Strawman

When I was young, I saw wizard of oz, I felt sorry for the scarecrow, a man made of straw, no brain to think, no blood to carry his life, no heart to love, and no soul to live, but then I was young.

I grew both in body, and my dreams grew as well, I was going to conquer the world, I had talent, I had love, and I had a future. I worked hard, achieved a great deal early on. Inspired I worked harder.

I touched many lives, mostly a little, but some I was able to work a great difference into, but then I had purpose, I had a lot of love to give.

I was in many relationships, some hot, some luke warm, I was a giving person so I always made the best of what ever I had. I always thought I was happy, always looked on the bright side.

Life was always a chore, it was hard, I felt life shit on me in so many ways, but I would always smile and go on, I still had purpose, I still had a bright future, I was always watching those.

Then I encountered something I never before had. I met my true love. My whole life changed, I felt a love so big, it was not just in my heart but in every cell of my being and beyond. I craved every second with her, I wanted to give the rest of my life to her, to spend every minute I had left on earth pleasing this one person, my soul mate.

She was my other half in every way, she fit me like a glove, and filled my every gap. I finally knew peace, I finally knew love, I was finally once in my life happy.

Then, she broke my heart, and she left me. My whole being hurt, I couldn’t see how I could even go on living.

Then I looked back on the scare crow, and felt jealous, that is who I wish I were.

Then I realized, being the scarecrow was not forced on him, he choose it, or rather his fate helped choose it for him.

We come from dust, and we’ll end as dust.

From entering the world, we are in a warm safe place, but birth rips us crying from the one home in the womb where we were happy. We search for that pure happiness thru our whole life but never find it until the very end when we are returned to the ground, then we are back in our element from which we came..

Then why do we struggle our whole lives trying to be happy when the pain, suffering, and torture of living always out weighs the tiny joys we are able to force from life? Because we are flesh and can have hopes and dreams, and these curses are what cause us to struggle against death, to try to pretend there can be joy in living, but in the end we all learn this is a lie. ALL life ends in death.

But not the scare crow, he’s only straw, he has no hopes, he has no dreams. He is perfect.

From dust I came, to dust I go, I once was flesh, but now I am straw.

My heart is gone, taken and lost, my brain turned to mush, I can no longer think, my blood turned to ice and then to nothing, my soul vanished not able to stay.

Pity not me if you see the straw man, cause I have finally found myself, my true calling in life, I went thru hell and lost the struggle, now I am cold, I am empty, but I no longer able to feel pain, I’ll no longer have my joys taken from me, I no longer have to feel the agony that we call life.

I just stand here, watching the field of the earth, people struggling and loosing, people loving and then loosing, people dreaming and loosing, and people hoping and loosing.

I lose no more, fore I no longer play. I am the man of straw, life go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those that knew me, I say good bye, For those that didn’t I say too bad.
For those that still live, I pity you, For those that loved me, I pity you more.

Good bye,

The Straw Man.

the flow of sin

The flow of life drains away through two unnatural vertical slits. Life is too cruel and hard. I now know what the problems of the world are. We all carry our sins and the sins committed against us in our internal fluids, but the predominant curse fluid is the one that is constantly moving through our bodies, blood. I have decided to rid myself of all my sins and the sins of my fathers. Through these two vertical slits all my sins flow away to gather on my white porcelain sink. I feel redemption coming: the blackness fades from my eyes as I start to float. I can no longer feel anything from my old body as I continue to watch the flow of my sins. The sink is farther away, and i feel the up rush of air that must be my accention. I can see the fibrous hairs of my bathroom carpet. The last gossamer threads holding my life and spirit to this sin ridden body are beginning to break. I am free. I am at last free from the flow of sins...

Racism: The Politically Correct Way.

Today, we can hear a hollow cry echoing across the land. This is the death scream of the average white male in American society. As a white male; I have to work twice as hard to advance at a normal pace with my minority peers. Because most of the scholarships are slated for minorities, I have to work my own way thru school. Why should I now get discriminated against simply for the sins of my ancestors? While on this, did my ancestors even do any of the crimes that I am paying so dearly for?

The recent speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, worded it best in his lecture series that was so highly scrutinized. “One of the great struggles of our time: Do we really mean
advancement on one’s merits, which is Everett Carll Ladd’s term, or do we mean group advancement? You deserve extra points because of your ethnic background, because of your sex, because of your origins? Which is it? Now, Ladd argues
unequivocally the American tradition is that you are a unique individual. You are not bounded by your past, and that every American should be dealt with as an individual and should advance based on their work, their merit. --Newt Gingrich, from renewing American Civilization lectures. Reinhardt College, Waleska, Georgia & from “Newt” by Dick Williams pg. 17.” This rings from the past Martin L. King JR speech “I Have a Dream” in which King dreams of a time when people will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.

When you have present day figures like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson running to every possible race problem to make sure no matter what the facts of the matter are, that the minorities are seen as the victim. As the truth then comes out in some of these cases, claims that the minority was the “victim” are not only unfounded but utterly false, this notifies the rest of America that no matter what the truth is, the minorities are more interested in victim mentality than in true justice for all. This race identity practiced by leaders like Sharpton or Jackson show that minorities are more interested in keeping their racial identities so they can continue to reap benefits above and beyond what the average Anerican gets or deserves. It’s time to stop worrying about race identity and ancestrial actions and start being united Americans.

