It’s Not That Important

So, I have a huge problem with the educational system of this country.  And possibly any other country that does the following bullshit.

We hold far too much importance on collegiate education, like if you don’t go on and get a piece of paper, you’re a failure, you’re worthless and, for the most part, unhirable.  And why the hell is that?  Did everyone forget about skilled labor?  There’s an astonishing lack of attention paid upon trade schooling, and it’s equally as important as your doctorates and masters and whatever else.  I mean, and that’s a huge problem in the job market, currently.  I keep hearing that there are jobs, but nobody wants them because we have this fucking idea that anything that doesn’t take place in an office or hospital or anything of that  ilk is pitiable and undesirable and anyone that works in a job like that should be fucking ashamed of themselves for falling that low.

Equally ridiculous is that some people hold factory workers in this kind of light.  But factory workers are making all your shit, so maybe you should think twice on that line of logic.  The horrible thing is this looking down upon people that either didn’t want to waste the money on college, flailing around and not being able to decide what they wanted to major in, which, apparently, is also important for some kind of reason, or couldn’t afford it and fell into other jobs and started families, has become a national thing, a social epidemic, if you will.  And why?

What do you really gain out of collegiate courses in terms of specialized knowledge that you couldn’t from experience with the work itself?  Why do we hold so much importance on a piece of paper that costs thousands upon thousands of dollars?  Why is that better than skilled labor?  Why is that better than someone who works in the food industry?  Why is that better than custodial work, or the little cogs that make your life, your day, your city working correctly?

I don’t want to come down on the people that wanted to go into the academic world, because it’s not their fault, it’s their choice to do this, and if they want to, if they want to get better at something through schooling, that’s fine.  I have a bigger problem with the people running the job market itself, and their need to be contrarian on whether you need the degree, or the experience.  Figure out what you want and get back to me, because you don’t understand what the fuck you’re talking about.

Don’t give up hope if you’re going to college, and don’t give up hope if you’re not.  Don’t look down your nose at those that work in the streets, and don’t get down on yourself if you hold a job like that.

Basically, don’t be an idiot fuckstick, because we’re all people, and we all need help right now.

Eight Years Too Late

I’ve been kind of rabble rousing about the political atmosphere lately, but only because it’s another pair of groups that have found a way to think the same things, but go about fixing them in completely different ways. Just look at the recent debt crisis (since everything is a goddamned crisis, anymore), liberals want to raise taxes on the billionaires and conservatives want to cut funding to certain entitlement programs. Why not do both? I mean, it’d help our country twofold if we do. But within the last eight years, the country has become divided into a hotbed of partisan thinking and bias.

Look, I don’t care if you’re a liberal or a conservative. Both sides are idiots that just want to save face, anymore, and I’m not speaking about the people that follow these ideologies, more the people that are representing them, although the former isn’t helping matters much by not being critical thinkers and voting based on what party whoever is privy to. This whole bipartisan political system has just created another fucking rift that seems to be uncrossable at this point, like we needed any more of those godforsaken things. Why aren’t these senators and representatives thinking of the American people that voted them into office in the first place? Why aren’t they trying to fix this problem instead of being bratty assholes and refusing to compromise? What do they have to gain by drawing this out and kicking the general populous in the beanbag? I mean, honestly, this is getting ridiculous and there’s nothing we can do about it except elect completely new people into office when their time is up.

But therein lies another issue, the human fear of change. What do we really have to lose if someone new that’s a lot more qualified and less paid for goes into office instead of an incumbent? Do you think the idea of political gridlock is awesome? Are you stupid for a living? I wasn’t really kidding when I called for term limits for senators and representatives a few entries ago, and a lot more transparency when it comes to who is taking what money from whichever company or who grabs bribes or whatever. There are way too many loopholes anymore, these politicians are reaping the rewards for saying their bought lines and everyone in the middle and lower class have to deal with the ramifications and consequences of their actions. But why should they care?

This whole ordeal should be a wake up call for everyone that votes and everyone that doesn’t. Being complacent with your previous choices is getting us sacked and being apathetic about it does nothing but leaving us with these sorry sacks of skin that have corrupted and ruined these amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty. Don’t vote incumbent next time you get a chance just because they’re the devil you know, do the research, figure out what their policies are, what they did before they’d get this job, their track record. Think about the things you do before you do them, or we’re going to wind up even worse in the next four years. Do your own searching, don’t listen to the media because they know less of the truth than you do. Follow your heart, your brain and you intuition, because those are the only things you can really trust in this world of bought words.

And don’t even get me started on the spin in the media.

Broken Political Promises

Things I would run a presidential campaign on:

Tonedeaf people would not be able to sing in public, there would be licenses given out to applicable buildings or establishments, but not to individual people, to allow them to do it in the confines of that building or establishment.

