My Perception

Friday, August 31, 2007

Things That Crack Me Up

Heading into the Labor Day weekend, I started thinking about some things and was wondering why some things are the way they are. And then I started thinking about the fact that many of these things just crack me up.

So, Things That Crack Me Up.....

The fact that we park on driveways and drive on parkways. Drive and Park are 2 totally different things!

Being Anti-Death Penalty and Pro-Choice. Isn't there a vastly huge fundamental difference between the 2?

Being a vegetarian but eating animal crackers. At least when I have a steak I am not biting the heads off, they're already chopped off and gone!!

Being Anti-Patriot Act but Pro-Gun Control. "My rights are being infringed, My rights are being infringed! Take away all the guns, take away all the guns!"

The Office. "QUESTION?! What is the funniest show on TV? FACT?! The Office"

Protestors that only protest in nice, warm weather. Nothing shows conviction and dedication more than being a fair weather fan.

Saturday Night Live. Yes the pickings of been slim, but they still do awesome parodies of pop culture.

Rules to blogging. I've already ranted on that here. But it has got to be one of the stupidest things I've heard of.

Watching Sports Bloopers. True poetic justice.

Being Anti-Church but Pro-Jesus. Didn't he command to go make disciples of all peoples? So where are the disciples to go from there? Oh that's right, he also said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church." Whew...clears that all up.

Deal or No Deal. Those people are idiots who get lucky. But I cannot stop looking at their train wreck. I love it when they turn down $90,000 and $125,000 and then have to take $1,000 because they chose their "lucky" number and it was disasterous. HAHA

Being Anti-Racist and listening to rap music. A huge, very huge double standard.

People who discredit country music, but you better listen to their crappy indy rock crap because it is true emotion and not selling out, even though all commercially liscensed art is selling out and these crappy artists are crappy narcissists wallowing in their own crap. ("But I resonate it with it!!". yeah and I resonate with the Redneck Yacht Club and I really resonate with Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy).

The fact you can be born with genes that make you prone to alochol and drugs and can decide to not want to be an alcoholic or drug addict, but if you are born with the genes that make you prone to homosexuality...you had no choice, you were born that way.

*Editor's note - The views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of My Perception, it's authors, it's editors, or any of it's sponsors.

Poetry

Overpay + Raise Taxes = Michigan (Democrats)

A couple of days ago the Mackinac Center for Public Policy issued "The Effects of Michigan's Prevailing Wage Law" study.

Guess what?

Construction unions don't like to hear that there's an interest in dumping the state's expensive and ineffective prevailing wage law because it forces them to be competitive in the market.

Marty Mulcathy, editor of the Building Tradesman, the publication of the Michigan Building and Construction Trade Council in Lansing, regurgitated the expected recently when the Mackinac Center reported that the state is speding (wasting) $250 million more than necessary because of the law.

"When you're paying $8 or $10 or $12 an hour, you don't know what skill level you're getting," he told The Detroit News. You may be paying the unionized people a little bit more but you're getting a more skilled worker."

A little bit more is a fallacy. Try three times as much, if not more than that. Also, let's apply his "skill" argument to the roads, as an example. Apparently all that skill hasn't helped keep the potholes from returning each year or entire stretches of road from crumbling (spare me the freeze and thaw cycle argument, lots of states suffer drastic weather changes).

This isn't about skill. It's about paying off the state's unions and Michigan can't afford to pay that premium.

And then to piggy back on that, there is this....

Dems apparently have plenty of discretionary income.

An analysis of zip codes that are the top sources of campaign loot: Dems hauled in $32 million compared to the GOP's $13.8 million. I thought the Dems were for the little guy?

Click here to read the article from USA Today. What you'll notice is, besides all the money that's enough to make you sick (on both sides)......

No Michigan zip in the top 50.

Why?

We're cheap. Or broke, given high taxes (both income and sales), to pay for all that "high skill" work.

I'll say it again - You really want government to run healthcare?

Really....

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Oh Yeah!!

The best show in television returns in less than a month!!

And here is a recap of where we left off after last season

If you've never seen this show before, catch up while there's time and get ready to laugh every Thursday night.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Headlines - Democrats Perform Exorcism

Democrats have long said Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales were obstructionists (among other things) and much to blame for all that ails America. Now that they're gone, it would follow that the world will be a better place, right?

If not for those two guys, Dems and Republicans would be holding hands in Congress, right?