Recently racial profiling has become a hot button issue. While I do not feel some one should be harassed simply by their race, when it comes to certain thing like airline flight, I’m sorry but some people are simply more likely to be a terrorist and should be searched just a little more thoughly. People driving thru a certain area that either do not belong or are acting strange should be checked out. We have a desperate war on drugs we are losing too quickly. It’s time to stop it by what ever means are required within the limits set forth by the constitution and the bill of rights.

I’m not going to get totally on a soap box and declare love the country or leave it, but it does bring up some food for thought. If you feel you are so discriminated against and have no chance for fair freedoms or that this country is so misguided and evil. Why not go to where you think you can find these better freedoms. I think most people will find the grass truly is not greener over there, where ever over there is. We enjoy far more freedoms and social programs for the betterment of all Americans than any other country in the world.

It is time to wipe out the race hate, both old and new, and the causes of it. Affirmative action is using quotas to
prevent an even playing field, there by perpetuating the problem that it was enacted to prevent. Scholarships should not be based on genetics, but upon scholastic qualifications. Hiring and advancement should not be based upon quotas but upon work qualities, personal merit, and professional qualifications. Housing loans should not be subsidized solely on a person’s race, but upon their
financial need. We are all Americans. Our diversity is our strength, but if we do not stand together as Americans, then we shall fall apart exactly as Bosnia did.

is flat fair

During the 90’s Republican Primaries, Steve Forbes brought forth for debate the idea of a flat tax. He was able to bring this idea out to the public in plain English, allowing the average American to see the huge advantages this idea could provide for America. The worst problem in his plan was while the average American could now understand the advantages of a flat tax, the average American doesn’t vote. Only a small percentage of the voteable American public does take advantage of this privledge.

As we Americans watch the political debate heat up, many buzz words are thrown at us in either a good or bad way. One concept has received a great deal of unfounded negative press—the possibility of a flat tax rate replacing our current progressive tax rate. One of the odd points of this negativity towards the flat tax is 75% of the public dislike the idea before they understand the specific goals and means to accomplish these goals with a flat tax, but after the same groups hear the true details of a flat tax then just over 86% approve of it. The main reason for this great of a change in heart is all the negative press and fear of change always makes changing status quo difficult.

The Forbe’s flat tax plan is still one of the more popular flat tax ideas even now, but the flat tax is no new idea. The flat tax has been suggested in American politics for over twenty years and a couple of other countries have already instituted such changes and reaped the benefits thereof. Congress studied the flat tax concept in the spring of 1995, and found that a flat tax would improve raising federal funds and the economy. The deficiency of this study stemmed from the congress’s unwillingness to put hard figures in the assumptions of the study and this has allowed journalists and politicians to input their own assumptions that do not adhere to the goals of the new tax system. Generally in the past, lowing income taxes has increased federal revenues whereas the opposite is also true—raising taxes lowers federal revenues after the first year. The flat tax would greatly decrease the federal tax load on most, if not all, taxpayers and would spur the economy into a prolonged high growth cycle.

One common misconception of our progressive tax system is that the “rich” pay more, i.e. their fair share of the tax burden. The reality is the “rich” can afford to pay lawyers and accountants to find every feasible loop hole and tax shelter and even lobby for more tax loop holes, and instead of paying their assigned 49 ?% of their income they pay an average income tax as low as 5%. the lower income brackets pay anywhere from 0% to 17% and the middle income brackets pay on average from the 22% to 36% range. The imbalance in the progressive tax system is that the middle income bracket are saddled with the highest rate because they are not able to take advantage of the multitude of loop holes. This effect has also been called the laffer curve. The flat tax answers this because with a flat rate of 17%, with a better standard deduction and allowing only 2 types of deductions, home mortgage and charity. The effective rate for the wage classes would be; the poor would have an effective rate of 0%, the middle class would have an effective rate of 7%-14%, and the upper class would have an effective rate of 16%-17%. Also with retirement income, interest income, and dividend income becoming exempt, which are almost the entirety of senior citizen income, we will be giving the most needy section of our society a well deserved break and a brighter outlook for their tomorrows.

There are two clear immediate benefits to a flat tax system. The I.R.S. could go from its current multi-billion dollar budget and 300,000 agents to less that 1% of it’s current size—giving a nice savings towards balancing the federal budget while protecting many of the social programs’ growth that have been put into jeopardy such as; Education, Welfare, Social Security, and Medicare. The new tax code would be very simple for the tax payers and law makers—the tax law would go from a set of papers well over a foot thick, to a simple code of about 100 pages, well less than an half inch thick.

The long-term effect of changing our progressive tax code for a flat tax system will give our economy a large boost in growth—we currently only have 2-3% growth, but that would jump to 10% growth per year without setting off inflation. The largest boon for growth will be the freeing of large amounts of capital from their current tax shelters that will then be available for investment or venture capital. The additional capital infused into the market will be a paramount job creation tool and average wage increasment. The largest benefit for our middle class is by allowing them to keep more of their own money and have a much better chance for wage increases will raise their standard of living. Please let your congressional leaders know you want a better America, vote and have them vote for a flat tax system.

