget we even have a professional gaming league, which is what the razors are actually designed to promote.
I never dreamed, back in the days of playing Intellevision games, there would be a professional league, a serious one where the pro’s can make a serious living off playing games. I should have practiced more, heh.
So, get your game on and buy a gamer razor because Gillette says your not complete without one.
Although it does bring to light a certain paradigm shift in our culture. Not so long ago, gamers and geeks alike were seen as pasty faced zombies in their Mother’s basements twitching their thumbs to the latest incarnation of Mario, or rolling a handful of D6’s with a certain glee as they calculated the damage from a fireball. Now, being a geek is chic. With the advent of more powerful consoles and superb marketing, we now have gaming in the mainstream media. Heck, with the creation of the Wii, we even have senior citizens playing video games. I’ve even read news articles about schools purchasing Wii’s for classroom use, for games like Wii fit and Wii Music. Dungeons and Dragons has even gotten over some of the social stigmas it had back in the 70’s and early 80’s. Let us not forget we even have a professional gaming league, which is what the razors are actually designed to promote.
I never dreamed, back in the days of playing Intellevision games, there would be a professional league, a serious one where the pro’s can make a serious living off playing games. I should have practiced more, heh.
So, get your game on and buy a gamer razor because Gillette says your not complete without one.
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