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2006 Archives
May 22, 2006:
US Postoffice:
My PO Box fee increased again. The service continues to decline
as time goes by. More of our mail disappears and we find more
of our neighbors mail in our PO Box. So, of course, they have
found it necessary to increase fees to cover the cost of training
people to be incompetent. Duh!
Institutionalized Stupidity:
Speaking of the Postoffice, let us discuss institutionalized
stupidity. This is a phenomena you will find in all governments
and corporations. It comes about because people, in general,
are in a position to train their own replacements. Of course,
they will pass on to their trainees all of their faults and foibles
along with the job description. I have noticed this in particular
at Ford Motor Company. A bonehead manager will train a person
like himself, another bonehead, to replace him. It's kind of
like a regressive gene in a bloodline. We saw this in European
royalty. The regression does not have to be inherited in a gene.
A regressive mentality can be passed on in training. In fact,
as Mead points out, all of the important features of civilization
are not passed on through heredity, but through the cultural
training. Boneheads beget boneheads. Double duh!
Incompetence:
I believe I could make the case that all incompetence, including
mine, is deliberate. In every case I have looked at, I have found
the cause of incompetence to be mental laziness. We fail to plan
and we fail to follow through. We trust too much to luck. We
are lazy!
Laura:
Mrs. Bush was on the Stephanopolous show. She was very articulated
and well organized. I suddenly had the distinct feeling the wrong
Bush had been elected president of the United States. Instead
of a blustering Bush we might have had a thoughtful Bush. If
she were president, do you suppose she would have lied about
WMD so she could send an army into Iraq? Do you suppose she would
be getting our kids killed to carry out a vendetta? Would she
have put a tribal bandit chief in charge of Afghanistan and left
it open to a Taliban resurgence? Would she advocate destroying
the Alaskan wilderness?
Invasion of Privacy:
There are kits available to parents now so they can drug test
their kids. I wonder if anyone has thought about what that will
do to the parent child relationship. That relationship is supposedly
based on concepts of love and mutual respect. How much will a
kid love and respect someone who invades his person because they
do not trust him? Is that really the message we want t send to
our kids? We will pretend to love you, but we believe you are
not trustworthy.
I remember one time way back when my mother searched my personal
stuff drawer. She found a pack of matches and confiscated them.
Her rational was it was not safe to have matches in the house
even though there was a large box of matches on the shelf behind
he when she told me. Of course she also had to reveal the fact
that she had searched my stuff. I never forgot that and for that
and other reasons, I never trusted her. All she did by invading
my privacy was destroy our relationship. She gained nothing.
I did move my private stuff to a location outside the house and
I kept my matches there. I knew there was no privacy in that
house for me.
Flint Police:
They conduct raids where they take evidence. Then they steal
the evidence for personal use. One got caught doing it and he
was suspended. A local prosecutor, David Leyton, covered for
him and the other cops by refusing to prosecute. The cop got
his job back. Great! With cops like that we don't need any crooks.
I wonder if that same thug prosecutor would cover for me if I
got caught stealing.
About Cops:
I have been very critical of police and I will continue to be
critical. However, I do not want to convey the wrong impression.
I do not believe all cops are crooks or stupid. In fact, considering
the miserable pay and working conditions, I think most cops are
remarkable people. Just recently a flint cop was honored for
participating in a dangerous rescue. These things happen frequently.
It is unfortunate that we have a fair number of rogue cops and
toady cops who get most of the media attention.
FBI:
They are tearing up another private property in rural Michigan
looking for the body of Hoffa. The place was a horse farm but
it will be ruined by the time they leave it. They are using power
equipment to dig it up. They did this same thing last year to
another property in Michigan. They even tore up part of a New
York baseball stadium one time. Mrs. Gaffer asks, "Why?"
I think they really want to find the body so they can disprove
one of the theories that float around. I don't believe it and
no thinking people would believe it, but the damn theory persists
that Hoffa's death was a federal hit. The FBI would sure like
to put that to bed. I don't think they ever will. The rabble
just loves titillation too much. It's similar to the Kennedy
assassination. A lot of rabble want to believe it was not just
Oswald, but Oswald working for someone else.
Sixty Minutes:
According to them the Dixie Chicks may be coming back. They got
beat up and ostracized for saying Bush was wrong. They were outspoken
before it was fashionable. Now, no one likes Bush. What goes
around comes around. Swell! I hope they make it big time. No
apologies!
Courage:
Our legislators in Michigan are considering passing a ban on
smoking in cars. It has to do with child health so they say.
I don't oppose a ban on smoking where little kids are involved.
I simply ask, how in the heck will they enforce it? According
to these same people, we don't have enough cops to deal with
serious crime. Where will we get the cops needed to go along
the highway peeking into cars? How will they peek into cars that
have tinted windows? Will the next step be a stop and search
law? Where will it end? I guess it's real easy to get on the
"Harass smokers to death" band wagon. It beats thinking.
It's probably a lot easier than having the courage to face the
real issues in Michigan. Hey stupid people! The real issues that
matter to Michiganders are jobs, public safety (as in crime),
and education. What are you going to do about that? Duh!
Bush:
He was giving an address, trying to make his case for dealing
with illegal aliens. He was sitting behind his desk with his
hands laid out on the desk in front of him. I suddenly had a
frightening flashback. Suddenly, I saw Nixon sitting in that
chair with the same expressions and gestures. Deja Vu and oh
crap too.
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2006 Archives
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