Obmamin Hood

    I have to vent, politically vent, I hate to do it, but too much is happening and I talk to too many ignorant people in a day to not express my feelings.  I am so sick of the robin hood mentality people are cheering on.  Taking money from the hard-working and rewarding the lazy will never have positive results, let me explain why.    
    I am owner and co-owner of a few small businesses neither makes a fortune so far however neither loses money.  When we have  a surplus of cash we do something insane, we reinvest in our business.  The purchase of new equipment, products or employees helps us improve our business and allows us the opportunity to grow and expand and in turn invest more into our company.  Guess what the government does as soon as we earn a decent profit, they put their grubby filthy hands into the cookie jar and take as much as they can.  From city level to state to federal all are trying to steal their piece. Said funds are then taken and filtered through the vast government machine.  Every time the money changes hands a little is taken and what is left is burned on social programs, welfare and so forth.
    On the other end, so many "humanitarians" feel we should help those who are less fortunate (in most cases less willing to earn their own).  I agree with helping people who are trying to better their lives, the problem is the word "help" is incorrectly defined.  A person is not helped by receiving unearned funds, it only further promotes laziness.  Offering employment, education, or training helps those "less fortunate."  Others exploit the poor, they see an opportunity for a quick power grab, what is the fastest way to get control of someone?  You provide their life, if they choose to take from you they are permanently indebted to you.  Takers however do not invest in a business, skill or job they buy a flat screen tv, or make a down payment on a car they will later have repossessed.  The point is giving free money to people who have not and will not earn it stimulates nothing.
    Government ownership of major companies is even worse.  I cannot believe what is happening between toyota and the united states gov.  A company produces a higher quality better priced vehicle so the gvmnt. who owns gm criminalize the corporation in an attempt to reduce competition.  You have no idea how hard this is for me not to use very strong and profane language while writing this.  They have not even tried to hide their motive, I recently saw a commercial for GM in which "everyone" knows foreign vehicles are better (which they are) and Howie Long who is a sell out piece of garbage let them know GM was better because they have a better warranty.  Even though the marketing campaign (which is what the government hearings against toyota is) is firing everything they can at toyota they are still not gaining their market share.  Why not? Because people in america are not stupid enough to believe it.  Even if they lose faith in toyota there is still Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Kia, Suzuki, renault, alfa romeo, citroen, audi, mercedes, bmw, vw, nissan and for the most part any car is better than what GM makes.  If my company had the profits GM has been showing, even since the gvmnt took over I would live in the gutter.  Oh and you think toyotas recall is bad, google gm recalls, they have hundreds of thousands every single year!
   The more the government gets involved in our business the more american business will fail.  Taking from the hard working and motivated to reward the uneducated and lazy will only result in socialism.  If you agree or disagree comment and let me know.
 

Beethoven Was Rebellious Once

It's been a rough couple of weeks, my baby cries and cries, my wife is sleep deprived and worn out, I have been out of town working, and on top of it all I am getting over a miserable cold, which is why I have not written in a couple weeks. Hopefully with some witty quips and insights I can make up for the tender moments we have surely lost.


     People seem to have strong and poignant feelings in regard to their music preferences.  I am going to divulge a secret about me; a deep, dark, horrifying secret.  A secret so horrifying that in so sharing I may ostracize myself from family, friends and acquaintances, I like rap.  Though my brother in law (who is 12) told me rap is an acronym for retards attempting poetry, don't judge me to harshly. I'm not into snoop dog, and eminem, I enjoy the subtle sounds and smilies of groups such as the argyle pimps, ugly duckling, jurassic five and the like, you have never heard of them have you?  I knew it, just look them up on myspace, who knows I may change your attitude on this so called hip hop.
     Kids go through phases of music I have noticed, often they will start with top 40 garbage, whatever is on the radio and constantly resonating in their hollow heads.  Around junior high school something happens, I can't quit explain, but somehow the pyschadelic sounds of the seventies seem to infiltrate theirs souls.  Don't believe me?  Ask any 14 to 17 year old what music they dig and likely his answer will be "Led zeppelin and Pink Floyd.  I like classic rock."  I feel I need to add that all my experience is as a middle class white kid so this may not be applicable in all areas. After that comes the "radio sucks" phase, where it becomes much less than cool to listen to anything on the radio, youngsters turn to the internet to find whatever is too obscure and possibly too profane to find  on the radio.
    Obviously everyone has their own opinion as to what musical talent is.  I like to have the argument, it's funny because I don't really care, I think it is all opinion. However for many people the topic is poignant and important.  I believe talent in music is simply stated making music people want to listen to.  My dad will say classical and the like is the only type of music that takes talent.  He, however, enjoys the beatles, emerson lake and palmer which are only a few among the many bands that my grandparents hate and call no talent rock.  They would prefer something along the lines of Engelbert Humperdink, which their parents thought was the devils music.  There must have been a time when a youngster was bangin his head to some chopin and his dad yelled "turn that crap off!"  I wonder what it was like when kids would whip out their harpsichord and jam to the latest tunes only to have be grounded from the instrument until they have gathered enough firewood to warm the house.  I wonder what they rocked to in the stone age.  Point is parents will always hate what their kids listen to, with the exception of that classic rock stage.  They can get on the same page at least for a couple years.
     Singer/songwriter acoustic rock has become popular in the last few years.  Acoustic music has destroyed campfires.  Tough, brave men used to gather around a campfire reciting mighty tales of trapping beavers, fighting grizzly bears, and sharing a peace pipe with Indians.  However with the popularity of acoustic music there is always one person who whips out an acoustic guitar and plays the two Jack Johnson songs he knows incessantly diverting all attention away from manliness.  Without fail if a fire is started in a pit an acoustic guitar will appear, like magic. I swear someone just pulls it out of the black of night, You could be talking about a shelter fashioned by your bare hands from some leaves a branches and next thing you know a person is strumming three chords and singing about bubbly toes.
    I think the last phase is talk radio.  Instead of listening to pathetic poets spout on about messages that have no real meaning, you hear pundits slander and argue points until they are so worked up their microphone is covered in spit and anger.  Pretty much the same as the pathetic poets just their sentences don't rhyme and there is no background music.