I just hope soon another politition will have the guts to try to once again educate the public on the benefits of the flat tax and remove the burdon of our over sized government from the backs of the porrest and hard working Americans and allow a nice fail even load on everyone.

the nost dangerous cartoon

About fifteen years ago, one cartoon had generated more controversy than any other. When MTV, a controversial station in its own right, premiered ‘Beavis and Butthead’, parents were outraged by the language depicted on the show. A lot of money and effort has gone into the ongoing attempt to ban the show’s airing, but through all this, ‘Beavis and Butthead’ has gained in popularity. Is this show really that bad? Or are we worrying more about what is on TV than what is in our children’s minds?

The first incident that brought ‘Beavis and Butthead’ under fire was when two kids playing with matches burned down their parents mobile home. The court that heard the case decided MTV and ‘Beavis and Butthead’ were to blame and not the parents through neglect in the kids supervision and up bringing. The court stated in its decision that since the show depicted in one episode that playing with fire was cool, the kids did not know better than to recreate the same situation, but these same kids did not jump out of a window clutching a rug after seeing ‘Aladdin’. Were these kids really forced into their actions by watching a single cartoon episode or was this as easy way for their parents to attempt to recoup their losses at the cost of a “rich corporation”.

With the outcome of the law suit and pressure from many parents groups, the show under went a couple of minor changes. The air time of the show was moved from 8 P.M. to 11 P.M. A disclaimer has also been added to the front of every episode to help protect the weak minded that may be watching. Are we, as a viewing public, really that gullible that we need this disclaimer for us or our kids?

The language of the show has been questioned many times, especially when parents begin to hear their children first start using it at home. The problem with blaming ‘Beavis and Butthead’ with the language is that it has been used around schools far longer. The parents do not hear the language used around school, but they can hear ‘Beavis and Butthead’‘s language and assume that is the source. The language material also attributes to the shows success because it uses language the kids can both understand and recognize. A list of the offensive language used on the show could be quite large, but some of the famous ones include: sucks, butt munch, cool, kick your ass, and the famous laughs ha-ha ha-ha ha-ha.

Many actions depicted on ‘Beavis and Butthead’ can be dangerous and/or illegal, and this has caused great concern amongst parents groups. The observant viewer that sees Beavis playing with a chain saw or Butthead blowing up a bowling ball can also see that they can get hurt in the end. If people do not understand that it is dangerous to do these things, is that ‘Beavis and Butthead’ or their parents?

Today we are spending thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to stop a light hearted cartoon. When there are far worse things out there that we are ignoring. The internet has plans for many types of bombs that are easy to make like the Oklahoma City bombing, several plans for atomic bombs, and rampant child pornography. All of these crimes are wide spread over the internet, yet parents are far more up set over a trivial cartoon show. It is time we prioritize the evils of society and begin to work on the worst of these and leave poor Beavis and Butthead alone.

No, I do not feel ‘Beavis and Butthead’ is morally wrong.

Recently cartoons have taken a far harder turn toward the outlandish. ‘Family Guy’, ‘Trippin the Rift’, ‘Drawn Together’, and the newly crowned king of controversy ‘South Park’. Hands down cartoons have really enjoyed poking fun at many sexual topics, but ‘South Park’ has really pushed the envelope poking fun of many religions. When the show poked fun at the Sciencetology cult, it unleashed a humorous firestorm of protests, but the worse of this was the network running ‘South Park’ caved in on the sciencetology show and refuses to re-air the show. This shocked me and I started worrying how eroded our First Amendment Free Speech rights have become.

My worries came to full fruitition recently in a two part ‘South Park’ episode. ‘South Park’ parodied ‘Family Guy’ and the showing of the Prophet Mohammed. Comedy Central decided to censor the images of the Prophet Mohammed. While I can understand why they did this, part of me is totally outraged by the fact this was done. As the episodes says, “Either you can laugh at everything or you can not laugh at anything.” I agree whole heartedly with this. Once censoring starts, where will it stop and who really has the right to decide? I don’t want to see America under Homeland Security laws so strict and censorship so rampant we will make Nazi Germany look like a Church social.

It’s time to stand up for our freedoms, all of them. While you or I may not agree with what a show or a person may want to say, it is our duty to defend their right to say it to the death or what have our liberties gotten us besides soft and malleable.

the dark sister
As the sun begins to leave the lands;
Darkness's powers reign once again.

Good folk now back into their dwellings;
Begin to shutter and bar the entrances.

As the clocks strike the 13 th hour across the land;
The shadows of witches gather at the ritual alters.

Fresh blood falls on the ancient stone;
Runes are drawn and words are cast.

A wisp spirit enters the Prime Material Plane;
It gathers the offerings and returns home.

All the 13 dark sisters wait for the answer to their prayers;
Another rift appears but darker than the blackest night.

Manestitese steps forth into the circle of its cult;
"I have heard your call, and you are worthy."