There'd be no need for spy programs and our enemies around the world would look upon us more kindly. Right?

Wrong.

But there are now two fewer excuses for the Dems so they can make those things happen. I await the change. It should be swift and fundamental...at least until another nemesis is identified.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Last 5....(08.28.07)

The Last 5

.....songs played in shuffle mode on my mp3 player

Dierks Bentley - What was I thinking
Chris Tomlin - Indescribable
Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust
Pearl Jam - In Hiding
P.O.D - Boom

.....blog entries I read

.....cards on the flop, turn, river Sunday night (I held Ace, Ace...he held 8, 3 off-suit...)

Ace
Eight
Three
Queen
Eight

.....News Stories from the AP's "Odd News" category

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Do the Opposite in Full Effect - Fantasy Football Draft Results

Following my own advice, my draft could not have turned out much better than it did. If you remember in my previous post I made the claim that you do not need to take rb-rb (and maybe even rb again in the 3rd) to win fantasy football. After the first 3 big guns were off the board (LT, S-Jax, and LJ) take Peyton and go WR-WR in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. From round 4-8 draft all the "sleeper" backs and if one of those guys strikes it big...payday is yours. Too many "can't miss, must have in the first, second, or third round" running backs are a bust every year. While guys taken in the mid to late rounds (or not drafted at all) blow up and become top 10 producing backs. Meanwhile, the QB and WR positions stay consistent every year.

It's worked for me in the past, and I very confident it works for me this year.

Here are my draft picks in order taken (I had the 5th pick in a 10 team league, standard snake draft).

Peyton Manning
Torry Holt
Roy Williams
Thomas Jones
Adrian Peterson
Fred Taylor
Ladell Betts
Braylon Edwards
Jacksonville DST
Donte Stallworth
DeShaun Foster
Jake Delhomme
Randy McMichael
Devin Hester
Gostkowski (New England's kicker)

I'll roll most weeks

QB - Manning
WR - Holt
WR - Williams
RB - Jones
RB - Peterson
FLEX - Taylor
TE - McMichael
K - Gostkowski
DEF - Jaxville

And my depth is pretty amazing too....Braylon and Stallworth with a huge flyer on Devin Hester. Chicago is claiming he's going to start at WR this year, with as fast as he is, he could be a Lee Evans type guy. It's a flyer...big deal.

Ladell Betts and DeShaun Foster as backup RBs are solid 4th and 5th backs to have and in the past 2 years, have themselves put together quality seasons. When Portis gets hurt this year, Betts will step in and carry my team.

This could not have worked out better for me.

I'll try and provide updates as the season progresses.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Do Global Alarmist Cheer for Big Storms?

It didn't take long for the global warming alarmists to twist Hurricane Dean into their propaganda machine.

"The big picture is that global warming is putting hurricanes on steroids," writes Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. She goes on to warn the faithful that, as the oceans continue to warm in the decades ahead" (bold added) the storms will continue to get stronger than ever.

Any devestation and death incurred from natrural disaster is tragic not to be taken lightly.

But the alarmists predicted massive and numerous storms last year that never materialized and they blamed Katrina's destruction on climate change too (never mind the levee problems and people living below sea level). Hurricane Dean was a Category 5 storm off the Gulf Coast and slowed to a Category 1. It could have kicked back up, but scientists say it won't reach the intensity it had over the open waters.

Of course that's not important to those whose crusade is absolute. We'll wait to see what the next cause-and-effect relationship will be and there will be one, for sure.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Ethics, Morality and this whole terrible mess

Corey's recent posts (one, two, and so far just 3. I am sure there will be more so pay attention) and subsequent discussion with Gary (who can be very confusing) on ethics and morality has had me thinking all day yesterday and today. Most of us are aware of the problem in Darfur. My purpose on all this isn't political, it is philosophical. Please remember that if you choose to leave any comments. But I am going to try and tie them together. Because a discussion about ethics and morality and using sex, adultery, and dogs as the visuals (not all in one act...gross) doesn't cut it when our souls are in the balance.

You can read most of what is below in italics at the following link if you want to, but I have chose to have it here to keep you here.

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Sudan is the largest country in Africa, located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert. The country's major economic resource is oil. But, as in other developing countries with oil, this resource is not being developed for the benefit of the Sudanese people, but instead, for an elite few in the government and society. As much as 70 percent of Sudan's oil export revenues are used to finance the country's military.

