2010 . . . The Year In Review

Golly gee, so much has happened. I don't hardly know where to begin. NO!!! Seriously folks, thanks to a well controlled news(less) media, where does one find any facts based in truth to reflect back upon? Of course, I could drone on for days recounting the exploits of Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus or the Kardashian sisters. And if this sort of drivel isn't proof positive as to how the American public is being deliberately dumb down and treated to a seven course meal of smoke, mirrors and bullshit, then I've picked the wrong year to quit huffing Elmer's glue sticks.

Speaking of glue; Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband mistakes a bottle of adhesive for eye drops, glues his eye shut and makes the news. WTF!!! THIS is news???

Recently, I read a news item that says the year is closing with an upswing in the economy. Hard as I try, I just can't see it. Millions of my fellow Americans are still unemployed and will have no prospects for the creation of new jobs to be filled... EVER. Hundreds of thousands are being, or have been, sucked down into the bottomless pit of the tanking housing fiasco. Ya gotta know that when the bottom is reached, hundreds of thousands more are going to be taking up residency in tents. That is of course unless the upswing in the economy provides some with the luxury of setting up housekeeping in a double-wide packing crate.

On a brighter note; Hugh Hefner is engaged... yet again. (At his age, IF he can find it can he remember what to do with it?)

2010 may be remembered as the year wherein fuel prices were lower and more stable than the previous year. Or the year to come, for that matter. Many of us were able to keep our fuel tanks filled as opposed to only half filled. Electricity was cheap, considering the number of reports of children, geriatrics and the handicapped who were compelled to do the "Funky Chicken" at the end of Taser probes, courtesy of a few of the fine men and women who swore an oath to protect and serve us.

Lindsey Lohan is going to give it a go at a new rehab facility. (Ya gotta give her credit. The girl aint no quitter!!!)

We saw some "sweeping victories" made by conservatives and Tea Party inspired politicians during the mid-terms. Clearly an indicator that the American people aren't too happy with the "hope and change" promised by the globe trotting Kenyan and his court jesters. However, unless I have finally succumb to (even more) permanent brain damage caused by a childhood spent sniffing Prang water paints, it appears to me that an awful lot of folks are losing that little spark of rebellion they had pre mid-term. Please tell me we aren't settling back into that false sense of security one gets when they think someone else is going to "work tirelessly" to preserve and protect their freedoms.

Although not covered by the media outlets, my ex-daughter in law remarried and posted her wedding pics on her Facebook page. She was "kind" enough to email invites to her ex-in-laws (ie. us) to go to said page and check out said pics. After three previously failed marriages and, a lifestyle wherein she has had more tube installed than the Alaska pipeline, she saw fit to wear a white gown for the ceremony? If anyone could pull that off with a straight face, she could. Proof positive that the aberrant behavior of mental illness is the confirmed new normal.

Bringing up mental illness reminds me that in 2010, we were all (well, mostly all) "blessed" with the passage of Obamacare. Of course it's no blessing for those of us who are forced to pay for it. Or those who are too old or too disabled to work in order to pay into it. Just remember Terry Schiavo and the SCrOTUS decision to officially disavow any government recognized guarantee of an individual's right to life.

Ya know, rather than continue a review of 2010, I think it would look much better in my rear-view mirror while I beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately, we are all on a squirrel cage type of tread mill and the bad stuff just keeps coming back around every few steps we take.

I sincerely wish everyone the absolute best in 2011. However, as is the case for my ex-daughter in law's new husband, I'll hope for the best even though it's a sure bet that isn't going to happen.

MikeH.

Many Times. . . Many Ways

At the extreme risk of offending members of the politically correct crowd, atheists, socialists, progressives, communists, radical islamists and all the other parasitic scum throughout the world; I would like to extend my most sincere wishes for a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

If, on the other hand, you subscribe to the ideology of the politically correct, atheists, socialists, progressives, communists, radical islamists or any of the other parasitic scum throughout the world AND are among those who discourage the use of the word Christmas because at the very foundation of the word is CHRIST; please feel free to kiss my fat, hairy, pink, dimpled ass.



MikeH.

Devil's Advocate

A really good plan always has a back up plan. An excellent plan has a flow chart of back ups and contingency plans. Are you sure you have all your bases covered?

Let's play The Devil's Advocate...

You have prudently considered several of the most likely "stinky stuff through the fan blade" scenarios that will bring about the end of the world as we know it. You have put a lot of thought, time and money into fortifying your stand. You have stocked your stores with enough bandages, beans, bullets and bullion to see you and each member of your unit through a year of hard times.

You listened to the advise of the various experts and didn't put all of your preps into this one basket. You have an EMP proof bug out vehicle in the event you have to beat a hasty retreat out of your stand. You have a well stocked back up location to retreat to and you have several well concealed caches of supplies in case you are forced to beat feet with little more than the clothes on your back.

You have put your spare time to good use by studying a multitude of subjects dealing with self-sufficiency. If you were suddenly thrust into almost any equivalent of a substandard third world country, you would not only survive, you would thrive. And you would have the ability to teach others to do the same; a link in a chain that could help bring about the much better world we all dream of should we make it to the other side of the big collapse.