"You served me well in your life, and when the choice came;
You chose to serve me in death in lieu of seeking your eternal reward."

"So you will have a reward befitting your service;
You will once again walk amongst the living as one of the living."





On their master's command, 13 wisp spirits emerge from the dimensional gate;
Wrapping themselves around the dark sister's shadowy forms, a
change occurs.

The wisp spirits disencorperate into a heavy sulfuric smoke;
Left in their wake, the dark sisters once again are flesh and blood.

Manestitese departs for home as the encroaching light appears in the east;
"Go into the village and enjoy your reward."

After walking for several hours, the dark sisters enter their village;
In four decades little had changed here, including their identities.

The older residents remember them for who and what they are;
The villagers caught and bought the dark sisters.

The dark sisters were burned by mid-afternoon;
Their bodies were buried before dark ensuring an end to their night reign.

In a dark dimension not really very far away, a deep voice spoke;
"The greatest reward one can receive, rest and peace!"

And they did;
Rest in peace.

Loss in Faith of American Government
Because several of the programs it sets into place to correct problems have in-turn generated new problems, many Americans have been losing or totally lost faith in the U. S. Government. Equal rights laws has a long history on the correction trail. In the 1860s, the first Republican President, thru Congress, declared slavery illegal. Even though the civil war enforced this act into law, the minorities still did not have equal rights. In the 1960s, the minorities took a stand and finally received their inalienable rights so long due them. Congress then enacted new laws to assure their equality thru the use of quotas. Today, these same quotas are causing reverse discrimination and increasing race hate to a higher level than just a decade past, causing a loss of faith in the U. S. Government’s better judgment.

The Great Depression in itself caused its own prevention program, and it also became the inspiration for many new laws and programs. The U. S. Government has inserted many controls into the free market to try and prevent the chance of another depression.

Today, those “free market” controls are a root cause to the inflation rate, inflated prices, prices fixed over fair market value, and monopolistic control over a few areas of the economy. This causes the American people to loose faith because they can see from their pocket books and living conditions that the U. S. Government is not in touch with their needs.

In the wake of the Great Depression, four major programs came forth; women’s suffrage-equal rights for women, welfare programs-to help the poor in hard times, Medicare-to help the elderly and/or poor to get medical services, and Social Security-to allow people to retire without fear of poverty. Today we have new problems from these programs; N.O.W. (National organization for Women), welfare dead beats that are paid at least twice as much not to work as they would be to work, Medicare heading towards bankruptcy by 2020, and Social Security expecting bankruptcy by 2031. Each Congressional act may have been started upon a noble cause, but greed and corruption have ruined these programs and the people’s faith in the honesty of their government.

In the early 1940s, to fund the war effort the U. S. Government institutionalized our income tax system. The income tax was only to last till the end of the war, and it was only a half cent on every dollar earned.

After President Clinton instituted the largest tax increase in history during the first year of his presidency, some Americans pay as much as fifty cents out of every dollar earned to the Government. This shows to the American people that the U. S. Government has grown too large there by disenchanting people’s faith in our government.

Then in the 1950s, a liberal movement swept the nation into believing government had all the right answers, but as the above examples show, some of these answers can produce new problems or perpetuate the old ones. This liberal agenda dovetailed into the environmental movement of the 1970s. While the start of these EPA programs improved the living conditions in both rural and urban settings, it has now grown into a behemoth treading on land owners rights and raising the cost of every day items to far above fair market values.

Then in 1994, a new movement has been begun by a new group of politicians that are in touch with America’s needs; smaller government, personal responsibility and accountability, and allowing Americans to keep more of the money that they earn. We again had a chance to find the American Dream, but this was dashed by the dirty politics that the Clinton administration was so famous for.

Finally with the second gulf war to protect America’s self interests abroad and fight the many roots of the terrorist threats to the U.S. New movements are springing up just to fight America’s right to defend herself. Once again the few true hearted Americans have to see thru the good and the bad and decide what is really in all of America’s best interest and fight for that with out regard to personal honor, fortunes, or even their own lives. It is time for the heroic spirit of our Forefathers to come forth and fight back tyranny and oppression.

I once
Once I was a child, but now I have grown.
Once I was rich, but now I'm in debt.
Once I had self respect, but now I have reality.
Once I was free, but now I'm bound.
Once I had a future, but now I'm confused.
Once I was happy, but now I'm just alive.
Once I was nice, but now I'm human.
Once I was loved, but now I'm alone.
Once I could relax, but now I have to unwind.
Once I had vigor, but now I'm blunted.
Once I looked forward, but now I'll just reflect.
Once I thought the glass was half full,
but now I know the glass is almost empty.
Once I was innocent, but now I'm damned.
Once I was good, but now I just am.

recently
i have gotten back to both my old loves, customizing and writing. hope to be sharing nbore of both on here :)

The Wall
Long, tall, white; this is the wall.
Flaked, discolored, neglected; this is my wall.
Paint brush, paint, stir-stick; this is
by the wall.
Scraping, sanding, painting; this is the work for my wall.
Sunny day, gentle breeze, nature's noises; surround the wall.
Rainy, gusty blows, tractor plowing; surround my wall.
Pretty, sparkling, clean; this is the wall.
Splotchy, sloppy, streaky; this is my wall.

