Get The Load Off Our Backs!

Subsidies.

It seems like Uncle Sam has a habit of giving breaks to others on one hand and screwing up the rest on the other hand.

Just recently, a report came out on NBC Dateline describing how the government, in its effort to boost the use of ethanol additives for gasoline, subsidizes the corn industry. The report stated that it actually takes more energy to produce ethanol than it is to have the same amount of gasoline. Now ain't that a woozy?

I am not against additives in gasoline. For all I care, my car can run on additives alone AS LONG AS it is cost effective doing so. Such cost effectiveness should not come only in terms of the fuel being cheaper. How it is produced should also require less energy. Uncle Sam sells us the fuel cheaply and all of us look like we just won the sweepstakes. However, Uncle Sam sticks us with a big tax increase because we now have to increase subsidies to the corn and the ethanol industry. What goes around comes around. The Laws of Thermodynamics at work here.

We should just drop these subsidies, drop the high tarrifs on foreign produce and get competitive in the global market. I bet we can cheaply import a lot of products like corn instead of paying locally for higher corn prices.

Oh, and the reason why corn prices sometimes go down is that the government subsidizes it. Remember to equate "subsidy" with "just increase my taxes again, thank you!".

And what about the steel industry? Yessiree, bub! We're subsidizing it, too! Our local steel industries use antiquated technology that they can't compete with foreign steel manufacturers interms of output and quality. So what does the government do? Uncle Sam cuddles the local industry with subsidies at the expense of taxpayer's dollars. We're actually paying for our own industries' inefficiencies.

It's so pathetic that our local industries can't justly compete with the foreign markets. We are blindsided by the fact that we think that our economy is strong when in fact it is built upon a rickety system of subsidies and blatant protectionism.

If only our government will open up the markets to the world, perhaps we can truthfully see where the US economy lies in the global commerce. Perhaps then we can be more patriotic in promoting our local products and justly compete in the global market without thinking twice that we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

In Oil We Trust

Here we are again all riled up with dreams of bountiful oil supplies! It's just a matter of time when the big V8 SUVs with the tiny drivers and their big egos start to plow their way across 2 lanes of roadway.

Watch as the auto industry drops its efficient car program and jumps into the gas guzzler bandwagon.

Make hybrid cars ... wha? Moi? That's just for show! They never were serious about it anyway. It's all just so they can comply with some government program that they are indeed developing "cleaner" cars. D'oh!

Speaking of hybrid cars. They sure are butt ugly! No wonder people don't buy them! Design one that looks like a normal looking Audi or a Mercedes and they will sell like hotcakes!

Master of the Universe

All our boys are giving up their lives to subdue
Some "terror" halfway around the world.
Pulled out from their lives of productivity
Sent to sow destruction on some foreign land.
Armed with bullets and family pictures.
All because there was a nagging oily itch
On the derrière of the one and only
Master of the Universe.

Taxation

it's tax season again . . .

forgive my ignorance but why is it that we pay
for sales tax when the government
already takes the taxes

before they give us our money? weird!

Get Real!

The average TV viewers' IQ has just gone down! Just look at all the TV shows that clog the networks of every major TV station and you'll agree with my opening statement.

Tonight, they're showing 3 consecutive reality TV shows on NBC5 Chicago. When it gets to this point where the only way that TV executives can lure viewers is to create these shows, then you know that it's time to get either a satellite TV or a subscription to digital TV. Then you can watch real TV shows without necessarily sacrificing a dip in your viewing intellect.
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What's with these shows that attract viewers?
They're "easy" on the brain, that's for sure! What's there to ruminate about somebody putting a big roach in her mouth? That's plain stupid! Even a moron can figure that out! And what about these dating games? Would you want to marry one of these scheming, whining, hypocritical people who have the gall to wash their laundry in public? These "Made in TV" pairings never seem to work out anyway. The last one about this Joe $$ guy looked like he was really screwed when the verdict was out on who he was going to marry. Boy! Did he really look f#@$d up! You'd think that he was going to puke.

Viewers also love reality drama. That's understandable. However, is it really that "real"? Can you really let it all out in front of 10 million TV viewers? Talk about drama, just give the participants some baseball bats and have them whack each other. That is, after they whack the show producers on their heads first for being so stupid when they can't even be morons!

Maybe all the other non-reality TV shows are really crappy. Has there been any TV show in the major networks that you really, really like? Aside from the news, there's Fraser, which is still funny after all these years. ER used to be OK but the concept got a little old when the original stars started jumping ship. Jeez! I think that's it! All the other good shows are on cable and not in the major networks! There does not seem to be any TV show nowadays that has a really revolutionary or innovative concept. Most of them seem to play on one another's tired concept.

On the production side, it seems like reality TV shows are cheaper because they don't have to hire high-caliber actors. When you're aching for publicity, go to some reality TV and embarass yourself. The public will love you and the network bean counters will shower you with pocket change. You get the publicity, they get the moolah. Of course, all these is at the participants' expense. You can't scrape your respect from the sidewalk with a nickel ...

So, my friends. TV is doomed. Reality TV shows have laid claim to what little attention we have left. It's a sad fate ...

Now give me that remote and surf over to Bravo and let's watch some foreign films!

Day of Sorrow

The space shuttle Columbia has just disintegrated.
Our sorrows pile up before we can even recover
from our past misfortunes.