Ah, if only all of life's little cluster bombs could flow chart down to as happy a resolution as the troubleshooting chapter in a Chilton's automotive repair manual. Unfortunately, life has way too many variables, and a devil's advocate named Murphy pretty much demands that the negative side of the flowchart provide problems that vastly outnumber the solutions on the positive side.

My chart presents what I see as the final problem; For whatever the reasons, all of my efforts have resulted in dismal failure. I am out of food, out of supplies and out of any means to buy or barter for goods. The resolution options are pretty much obvious. Do I turn zombie and take what I need from others, by lethal force, in order to survive or do I succumb to (or precipitate) my own death to prevent that from happening? Does having family, especially children, provide a justification to harm others so that you can provide for that family in such a survival situation?

Don't be bashful. Jump in and let's kick this around a bit.

MikeH.

What Are We Waiting For

Some days ya just can't find good blogable information to grab on to and run with. There are so many of us bloggers who are on the same page, in the ideology department, that most good stories have already been blogged and commented on several times over, on several different blog sites. Sure makes it difficult to show some originality. Most recently, there have been a few stories that demand attention; two have been blogged over like Turkey Buzzards on fresh roadkill. A third allows me the opportunity to be somewhatly original.

Story One: The past couple of days I have poked a little fun at the folks over at the TSA. Not original but I believe needed in order to keep poking a stick at the hornet's nest that I hope is the American people.

There is hardly a day passing where we don't learn of some new and outrageous degradation forced upon an unsuspecting member of society by the jackbooted bastards assigned to "secure" our air travel. The latest indignation comes in the form of a young mother who objected to a container of her breast milk being sent through an x-ray scanner, and her being held in a glass cell for an hour, in full view of the public, for making that objection. This was a clear cut case of false imprisonment considering TSA policy allows this exact situation to be a reasonable cause for objection by a passenger, and the scanning omitted.

I can't rationalize this. Are the powers that be, within the TSA, getting off on the tyrannical acts heaped against us members of the peon class, or are they working ever so diligently to destroy the air travel industry by making more of us look at other means of travel not currently under their authority to grope or imprison, or both?

Are the folks who have the "hands on" jobs with the TSA too mentally weak to take a stand against a system that permits these acts or are they too getting off on the power trip they are afforded? Personally, I'd rather take my chances in the cold, cruel world by walking off the job than willfully screwing over folks and getting paid for it.

John Ross, in his novel "Unintended Consequences," presented a solution for tax feeders who took pleasure in biting on the hands that feed them. What are we waiting for?

Story Two: In a word... WikiLeaks.

In one of his recent radio broadcasts, Glenn Beck claims to have tracked a financial connection between WikiLeaks and George Soros. (I wouldn't doubt that a little more tracking would uncover a "direct connection" between WikiLeaks' Julian Assange and U.S. politician Barney Frank.)

Whether all true or not, WikiLeaks, in my opinion, has crossed the threshold from the online equivalent of the National Inquirer to a foreign espionage / propaganda agency that is out to help destroy America. To expand on the John Ross idea a tad, I feel a drone launched missile strike on Assange is a reasonable solution to the problem. For that fact, let's send one for Soros while we're at it. Better yet, one launch three hits, on a menage a trois of Assange, Soros and Frank. What are we waiting for?

Story Three: The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that using another person's social security number is not an identity theft crime... as long as that person doesn't use your name along with your SSN.

The case is in regards to an immigrant who used a false social security number to get a job. Advocates say that undocumented workers are fundamentally different from identity theft criminals trying to steal credit. According to Chuck Roth, litigation director at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, "An immigrant who uses a false SSN to obtain a job doesn't intend to harm anyone, and it makes no sense to spend our tax dollars to imprison them for two years."

The U.S. Supreme Court came to a unanimous decision on the matter. The justices found that a person using an unknown person's SSN to obtain work authorization did not "knowingly" use information that belonged to that other person, as required by the identity theft statute.

The Identity Theft Resource Center argues that immigrants who use false SSNs to get employment often end up using the numbers to obtain credit cards or car loans that can ultimately become blended in with the credit history of the rightful holder of the SSN, all too frequently with disastrous results. The ITRC says this is a dangerous precedent that has now been established and which could permit abuses of the system designed to protect innocent bystanders from fraud.

The way I see it, if an immigrant (of illegal status, no doubt) illegally obtains or just grabs nine numbers out of thin air to get a job, and those numbers happen to be the same numbers officially assigned to you, and said immigrant fails to file a tax return; guess who the IRS will come looking for? And guess who will not be understanding or sympathetic to your situation when you look at them and say you haven't a clue as to how their figures indicate you made a few thousand dollars more this year than what you claimed?

Regardless of whether it's private creditors or government tax agents coming after you, they do not care who, or how many, might be using the information that was assigned to you. And they do not care in what way your identity may suffer. And the courts have given them free reign to stick it to you while the person actually responsible is absolved of any culpability by merely claiming they didn't knowing do it to harm you. (But what happened to the other three standards of culpability; purposefully, recklessly or negligently?)

If we don't do something soon, there won't be anything left to do anything for. So what are we waiting for?

MikeH.