This is my nightmare.

Regrets
Here upon my desk I work.
Lines and words tumble fast.
Past and future will all come to the present.
Let it flow. Let it come.
As I try to unravel the stitches of life,
to have a meaning for my existence.
The page is blank; the words are gone.
The years pass, and the pages yellow.
I cannot put one word down.
The twilight of my life is near.
My mind is gone; my life is empty.
I pass the paper and pen on;
on towards the next life to ruin.
Take their dreams to paper.
After that, they cannot live it.
After it is shared, it is no longer personal.
It is no longer theirs.
My night is here. The mists clear.
Now I wish I just had a pen.

The Massive Media
Mood:  mischievious

In the past, the news was delivered by a few major carriers. During the ‘old west’, a single newspaper could cover an entire state or territory. As the U.S. became more populated and communities shifted into more urban developments than the rural life that settled the country, people wanted more local news that applied directly to their lives. Local newspapers began to spring up in all the developing communities and well established cities. The local paper would carry current news of the area and would some times include news from ‘back east’ where things were moving slightly faster, but the news from out of the area would usually be older and not of as much use to ‘the locals’, befitting the times.

With the advent and wide spread use of the telegraph, news could spread information faster and it would be of a more timely nature. Local news papers using more accurate reports to produce the news that would have a greater impact on the people’s lives that read them. People began to become dependent on this medium to keep up with life outside of their existence.

The next invention used in the spread of the news and other entertainment was the radio. The radio could spread news in a farther area (as watts and kilowatts were increased) and far more cheaply. Radio would have had a much greater impact upon American culture, but the next invention totally swept the market knocking radio into near obscurity.

The next major development in the distribution of news items was the television. In TV’s early days, only a couple of major networks were shown, and these networks controlled the news content of most of the country. At that time, the news did not have to be sensational to get a lot of people to watch it. The brand new ‘tellies’ by them selves were totally engrossing to the public.

T.V. started out with formal news casts to get the current events out to the masses, but as people started to get use to T.V. and began to see as all news casts basically the same. Ratings for these news shows started to fall. To compete, the networks started coming up more controversial shows to create sensationalism to regenerate their failing audiences. This type of sensationalism worked for a short time, but again the public because blas? about the programming. A vicious circle began there. Talk shows had to keep getting wilder and wilder in order to keep their ratings up and keep the show profitable.

The latest invention for spreading the news is the internet. The ‘net’ is the most personal reactive medium yet. On the ‘net’ people can search for news items by topics or by any item mentioned with in the article by using ‘web crawler’ software. On the ‘net’ there are also hundreds of papers that produce electronic newspapers that are exactly like the ones that they produce in hard copy.

The internet seems to be taking the same turn as talk shows. The more controversial the topic, then the more people that will read it. The main problem with the net is that it is basically an unmoderated medium, with no controls to keep some topics out of the realm for discussion, as well as pictures of an illegal nature.

The mass media, no matter what its medium, is an integrated part of our every day life. We get our political news and views, our agricultural information (i.e. weather and planting time tables), world events that can effect us, gossip about important people we are interested in, cutting edge news about devices that will improve our daily life, and local information that can have a direct effect on us or that we can have an effect on. With the wide spread acceptance of the news media as truth, we need to ask our selves if all these services are 100% accurate and factual.

We seem to assume that the news service is the gospel truth, and we can not usually take the time to check their facts and research the other side of the issue. We have to either trust their facts and integrity or not. We also seem to listen to the news and information services that are slanted towards our view, whether you are liberal, conservative, atheist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, black, white, or any of the common stereotyped audience. With using audience targeting, one group gets one set of information whereas another gets a different set, and when comparing both sets some of the data is stretched one way vs. the other so far that one or both can’t be the truth.

One other problem with the mass media is the fact that one person’s opinion can be spread to millions of people with out that person having to be totally truthful are accurate, depending on the medium dictates the degree of ‘looseness’ to the facts. We seem to give credit to our broadcast personalities as if the fact of them getting to where they are gives them the direct line to the facts and truth. These broadcast personalities are human too, and we need to realize this and start testing some of the facts they give us that we would normally blindly believe.

But on the other hand, the mass media has entire section of workers to research their facts and try to give them selves the inside scoop, and some times that inside scoop is based on educated guesses from the facts that are known and fall short at times. This occasional failing is not the total fault of the media; the failing is caused by the publics’ mass demands on the media to produce ‘juicy’ stories about places, people, and happenings.

The public complains about the content of the day time talk shows, but thru their viewing habits tell the networks just the opposite. The movie industry is similar in this aspect. The movies with the higher rate of violence or sexual content do by far better than the average movie at the box office and the home cassette rental/sales industry.

How is the media industry supposed to read the publics wants, by what they are saying, or by what they are spending and watching? The answer is a resounding by what they are watching, because that is where the real money is at, and that is what lets the networks stay open.

