Blog
Politics
Religion
Blog 4.0
Blog 4.0
Thankgiving Debate
11-24-2005
This Thanksgiving I was having dinner with my parents and the topic of crime came up. My dad has a rosy picture of the past where a mass-murder would shock the nation. In his version of the past, murder just wasn't done. He attributes the rise of crime to the increase of secularism in society. This didn't seem quite right to me, so I decided to look up the actual numbers. Then I crunched out this handy little reference table. Enjoy!
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
Katrina
9-3-2005
There are times I just don't understand conservatives.
- I told my conservative parents how Bush and FEMA from the federal government cut funds to the levees that would have helped stop the flooding of New Orleans. They now believe it was entirely a problem of local mismanagement.
- I told my parents how FEMA waited five days to organize aid to New Orleans because they didn't even know there were refugees in the Astrodome. My parents have decided it was a local government problem, Bush and FEMA have been absolved of all blame, and that the head of FEMA is good leader.
- I showed my parents a copy of the Redcross FAQ where they explain why they have not been able to send food and water to the people of New Orleans. The department of homeland security denied humanitarian aid because it would make people want to come to New Orleans for a handout. My parents thought it made sense.
- I told my parents how ten percent of the population of New Orleans didn't even have cars and they counter that people really stayed behind to loot. They don't understand why we are trying to help them and feel they deserve to be left to rot.
I saw a recept of their donation to the redcross. They gave $100. I certainly hope it is their second donation. They probably have more assets to their name than half of the refugees combind before the hurricane hit. I'm a starving student and gave $500.
They were very pissed off the media was looking for someone to blame, but the second they could absolve Bush and FEMA of blame and pawn it off on democrats, they jumped at the opportunity.
How can they be this way now? There are American citizens that are dieing in the streets as I type this now. We are bussing people into the city, denying them the ability to leave, and leaving them to rot with no food or water while the military stands guard to make sure no food or water is let into the refugee site. What the fuck is wrong with them?!
Conservatism is a blight on the human soul. Conservatism is a blight to society. It seems it's sole purpose is to destroy the compassion and humanity of those it infects while letting the corrupt loot our society at large.
That's the real looting there. Some woman breaking into a Walmart to get water for her child as he sits dieing in her arms is not looting. Taking the money that would have prevented this disaster from happening and giving it to the ultra-wealthy and using it for an optional war of aggression is the real looting.
And they think they are in the right and we are in the wrong.
There are times I just don't understand conservatives.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
New Article
8-28-2005
Click here to read about why Satan isn't such a bad guy after all. I also went ahead and created a better organization scheme to make this more of a personal page and less of a political page.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
New Article
8-25-2005
Click here to read about some ethical flaws in the bible. This article was result of a quick muckracking for a discussion on Belief.net.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
New Article
8-13-2005
Click here to read about rugged individualism and individuality. This article discusses the Ayn Rand libertarian viewpoint and the world it will eventually create.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
I am not like that.
7-2-2005
There are times I truely understand Mike Malloy's phrase, "Have I told you just how much I hate these people?" Today is one of those days.
Here is the background. My dad has a fully paid off 1800 square foot, two story house. It is on over ten acres of land, which is also fully paid off. He also has on this land a four car garage, three car shed, and a chicken coop. He owns three cars in working order, a corvette, a jeep liberty (Expensive SUV), and a jeep wrangler (off road vehicle). He has three vehicles in non-working condition, an MR2, a Trans Am, and another car which I forget. He also is part owner of another fully paid off house which he collects rent from. He is retired from a government job where he made the extreme cap for what you could make as a civilian defense division head. In his retirement he makes 80% of that by sitting on the sofa, for the rest of his life. In addition he has stock market investments, a money market fund, and a ROTH IRA. On top of this, he works a part time job for a defense contractor and boosts how he makes more in one day than I made in a month at my $12.50 an hour job doing tech support. It is safe to say that he is loaded.
I am going to a very competitively priced college, I am paying in-state tutition, and I am living at home to avoid rent payments. This makes the estimated yearly price for my college education is $4,688. That's $391 a month. When my sister was visiting and we were talking about how I was going through college, I let it slip that I qualified for financial aid since I was above the age of twenty-five and my parent's vast wealth was not included on my list of resources. I also told them how I did not apply because that money was for people who had nothing. Financial aid was for people who had had enough of being poor and were going to make something of themselves. It is for families who want their children to have the education they themselves could never hope to have.
My parents informed me that the decision was not mine to make and that I would be applying as soon as possible. They were angry that I had shorted them of some money. And this asshat has the gall to say just yesterday christians like him were morally superior to non-christians (like me). Strange. I seem to remember that God sided with Lazarus, not the rich man. Oh. I forgot. These people are poor because they are too stupid and too lazy to get through high-school, let alone college. They flip hamburgers because that is the only job they are capable of doing.