Darfur, an area about the size of Texas, lies in western Sudan and borders Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic. It has only the most basic infrastructure or development. The approximately 6 million inhabitants of Darfur are among the poorest in Africa. They exist largely on either subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times, the Darfuri people face a very harsh and difficult life; these are not good times in Darfur.

The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect, drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel groups - the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - mounted a challenge to Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent agrarian farmers who are mostly non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President al-Bashir's response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements, the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, which have come to be known as the Janjaweed.[1] Their members are composed mostly of Arab black African Muslims[2] who herd cattle, camels, and other livestock. They have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and
systematically murdered, tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfurians. These attacks occur with the direct support of the Government of Sudan's armed forces.

No portion of Darfur's civilian population has been spared violence, murder, rape and torture. As one illustration of how Khartoum has waged its war, the Sudanese military paints many of its attack aircraft white - the same color as UN humanitarian aircraft - a violation of international humanitarian law. When a plane approaches, villagers do not know whether it is on a mission to help them, or to bomb them. Often, it has been the latter.

This scorched earth campaign by the Sudanese government against Darfur's sedentary farming population has, by direct violence, disease and starvation, already claimed as many as 400,000 lives. It has crossed over into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. In all, about 2.3million Darfuris have fled their homes and communities and now reside in a network of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur, with at least 200,000 more living in refugee camps in Chad. These refugees and IDPs are completely dependent on the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations for their very livelihood - food, water, shelter, and health care.

Another 1 million Darfuris still live in their villages, under the constant threat of bombings, raids, murder, rape and torture. Their safety depends on the presence of the underfunded and undermanned African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, numbering just 7,400 troops and personnel. However, the so-called "AMIS" force, in Darfur since October 2004, lacks a civilian protection mandate as well as adequate means to do stop the violence; its sole mandate is to monitor and report ceasefire violations and it has done little more, due to its limited mandate but also because of its anemic capacity.

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It can be difficult to understand the fact that some place like this exists in the same world as Lincoln Park, MI. This situation and current state of affairs is absolutely terrible. Terrible, horrible, macbre, etc. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions dead. Whole familes gone, wiped out. Whole villages of women being raped, repeatedly. Maybe I misspoke myself, it isn't difficult to understand, it's impossible to process and comprehend that these actions are happening...probably right now! *Cold Shivers*

So how do you get your mind around that?

It's at that point that you begin to wonder to yourself about yourself. You can't comprehend it because you cannot find it within you to do something like that.

Can you?

In your thought process you ask yourself, "Am I capable of rape or murder or any of the other stuff going on over there?"

"No way! Nothing in me is capable of that. " Is most of us would repsond.

So what makes me/us different than them? After all, they are human and I am human. Why such the difference? Why am I better than them?

But, honestly, who is better?

See, if I say I am not better than them, then that makes me capable of those atrocities and would make me evil, but if I answer no, it would suggest I believe I am better evolved than some of them men in the Sudan. And then I would have some explaining to do.

So am I capable of those things? Are we all capable of those things?

How do you answer that?

How should we answer that and how we want to answer that are probably at opposite ends of the spectrum.

What it does is give credence to the ole fundamentalist Christian saying of a "sin nature." We're all born flawed and something inside of us is broken. It's easier to do bad things than good things. And there is something in that basic fact, some little clue to the meaning of the universe. But yet we all know people who do great things and appear to be actual living saints.

Regardless of our own "living saints", the flawed nature of our existence is everywhere.

Why do we have to train a child to not lie about cleaning up his toys or admitting when they break something? We have to be taught to be good, it doesn't come natural. But it doesn't stop at childhood. We get to adulthood and we have bosses and cops and judges. Without them there'd be anarchy. Complete anarchy.

Don't think so? Go back to the beginning of this post and read the intro again.

However, I was taught right from wrong as a child, and I am fairly confident I would be just fine without cops. But know this, I drive completely different when a cop is behind me than when there isn't.

And this sad fact is true. It is hard for us to admit we have a sin nature because we live in this system of checks and balances. If we get caught, we'll be punished. But that doesn't make us good people, it makes us subdued. Just think about the Congress and the Senate and the President (present leader probably excluded). The genius of the American system is not freedom; it is checks and balances. Nobody gets all the power. Everybody is watching everybody else.

It is as if the founding fathers knew, intrinsically, that the soul of man, unwatched is perverse. I wonder where they got the idea to begin with?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Last 5...(08.21.07)