In today’s market, there are nearly a thousand stations from which to choose from, so the public is not forced to watch what they find offensive. The viewers have a choice; they can simply change the channel or turn it off. Why should a network censor itself if what they are showing is meant to cater to a particular audience?

The constitution guarantees the right of free speech, and this right does not only apply to people but to corporations that are seen as legal entities also. As soon as we stop protecting the rights of some, the rights of every American will be worthless. We as Americans should appreciate TV’s right to freedom of speech.

The ultimate responsibility lies both at the feet of the individual viewer and the feet of the corporations. The view must watch what they feel comfortable with, and respect others rights to watch what they like, also the viewer must not blindly believe every thing broadcasted on the media. The corporations have the responsibility to check the facts that they are broadcasting as truth, and also the corporations need to be straight forward about the content of their shows and stations so that views can make easier choices about what to view and how to view it.

Is That Funny?
Mood:  cheeky

Is That Funny?

When one considers why comedy is funny, it is a very open question, but one that can be quickly narrowed down. One might ask; Who is the audience, who is the comedian, and what is the subject matter. One common element can be derived from all these questions—Where is the stereotype? A better way to word that question to encompass all the above three questions would be; how does the teller/writer stereotype his audience’s mind set, how is the comedian’s personality stereotyped by both his fans and his critics, and of the punch line and subject of the joke, are there any qualities that are stereotypical.

A writer or teller of the joke needs to know his target audience, as in any form of successful writing. The above sentence could be reduced to the comedian must stereotype his audience correctly to make them laugh. You can rephrase most jokes to make it appeal to a different crowd. A joke that would have to be reworded slightly to appeal to the stereotypical “jock” as well as the stereo typical “computer nerd” about a “jock” being a “hacker” may be viewed as follows; the “nerds” would be expected to find the humor that a “jock” would have the intelligence to be a “hacker” whereas the “jocks” would find it funny that a football player would waste the time trying to be a “hacker”. Some jokes, such as toilet humor, no matter how the wording was changed, would not be openly accepted in some circles, such as church.

The comedians’ personality and telling style becomes instrumental in the telling of the joke. You would not expect Sam Kennison, Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, and Andrew Dice Clay, just to name a few, to tell the joke “why did the chicken cross the road?” the same. Whether it would be adding colorful cuss-words, yelling, or talking about respect, the comedians’ style will modify the joke so that you get a new twist on an old joke and the twist should be along the comedian’s personality stereotype.

The largest category of stereotyping in jokes, is the subject and its punch line. Many words have a stereotyped meaning, and this can be seen in the recent school lawsuit where the word “dynamic” in a job advertisement for a teacher was considered by a woman’s group to imply a male or masculine role. These same styles are used in comedy. Objects are also targeted with stereotyping, such is the case with computers and errors/problems when any knowledgeable computer user knows 98% of computer problems stem from programming errors or user errors. Actions, habits, and idiocycrancies are also stereotyped, and this list can be extensively long, a short example list of typically widely accepted stereotypes are; wearing glasses signifies wisdom, high school drop outs are stupid/losers, men are meaner, women are more erratic, and rednecks are poor/ignorant. Animals also are stereo typed, for example; owls are wise, cats are lazy, dogs are loyal, and pigs are sloppy. A prominent figure is also a joke’s stereo typing target, another short list of the thousands of examples are; Bill Clinton a liar, Hillary Clinton an inside trader/crook, Newt Gingrick a political overlord, and Rush Limbaugh a right-wing extremist. Jobs are another topic of comedic stereo typing, and a short list of these would include; lawyers are greedy, farmers are poor/honest, politicians are crooked, TV and sports stars are rich, and military people are anal retentive. The stereotypes we attach to things, people, and actions are far more extensive than this list and the scope of this thought stream, but with the above suggestions you can quickly elaborate more for your self.

Any thing can be stereotyped, in the general sense, but most people simply don’t use the word stereotyping for it because stereotype itself has a negative stereotype. When thinking of any thing we have key words that help us remember them, and in a sense these are stereotypes—Any generalization about something is a type of stereotype and playing with these in one way or another is how our comedy is made and how it entertains us.

this is funny!!!!
ah, today was a good day. finally got a reply back from the loan cheater that has been dodging me for 3 and 1/2 years. no, no no, they didn't suddenly grow a spine or sprout moral and decide to pay back the money they owe. they did something so much more typical and therefore so much more funny. they lied and lied and lied. i wish i could even be mad at this, but i just find it funny & sad they had to gall this scam right after my mother died, that is the only way i could have been fooled by this person. i know my mom, and i know in the life after, if on the rare chance they meet in heaven, this poor little fool will have a lot to pay for. yeah i know, i've been told i should take her to court and at least show her it's not going to go any more, but if you knew her like i do, just looking at her is distastful at this point

but everyone has to read her replies in my blog, just see what kind of person we are talking about, many of you know me well enough to get a real laugh out of her. i know i am. god i am smiling all day long today. :)

since her replies are on my yahoo blog, and my tripod/star wars friends will get a huge kick out of her silliness, let me quore here :)


let me quote her
"Hey thanks for that lovely post on my 360! You haven't changed a bit.. still spreading lies thinking you're all that - when infact you are nothing. As for me being of the devil - um ok... you guys are the ones that lied about being married when you first met... lieing is a sin.. you know.. tisk tisk! Anyways.. I seriously find you pathetic. You make comments about how evil I was to you and how I lied and did all this and all that, you might want to step back and take a look at your situation. You are a worthless horrible person. If you have nothing better to do then to type crap like that.. looking for a reaction, you're pathetic. I really feel sorry for you! All I can say is get over it, and yourself!

