For You America, I March

I've been politically inspired recently. I've been inspired by the least likely of places to show me inspirations, Iran. I am not in awe of theocracy or outlandish leaders. I am motivated by what the people of Iran have showed us over the past week. They have shown us that people are change, not a President, not any politician; that a government is weak when forced to challenge its own populace.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Democracy is not shared over the Internet. Democracy is not for one day in November. Democracy is demonstration! Democracy is showing each and every politician; from the smallest town's mayor all the way to the President, the Senate, the Congress, and the Supreme Court that they are accountable to us. They are responsible to we, the citizens of our country. They serve us.

We are greatness! We are strength! We are determination! We are the foundation! We are the continuity between the past and the future!

You can no longer afford to sit down and let a select few shape your future, your children's future, your grand children's future without being heard. Everyday your voice is silenced or twisted or ignored, regardless if your are liberal or conservative. If you think your rights are being protected, you are wrong. Its only the interests of a privileged minority that are being self-served. Your interests are of no consequence to our current politicians in both parties. You are despised by the people you chose to represent you.

Together we need to follow the example of our new friends in Iran. You and I and our families and our neighbors and our friends and our enemies and our coworkers and our soldiers and our volunteers need to march together, side-by-side to remind those with power that their power is minimal. They have no more power than you or I. They are the smallest of minorities. We are the largest of majorities. We control through a resonating voice that speaks louder than any microphone could project, and with more clarity than any television could show.

We demand respect and that our representatives should speak to us and for us. We demand they listen to us rather than following what their own wallets whisper in their ears. We demand higher standards. We demand modesty and humility before us. They will see our numbers. They will see the change that can be forced by hundreds and by thousands and by millions, and they will be left trembling.

Whether you are Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or Communist or Independent, we shall march together. We all have a common interest in being heard by our representatives and show that we are unified Americans who care about our country even if we don't agree on the same policies. I propose that we all march hundreds of thousands strong to our Nations capital, our state capitals, and our city halls and say with a unified voice, "We are many and our voice will be heard!" Join me on Sunday, July 19 as we turn the tables and take back what was given to us by those with the foresight several hundred years ago to see the evils that power creates. We march to remind all the world that America is great because its one nation and it is indivisible.

Will you join me? Will you join us?

July 19 We March!

3 months???..my how the time flies

Its a wonder what took so long especially with all the material one could write about coming from the government, economy, and general public. There's too many topics worth at least one thousand words, yet so many not worth your time to read.

An example of this is South Korean geneticists creating glow-in-the-dark puppies (Story Link) Sure I could spend the next 2 hours writing about how we're creeping closer to a steep precipice of scientific discovery. I could write about animal cruelty, and how this "success" actually cost two dogs their lives. However, I know that the random person who comes to this blog to read a story about glow-in-the-dark puppies will just think, "Ahhhh...that puppy is so cute!" So instead of thinking of all social ramifications to these experiments, we're left with half the population questioning how much it would cost to get their next dog to act as a roaming night light.

Alright, one more example for your contemplation is this riveting news story about Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switching his stance.
Instead of batting right, looks like he was more of a lefty. (Link for your reference) I know you really don't care about this story for one of two reasons. The first is you probably don't care about politics and the only senator you know of is Palpatine and he caused you to distrust elected policitians and give up on democracy altogether. The second is you probably do care about politics, but you realize that one party controls both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government for the next two years, and Specter only entrenches this structure which leads to excellent one-sided debates about the proper direction of our country. Hurray! Needless to say, I would love to know what kind of kickbacks he's getting from the left side of the aisle.

Let's talk about spring cleaning. How does one accummulate so much crap on a regular basis? Obviously I have been inspired to write about this due to personal circumstances, mostly the move of residence to another, which many people can relate to. Let me list some of the more obscure things that made it into the UHaul only to be placed in a recycle bin, trash can, or the donation door at Goodwill:
-> The packaging boxes for an PS2, Motherboard, Digital Camera, and a few others
-> A Playstation. No, not a PS3 or PS2, a Playstation. Yet I also have the 2 & 3
-> A handheld black-and-white TV
-> Hard-backed posters of all 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the first movie
-> 6 cans or bottles of tanning and sunblock. Personally ironic to say the least
-> A timing belt for the Toyota Tacoma that I sold almost a year ago
-> At least 50 pounds of cleaning chemicals and automotive chemicals

First, let me say that I am disgusted with myself and ashamed, because of all the waste that I generated. If you want a humbling experience as a consumer make sure you take at least one trip per year to your nearest landfill or garbage transfer station. Its something your kids should experience firsthand so they learn from the previous generations' mistakes.