Mohawks are banned from the heads of anyone that wasn’t drunk when they made the decision to get a mohawk.

Tattoo Approval Committee, a new legislative body that would take into account what you look like, the potential design that is being requested and the location of that design on your body.  If it is a stupid thing, you will get the word “STUPID” tattooed on your forehead in a stencil-type font.

Schools will be given money.

Millionaires and above will have two choices, get taxed an additional percent upon my taking of office or give 50% of their wealth to some kind of charity.  There will be no way to wheedle out of this, I will be taking the check for either choice personally with an imposing retinue of angry looking men.

Term limits for senators and representatives.  If you do a bad job, you will be fired.  Out of a cannon.  Into the sun.  If you do a good job, you can get your term extended, but it must pass a vote from your constituents.

People are paid based on their importance in a company/workplace and/or on the contributions given to improve the company/workplace.

The bald eagle will be replaced as the mascot of the country by a cartoon pony.

If a television show ends its run on a cliffhanger, the producers of the television show will be allowed to wrap it up in a single episode to be aired close to the start of the fall premiere season.

Fuck your filibuster, it’s over.

And lastly: If you want to teach any fringe sciences in schools, you have to allow people to express themselves religiously in public schools, and in catholic schools, you must do the opposite.

Vote Balthasar Radixius 2024

Jesus Jones

Is it really fucking politics season again?  Didn’t we just do this unsuccessfully, like, six months ago?  I still don’t get why we vote for people to lead us, we try to pretend we can choose our leaders but it’s just the same king for life in a different suit.

I often say that the only difference between the parties is which one is in the white house.  It’s the same lies, the same deceit and the same disconnect from their constituents that prevails.

I was impressed by Bernie Sanders’ filibuster that happened not too long ago.  Not because of the length of it, which seemed to be the most notable part of it to most people, news organizations included.  I was impressed because he seemed to understand the plight of the people that he was representing, he got that there’s a huge struggle in the diminishing middle class, and he didn’t give a damn about the earmarks or the lobbyists, he wanted to do right by the American people.

Then there’s the whole thing about companies being able to siphon as much money as they want into whatever candidate they want to finance, the law they passed recently.  I recall folks being up in arms over that like it changed anything.  If some corporation wanted to get someone into office, they’d have found ways to do it through loopholes or other exploits in the system.  It’s not uncalled for, much like the tax situation that allows GE and Exxon Mobil to pay little to nothing for taxes.  What’s the best way to fix this?  Make profit taxable in percentages.  But if big wigs have to start paying a bunch more money to the government, an act which they are legally required to do, anyway, not to mention that it would help America as a whole, they won’t want to do it.

Then there’s the people who defend the rich by saying they pay the most in taxes.

Well, yeah.

They’re rich.

They should pay more by merit of being well off.

Why should I or anyone else in the lower-middle class be forced to pay as much as we do when the average take-home for that section of the general population of this country seems to have declined since I started full-time employment?  Is that fair?

The private sector is getting fucked and there’s almost nothing we can do to prevent it.

Bandwagon Patriotism

Osama bin Laden is dead!

I guess.

Who cares?

Everyone, apparently.

I’m surprised that the face of an enemy was such a strong thing.  It’s surprising to me, anyway.  People assume that we didn’t just target this guy because he was the one who sent us the tape and told us some other stuff.  People keep thinking he’s the leader of an organization that has no leader.  And people are hopeful this means that the war against terror is over.  But we basically made a martyr of Osama bin Laden, doesn’t that mean we’ll reinvigorate those we’re fighting?

Now they have another reason to attack us, they have the wherewithal and the spirit to pull it off again.  Isn’t the fact that the idea of this man is now gone, (and at the risk of sounding like a tinfoil hat enthusiast, I can’t help but wonder if he was ever a true entity or just a random man that we gave a name and a story to), this catalyst of their vengeance plot, this voice of the people, this force behind their zealotry, that we could be facing something even more dangerous?

I don’t like fear mongering, but I also don’t think the populace as a whole have forethought this past those magic five words.

Five words uttered by those in power have rousted a downtrodden country.

Five words uttered by those in power has boosted the morale of a depressed constituency.

Five words uttered by those in power have blinded a nation to a potential future.

“Osama bin Laden is dead.”

The attack happened so many years ago and we’ve been fighting for our safety ever since, placing vengeance in the hearts of those who have the desire to act upon it is, in itself, worrisome territory.  We’ve gotten our reward, now, and, at the risk of sounding cliché, I do wonder the cost of such.  Can we really say it was worth it?  The lives of the fallen and the sadness of the ones with empty seats at their dinner tables, the children who will not see fathers or mothers.  I won’t say they didn’t die for a good cause, as the love of your home is always in your heart, regardless of the extreme you are willing to go to.

However, I personally don’t think we should be applauding Death, regardless of who it has befallen, as Death is always grinning.