and even a second one she couldn't even focus her thought to write one clear comment :))


Another thing.. if you have the "morals" you say you have.. DON'T bring my child into whatever you think this is, if you do, that makes you even more pathetic then I stated above!

so i replied :

you are the one bringing your child in this, posting it's picture in MY blog, please remove it if you don't want it talked about, or don't i don't care i dont have anything to say other than my general pity you raising a child in that environment, you are a very ustable liar, prone to violence, and i still feel sorry for any child raised in those conditions. As far as me lying, never, i will be more than happy to post the contract online for all to see, i can even post all the cell bills with all the numbers called just to show how you ran up over $1900 on the cell and had to borrow $1200 cause you were unable to get any real work. so back up your words with something other than bull shit and lies for once.

Tuesday March 21, 2006 - 02:32pm (PST)
+

another person with no sence of humor!!
i just found out today that tom cruise had a south park epiisode cancelled. wow these people just don't know how to take a joke. not sure if it was because south park was slamming on that cult cruise is a member of, or if it was all the in the closet jokes, but either way it is truely pathetic for him to use all his clout to fight south park, he needs to be more secure about himself and fight the true wrongs, poking fun a the dianetic cult or people's sexuality is not only fun but just needs to be done. people are too uptight about too many things, they have to learn to laugh, god just think if drawn together took a shot at cruise, i would say it would be a lot worse than what little bit south park did.



i can't wait for that episode to come out on video. i'll watch it 50 times more now that it hurt little cruise's feelings. guess thyat shows money doesn't garuntee maturity or intelegence. cruise is a good actor, i think he needs to stick with that and leave sence of humor to those with one.

time to shut up!
i've seen Cindy Sheehan on the news just too freakin' much.

i'm sorry she lost her son,(though i hav3e heard the rumor she never even had custody of him) but i served in the military and would have given my life for my country if it came up. it didn't for me, and it did for her son. i am just ashamed. and i know her son is ashamed of what cindy is doing in his name. please stop paying this woman any attention, she will go away when her need for the spotlight is no longer able to be fufilled.

i am tired of the democrats playing political games. we have a mission that needs to be fufilled

man that was long
but man it was good to write it all out.

i really should have added her name or at least online handle so people could write her and say, hey shannon is a good person, what you did was wrong. etc.

but i don't see the reason to do that. i am even stupid enough to think some time some day she still might decide to pay me back. i know, not very realistic, not at all, but if i didn't believe that, then i guess i would have to spend more time thinking of it, and probably take her to court. maybe i should do that, i hope i don't, i really don't want to do that even as mean as she has been, even as unthankful as she has been. i am still better than that, and i don't want to go down to her level.

its so sad there are people out there that can do stuff like that and can live with themselves. i am still amazed. i guess i can be thankful i was raised in a loving home with love and taught good morals and grew up to be a good man, spending my early adulthood in the military, learning even more about honor. that is the word that describes how she has been. completely with out honor. man that is it in a nutshell. now i feel better. her actually having that gall to reply and still be so pissy about the money she knows she owes me just upset me, now i know what she is and why it bothers me so. i have honor, and she apparently does not have any.

with that i bid you a good night world and friends :)

catch ya on the flip side :)

why do we allow bad people in our society?
it's been about 3 1/2 years now since i helped some one who was supposedly down on their luck, had all kinds of bills and was in just awful shape, well, that was at least how she portrayed herself. so i lent her money, on top of that i bought supper every night for like 2 months, and did many other things like helped her get a job and lent her my car on many occations. even let her take all of my recently deceased mother's clothes so she could sell and we were suppose to split the money on that and even signed for her to get a cell phone since her credit was so terribly awful.

i did at least one smart thing, i did have her sign a loan agreement for a small part of the money and a garuntee i was not to be responcible for the cell phone. i can thank my gorgeous wife for the idea of the contract. i guess she sensed what this girl really was, and she was right.

with my divorce just days old and my mom passing all in a very short time, i was in a weak point, and unfortunately for me and unknown to me i got tangled with a vulture or a scam artist. it's sad people try to live off of other people's money instead of just working for their own. at the time i didn't think she was like that, there were several warning signs, none i really paid attention to until it was too late.

being on the rebound, and now what i could only say must have been sad sad desperation. i did try to have a romantic relationship with her, but i quickly found i had no physical desire for her for several reasons, but being a nice person, i still pursued a friendship with her, helping her out in many many ways. in the meantime i was lucky enough to meet the love of my life and got back into a healthy relationship with a true angel. i don't know if this made the poor girl jelous and that was why she did everything else or if she was planning on scamming me from the beginning. i can't honestly say. but this was about where she went from being a nice friend to being a very un-nice person, and i got to see the depth of her deciept.