It makes me fucking sick!
I am not like that. I refuse to be like that. Well, since my meager living expense allowance is not mine to give to charity, I'll just have to volunteer my time. I really like Habitat for Humanity. I think I'll give them a call and see if they need any help.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
Interesting.
6-20-2005
I had a second chat with my dad today. This time the subject was extrodinary rendition, also known as handing off detainies to other countries that torture prisoners so that we don't officially get our hands dirty. It's been happening ever since 9-11. This is the first my dad ever heard of it, from an article in the local newspaper. He was furious. He clipped out the article and mailed it to his republican senator. He also asked me for my input. While our economics are different, we both hate torture and I called every shot on that front before it happened. So I actually had some trust there. Interesting!
This is an opportunity. With the GOP gone insane, we can use this to split the few conservatives left who know that freedom means more than the freedom to agree with the majority. The abuses at Guantanimo Bay and the renditions to Syria are just as repugnant to them as well. They just never hear about it thanks to our news media lapdogs.
I plan to create an information packet to give to such conservatives, followed by information about the Libertarian Party. Asking a conservative to go liberal may be a bit too much, like it was for me at first. We don't need new liberals though. Any shift to the left moves the whole equilbrium. Providing a viable conservative alternative gives them much needed social reinforcement, instead of a person who goes back to being Republican after a while. Libertarians also tend to be rational and reasonable, someone I don't mind working with. I may not agree with them economically, but I'll take Libertarian laissez-faire capitalism over Republican crony capitalism any day of the week!
This is definately on my to-do list!
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
Automation is Bad?
6-20-2005
I had a conversation with my dad today. We were talking about immigration, and how America became fiscally strong by letting in immigrants who took the low paying jobs no one else wanted. He states exportation of jobs overseas to Chinesse sweatshops is because we refuse to build the sweatshops here and let mexicans work them. Then I bring up robotic automation, and how it will eventually remove the need for mindless drudgery. After this, I got the most elitist viewpoint I've seen in a while. He stated that robotic automation was a bad thing because of two reasons.
First of all, people must work. Without engaging in mindless drudgery for at least eight hours a day, all kinds of social ills will be released. Of course, he believes that we ought to be working a lot more. The fact that we work less than twelve hours a day, six days a week for under a dollar an hour is why America is falling apart now. I countered this by saying that automation would make these jobs unnecessary and people would be freed up to do more important jobs such as research.
Then he got to the next statement that I'm still not certain how to respond to. He stated point blank that only a small fraction of society (the middle and upper class) have the intellegence necessary to do a worthwhile job. I told him, "Flipping burgers doesn't add much to society compared to medicine research." He responded, "I think you'll find that's all they are capable of."
Could somebody please remind me how the liberals were the ones made out to be the elitists?
The irony is that only five minutes earlier I was talking about how the thinking patterns I had trained into my head helped me learn math, and that by learning the patterns of other subjects I could boost my less than impressive results with foreign language. He thought that was a great idea. Perhaps I could have called him on it, but I probably would have gotten into a shouting match that I don't have the willpower to win. It's better to get some beef behind my arguments with some research. We must find a way to show that the poor can indeed do more than flip burgers. We must show that the poor are humans like all of us, who can become great with a little nurturing. Once we do that, a core attribute of conservative wisdom will be shattered.
This topic is now on the to-do list.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
New Article
6-18-2005
Click here to read about the bizzaro world. This article discusses the conservative viewpoint and the world it will eventually create.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
I'm a bleeding heart liberal.
6-17-2005
I was pondering today. I've seen the phrase "bleeding heart liberal" used against people almost as a slur phrase. "That democrat is a mushy, bleeding heart liberal! He can't be trusted to make the tough decisions." Well, what are the characteristics of a "bleeding heart"? A man is called that because he empathizes with those in need. He feels their pain. Thus a bleeding heart wants to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, support the unemployed, and pay the workers good wages. A bleeding heart is called that because he shows compassion and isn't afraid to admit it.
And what are those tough decisions? Those are usually the "tough love" of throwing those in need out onto the streets "because they must learn to rely on themselves." Other hard decisions are letting millionaire business owners pay employees even less "for the good of the company." I don't think compassion is something that will put money into the pockets of the haves at the expense of the have-nots. That sounds more like greed to me.
This means that when you choose a politician who "makes the hard choices" over a "bleeding heart liberal", you are choosing greed over compassion. You are choosing pursuit of money over helping your neighbor. "Bleeding heart liberal" should be one of the greatest compliments that you can receive. The fact that our society perceives it as a fault shows our true colors.
--- Landon Fox, The Blue Savant
This website and all related content is Copyright © 2005 by Landon_Fox aka Allen L Brunson. All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced without written permission of the author.