While at the transfer station I disposed of my chemicals at the proper facility. The look on the employee's face when I handed the tubs of products to her was a direct reflection of the impact that I had created. She was annoyed and upset, and I don't blame her. Normally, this kind of reaction from an employee of any kind of organization would warrant countless complaints and insults from me, all in the comfort of my own car away from the situation. However, this situation was different, because I was being rightly judged for my crimes and hung my head in quiet shame. That's not to say that the employee didn't benefit from the situation. She got a couple of old stools out of the deal for her to sit on while sorting all the chemicals that came from my home. Basically a win-win. She gets comfort, and I get a lesson in managing consumer waste.

So I am asking you Mr. and Ms. American Consumer, please stop the wasteful consumption of products. I'm not asking you to go cold turkey on your addiction. I know I couldn't do it, but lets make it a 12 step process.

I propose Step 1: No more impulse items and grocery store magazines. This is not to say that you shouldn't buy gum, but only do so when you have a predetermined need for it. If you didn't recognize your need for gum or M&Ms before heading to Target, its probably a safe bet you didn't need it when you were placing your items on the checkout stand. Secondly, you don't need to buy tabloids. Aside from the problem that the content does far more damage to society than the actually wasted paper, you can get the same stories online; for FREE! Let's commit to this for 2 months. I'm in. Are you in? Come on, it'll be fun. You'll save money, and you'll feel better about yourself.

What about Steps 2-11? I don't know. I haven't got that far yet. Do you have any suggestions? Add a comment with where we should head in 2 months.

A question for you, the reader, with following commentary by me, the writer

Let's say you won the lottery one day, and you were awarded something $25 million in cash. Don't worry about the details like, "I don't play the lottery" or "What about taxes?" or "I don't actually read those Nigerian Lottery emails." Just imagine waking up one day with $25 million in your bank account, and its all yours; with one catch...the money you spend can't be on yourself or for your own benefit.

What would you do with your money?

My answer will follow shortly, but try to think about your response before reading on. I think it will be interesting to see how other people would respond.

A little background before I begin. I grew up in a household that wasn't exactly charitable. My family is generous, but I never knew my relatives to give to organizations needing help. We donated clothes to Goodwill that we outgrew and we dropped change in the Salvation Army pot, but I don't remember anybody making significant cash donations.
Further, we weren't what you would consider religious. I remember attending church services infrequently when I was about 7 or 8 years old, but I think this was a biproduct of living next door on an Air Force base to neighbors who were very Christian. After they moved away, not much happened on the God front. (Keep reading I'll be getting to that point someday.)
In fact, I grew to despise religion in high school and junior college. I was a total atheist and would gladly debate any person who felt they had a smidgen of faith in a higher being, specifically my brother who had recently become Christian after moving to California. It wasn't until I was 25 that I began opening myself up to my previouly fledgling religious roots again. This led me to attend a couple of churches in Sacramento. Both were in desperate need of money, and both couldn't be more deserving of that money.
Answer #1)
If given $25 million the first thing I would do is give money to both churches. I would give money to First Baptist Church of Sacramento because of their positive influence on the downtown community. I would want them to make some needed repairs and upgrades to the church. Plus I think they would know of a few families that could use a pick me up. I would also by the land and building for the Touchstone Christian Fellowship. I think that would cover about a cool $7 million.
So next up, I would purchase homes for my family. I know my Grandmother and Aunt could use their own space. I'd also like to give my brother and sister-in-law a home so they could be near family. My father could also use an upgrade to his living situation.
Speaking of my father I would love to let him retire. That guy gave so much to my brother and me growing up, and he sacrificed a lot. He deserves to take it easy. Plus I might buy him a liposuction (Dad if you ever read this, I'm just kidding. I would much rather hire you an attractive personal trainer).
My mother-in-law would get a new home too, and I'd put some money in a fund for her to travel once my sister-in-law graduates from high school.
My friends deserve a lot too. They've stuck by me during the good times and the bad times. You all get new homes in a master-planned community that allows you to go to party it up with each other all the time. I'd also pay for my friends to finish school and take time away from work to do so.
That's a lot of money for homes and such, so I think I'm up to like another $6 million. Now only $12 million more to spend.
I would give all the remaining money to Parkinsons research. Seeing the impact that Parkinsons has on my grandfather, I feel like this money would be well spent giving people with this disease a second-chance. I would do so, even if I developed Parkinsons and could not benefit from the cure.
So you can see where my life has influenced my answer to the question that was asked. Did your answer follow the same methodology?
I'm really interested to read your response, as I'm sure other people are, to see what you would spend your money on. The more detailed you are the better.

Recession, what recession?