one of the things she did was try to get me fired from the job i had helped her get, she came in one night wanting to talk, said something about trying to pressure the owner into paying her overtime that she did not deserve, when i said i wouldn't help her do that, she attacked me by throwing a big walmart sack of ramen noodles at me. it was almost funny, but it hurt, especially knowing she was trying to attack me after everything i had done and the great friend i had been. she left, i called the owner told him what had happened and he told me she was fired and if i saw her ever on the property to call the police. she went later the next day to the owner's motel and tried to lie about me, well, all i can say is i still have my job without any problem, my boss knew me and knew she was, well i think a good term would be unbalanced.

she also told me that she wasn't going to pay me back for the loan and she never planned to. well, i believed her, so knowing that she may just follow thru, i decided to check on the cell phone to see if that was at least ok, and see what i could do to protect myself there since she didn't even have the self respect or moral fiber to keep her word when it was in writing about the loan, why not the phone . well bingo the phone had not had a penny paid on it since it was signed for 4 months ago. they told me they were shutting it off in a few days any way, but i told them to shut it off right then since the person with the phone is so unreliable.

at that point i decided to just turn her over to a collection agency and let them deal with the unstable acting person.-shortly after this she apparently left town, i have heard rumors that maybe i was not the only one she was scamming and she went home to work in her mother's resturant, but i did not try to follow up on any of this. to be honest i was so glad she was well distanced from me and my family.

several months later i got a notice from ebay thta i was some how associated with her ebay account and they had to shut her down due to several fraud complaints, selling cubic zarconia (sp?) claiming it was real diamonds. i did look up the auctions and saw the complaints saying she defrauded 3-4 people, so i had to send in information to prove my account was not associated in any way with her's. i offered ebay the last known phone number i had on her and the address in iowa, but i never found out if they ever cleared up the claims or did prosocute her. all i knew was her ebay account remained closed while mine was restored. this was the time the collection agency said she was a total dead beat and they would no longer bother with this, so i was back to square one. waiting for the very unlikely event that she would suddenly have an stroke of magic and want to pay what she owes me.

a lot more time has passed. i hear she had gotten pregnant had a kid and now supposedly is going to school. so i figure i would try a fairly nice approach and just write her and ask if she is going to repay me, here, let me quote what i wrote, what she wrote, and what i wrote, i'll leave off the names just to be the nice guy that i am.

shannon: wow, in colege, had a kid, does that mean you've matured enough to start paying back the money you owe me?

her:I don't owe you anything, and as for maturity... people that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Have a nice life..buh bye!

shannon: oh wow, you bothered to reply for once, great. you know i have a contract for the money you owe me, the loan you sooo needed, all the help i gave you while you were supposedly down on your luck.and as far as maturity, come on little one, i have always been the adult, unfortunately you seem not to have the mentality, moral fiber, or even the ability for maturity. so i ask the simple question. when are you going to start paying me back the money you owe me?

of course as of right now i don't know if she got my reply or not, yeah i was actually a little rude, but can you really blame me after 3 and 1/2 years of waiting, even if she was down on her luck and actually had some kind of morals about going to finally pay me back, knowing that she's in school, and has enough money for a kid....i won't even go into my thought on that cause they are not very nice and that is not like me.

well, here i sit still waiting on her to pay me back. isn't it truely sad what some people do and get away with. i have a contract at least to protect a small amount of the money i lent her, i lent her more than is on the contract, but at least i got proof of what i have in the contract as well as all the phone records. but i just feel sorry for the other people she could have scammed since then and who knows if she still even is doing it to this day. it is just sad really. i feel so very sad for her and i don't even want to think about what she may be teaching her child as he grows older, thank god at least that is none of my business and i keep trying not to think about it. with everything going on in the world, the future is already scarey with out adding the thought of what's in the future if the next generation is raised with so skewed or even wrongful moral values.

all i can do is pray, pray she'll see the light and start paying me back, and pray that was just a mistake in her past and not a pattern for her life. and pray i can again trust people in times of need and help with out fear of being taken to the cleaners yet again.

the king has arrived!!
we have been looking for a king bed since november, at christmas amy's mom said she would even buy us one, but we couldn't find one that was just right. and some stuff happened we thought she should save her money so she wouldn't be short, but that all turned out fine, and we saw an ad in a local paper, only like 60 or so miles away, felt like a really long drive, but it was brand new, only used a month while the guy got thrown out by his wife, she took him back, but not his bed, so his loss our gain. we jumped up early this morning, before the sun was even up i think and jo and jd brought thier truck to help us, we got it home this morning, rested bought a round of lunch from emma's and rested, another friend was going to help us set it up when he got home, but we wanted to sleep in it so bad, amy and i worked for almost a half hour and got all the parts moved and assembled in the right room and set up, and ahhhhh a nice nap, we even slept instead of fooling around. there is plenty of time for that later today, later tonight, early tomorrow, oh well, you know how it is when you are in love...... like bunnies we are :) and now our play area just got upgraded :)

family function
thank you adoptive parents jo and jd for having us out for family supper with your real family. the food was amazing and everything was great :)