I don't know if you've heard but we're in a recession. Our Gross Domestic Product is declining consistently and its not forecasted to get any better. I'm blaming you. I can blame you, because I know I spent as much this year as I did last year. I can blame you because with all of my charity spending at Best Buy, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, etc. America still produced fewer goods this past month than the month before.
How could you be so selfish? You're hoarding your money in one of those banks for safekeeping, why? You're worried that a rainy day isn't so far off? Do you know what you've done?
American companies rely on your pocketbook to produce goods that you want to buy. When they produce these goods they use automated factories that use robots and machinery which requires several technicians and many, many managers to run. When you don't spend your money they turn the power off on the toy-producing cyborgs and fire the middle managers (who secretly hated their jobs) and give bonuses to the executives for a job well done. This causes your fellow Americans to lose money and stop spending their money.
Stop listening to the news and reading the newspapers that tell you that bad times are coming. Its turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy and you're only stressing yourself out. I have a cure for your stress; buy, purchase, spend. There is some fine print on this economic panacea:
Only effective with American made products. Will not work with your foreign goods.
So please don't make the mistake of buying at 50" plasma TV by Panasonic. Instead buy whatever Americans make; stuff like ummmmmm, stealth bombers and ummmmmm intel processor chips and ummmmmm timber products and ummmmmmm wheat and ummmmmmm highways.
Well I don't know what exactly you're supposed to buy with your money to prevent this recession but I'm sure its out there. So go spend your cash and help your fellow American.

Current State of Economics in the United States and why we suck...

So I'll try to make this post interesting and relevant while getting to what I think is the root of the problem. It may take awhile, but hopefully you'll enjoy the journey.



A little background before I begin though. I was in my Accounting class this morning, and we didn't have much on the agenda because it was the last class before the final exam. So my instructor went off topic and asked what we thought of the Auto Industry bridge loan. I was floored by the number of responses from students that disagreed with the government's plan. I was sure that university had perpuated and compounded liberalism in its students, but to my surprise the student's wanted GM, Ford, and Chrysler to be held accountable for their previous actions and decisions. (Equally funny, these are the same students that are whining that the instructor's exams are too difficult even though they are take home. Go figure.)

I, on the other hand, perhaps the left one, disagreed with their point of view. I felt that the viewpoint they were taking was perhaps a little too narrow. I agree that people and corporations alike need to take responsibility for the choices that are made, but we can't just kick someone when they're down. In this case if you kick GM, Ford, and Chrysler while they are in the fetal position, you might as well stuff your Nike in your arse as well.

The result of letting these three companies collapse wouldn't be confined to Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. I've heard that it's an estimated loss of one million jobs in this country. That's like everyone in Sacramento losing their jobs. I wonder what would happen to the economy if one million people stopped spending money. Better yet, I wonder what share of their unemployment benefits I would be responsible for.

But wait, there's more!!! If you purchase a Government Bailout package today we'll throw in a competitive marketplace as well. Right now there are a limited number of automobile manufacturers selling vehicles in our country. The list includes (in no particular order): GM, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki, and I'm sure one or two more. There are some familiar names missing from the list like Volvo and Mazda, but look who owns them. So what happens when the Big Three go under, well Honda and Toyota lose significant competition in the marketplace, and thus lose their incentive to build those cute Priuses that everybody likes so much. Perhaps they lose the incentive to offer the warranties that they offer because the consumer won't have GM to offer an alternative vehicle warranty package.

I know that you're thinking, "Mr. Blogger, you've got this all wrong. If Toyota and Honda stop creating a good product other companies will come along." Oh will they? What kind of capital is required to start an automotive company. I know that I don't have the finanical resources to design and implement a safe and stylish car, to create an automated assembly line, to crash test many vehicles for safety testing, or to establish a network of dealerships willing to sell my unproven product. So what is the motivation for Toyota and Honda or Volkswagen to keep up the good work and to keep prices down?

So now that I've thoroughly depressed you, you probably want to point a finger at someone or some group of someones. I'll let you know that the Auto Workers Union is a popular choice. They have leveraged their way into creating contracts that starve the corporations because of extensive pension and healthcare packages. In fact many of the costs of automobile production are caused by employee factors. This may be part of the problem, but not all of it.

OK so then let's blame the executives and managers at these mega-corporations. If you were to pay me something like thirty gazillion dollars to lead a company I think I would use common sense. I wouldn't produce huge, expensive SUV's during rising gas prices and shrinking economies. Alright, maybe that wasn't very obvious. I would have had the foresight not to cave into stupid pricing and financing schemes that were sure to doom other companies (please refer to circa 2004 when the crack-fiend alcoholic begging for money on the 16th St offramp could have qualified for a 0% loan on a new F150 and still could have gotten employee pricing). I mean there was no reason to believe that people would default on their loans that weren't creating any profit. And I were CEO, I know I would only create cars that people want and not the car to the right.

So yes, the Auto Executives and the Unions deserve their fair share of criticism for contributing to this situation. However, we should also take a look at our current education system. Why are we OK with a 12th grade education (if that at many high schools) being a qualifying consideration for a career? The real shame of this whole economic meltdown is that we are put in this situation, because the auto workers don't really have skills that translate outside of manual labor. And we think this is fine for our kids? "Hello son, I just want to reassure you that you will have zero job security because foreign countries have better education systems than the U.S. for quality careers and the manufacturing job you're planning on getting with your high school diploma will be shipped to a third world country in two years."

Here's my three fold suggestion for improving our economy, world status, and quality of life in this country: education reform. Step 1, get a box, wait wrong blog. Step 1, change primary education. High school doesn't need to be the same for everybody. We should create schools that teach students different specializations that can translate into career fields. These fields could be computers, construction/engineering, business, arts, etc... There would still be requirements such as English skills, History, and Science, but to differing degrees based upon the field of study. Part B of this suggestion is to tie a reward to schooling. Are you ready for this? You can't get a driver's license until you finish your high school (or equivalency). That's right, you actually have to earn this priviledge. How many students would actually place effort into schooling for this? Teachers could actually apply realistic standards because students actually want to participate.

Step 2 is to make centers of higher education more accessible to our citizens. Taxpayers should get some benefit from paying for state universities, and it shouldn't be to fund foreign nationals. If someone from South Korea or Canada or France wants to learn at our institutions they can do so on their dime, and at a premium, because they are taking a seat from a taxpayer. Meanwhile, we should lower tuition rates for universities or increase tax credits to encourage citizens to get their college degrees. I don't know about you, but I would rather pay $8,000 in tuition costs than $20,000 in unemployment. Plus that citizen that finishes school is ready to be a better contributor to the country. Its a win-win for everybody.

Step 3 is to create a two-option conscription program for our country. The choice for any 18 year old would be to serve 1 year in the military reserves/coast guard/national guard or serve 1 year in civil service. The service requirements would be 1 weekend per month for 12 months starting the month after graduation. There is something about service to one's country which hopefully instills pride in the country.

Ultimately we have to get people to want to be better educated and searching for skilled/professional jobs rather than menial jobs. The service industry can only do so much for our Gross Domestic Product before that rug is pulled out from underneath our feet. In the mean time we need to help these car companies, their employees, and the well-being of our economy.

Patience

In case you haven't heard, patience is the new black. It goes with everything...buying a car, be patient; expecting a child, be patient; looking to make money on your investments, be patient.
Unfortunately I'm not the most patient person. In fact, I ruined my second Christmas with my wife by guessing her gift to me. Now I didn't do this on purpose and I went out on limb making my guess, but there's no bigger downer than causing the person you love to cry.
Now that I am in the middle of looking for a house I've come to realize that patience is a virtue for a reason. I'm learning that my priorities generally mean nothing to the rest of the world, and especially to the bank that owns the house we've bid on. I hope to become a much more patient person through all of this. We'll see.

Genealogy

Let me precede this posting by telling you that Anthropology is about as exciting for me as being stuck in traffic on a Monday. Personally I view Cultural Anthropology less as a science and more of a nuisance.
Anywho, in my Anthropology last night we were asked to share our families' genealogies. I know that you're thrilled at the idea, because I was too. I was so thrilled in fact that I took about 30 seconds to do the in depth research into my family's history by writing down what I was familiar with based upon my casual recollection. Strangely though there were people who spent many hours or days to complete this same task. They went back and traced their lineage back to like the 12th Century B.C. They knew the ins and outs of each branch of their shade tree as though it helped to define their self-worth and merit. This bugged the heck out of me.
First, I am highly sceptical of anyone who has traced their ancestry back to the pilgrims. "Hi I'm Joe Schmoe and my family helped to found Jamestown in Virginia." Well listen up Joe, your family did not. Don't believe me, then look it up in the history books.
Secondly, your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's uncle was not Thomas Jefferson! I cannot emphasize this enough. I know that T.J. was a ladies man back in the day, but you and the other two people in the room are not related. You just want to feel important like you're adding something to history.
This is what really bothers me about genealogy. People want to know about the past as though it changes who they are. Look, I'll listen to my grandma's stories about her grandmother. They're interesting. But I personally never met the person. My great-great-grandmother has no more bearing on who I am and what I do with my life than my neighbor down the street. If she did then she would have left me instructions on how to finish my Accounting homework. If you want to ask me about my family, ask me about my Dad or brother; ask me about my grandparents on both sides who helped to shape me. Do not ask me where my ancestors came from. IT DOESN'T MATTER! It only furthers to perpetuate stereotypes, labels, and relinquishes our achievements and failures to those of our forefathers.