A Thought For Fixing Social Security

Contrary to what the Democrats think and say, including Senator Reid, Social Security is broke and can not continue in its present form. I think I am not alone in expecting absolutely nothing from Social Security when I retire.

I have some links below; the first is a transcript of the Meet The Press show from Dec. 5th with Senator Reid speaking on Social Security with Tim Russert. The rest profiles the success of the Chilean private retirement system and how exactly it works.

As I understand the Chilean plan, it certainly seems like we could take some ideas from it and apply it to our system. I am curious, how many of you, my faithful readers, actually count on anything from Social Security towards your retirement? Enjoy the links, later................

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6646457/

http://www.newsmax.com/

http://www.cato.org/pubs/ssps/ssp17.pdf

http://www.ncpa.org/oped/dupont/socs.html

The Rewriting of History

On this day, December 7th, I want to thank all WWII veterans for your service to this country; you truly did save the world.

The history of WWII and other eras is slowly and quietly being rewritten by academia. Pick up of your kids history books and see what is now said about Pearl Harbor and other major events of the 20th Century. I have gathered a few links below that address different aspects of this troubling trend.

I happen across a discussion on one of the cable news networks, I forget which because I fell out of my seat at what was being said about Pearl Harbor. The guest speaker put forth the theory that Pearl Harbor really was America's fault in large part to the economic policies of FDR. Pick your self off the floor and read that again if needed, we will wait for you. Ok, so the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was our fault much in the same way certain groups want to blame 911 on us.

Here's the theory, which I think is pure BS. 1) The Japanese were forced to expand their military due to the military build up of Britain and the United States. 2) Japan only wanted free trade and the US and other countries placed unfair tariffs on Japanese goods. 3) Because of the previously mentioned military buildups and tariffs, the Japanese had no choice but to expand their economy through territorial expansion. 4) Since the US was seen as the major player in the Pacific, the Japanese starting planning for armed conflict with the US as early as 1920. 5) FDR’s economic polices led the Japanese to be in direct conflict with the US on many resources including rubber, oil, various foodstuffs and metals. 6) The Japanese had no choice but to attack us since there were secret plans for the US to hinder the Japanese expansion by any means necessary.

I am no historian, my main interest in history actually lies with the Civil War but that's for another time. I do know enough from history in school and my grandparents that this guy is smoking crack. Allow me to shoot down his revisionist history point by point. 1) It is true that the US and Britain were expanding their militaries but only to catch up the years of buildup that Germany and Japan had already undergone. 2) The US in the late 30's placed tariffs on just about every country that sold goods to the US. Our economic policy was one of isolationism. 3) The Japanese choose to expand their territory through military might and not economics, had they followed the other path, we might have only had to fight Germany. 4) The 3 major universities of Japan held a meeting in 1920 regarding the US and the title of the meeting was "Shall Japan Fight the US". Many of those attending went on to large roles in the either the Japanese government or military. 5) The fact of the matter on the economic competition between the US and Japan in the late 1930's is simply that we had a larger economy and could buy those aforementioned resources at a lower price and in larger quantities then a fledgling Japanese economy could. 6) FDR’s foreign policy was clearly stated many times leading up to the Second World War. No greater example of his desire to stay out of international affairs was his refusal to let the US join the League of Nations. He had a clear policy of isolationism and there were simply no plans to attack or prevent a Japanese expansion in the Pacific.

On this day of remembrance, I think it is very disrespectful that historians try to rewrite WWII as a device of US foreign policy. On a side note, the first link is to the latest example of what a scumbag Terry McAuliffe is and continues to be. Unfortunately this seems to be an example of the new democrat policy that nothing is off limits and they will fight on every issue. I wonder what Terry's relatives that served in WWII would say of his assine remarks.

Sorry for going long on this one, seems to be a habit of mine lately. I would encourage every parent to take a look at how your children are being taught American History and challenge the schools not to buy in to the politically motivated rewriting of history. If any teachers pass through, please let me know if this is happening to your school. Thanks to all who read and comment, enjoy the links below.
Later...................

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/

http://slate.msn.com/id/94663/

http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/pearl.html

http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol46no3/

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/

http://www.milnet.com/opinion/more-lib.htm

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/pf/p-j052101.html

End Users I Hate

I think there are two schools of thought on tech support. One is that tech support is a necessary evil and we who work it are overpaid cube monkeys. The other one is that we are members of a secret caste of computer geniuses. I like to think it’s the second, but that might be my ego talking.

One of the things that we handle is password resets for various applications up to but not including Windows. Windows passwords are handled by another group and only by them, in other words the domain administrators. Quite a few end-users change their passwords and then promptly forget them and get locked out of their laptops.

Usually we have then turn the laptop off and wait the lockout period which is 20 minutes. If they really can’t remember then we will have one of the domain administrators reset the password to a company default so they can change it at the next login.

Today I had a real special kind of user call; I like to call this one the wanabe-vip. These are users who in their minds are too important to listen to us or too busy and make their administrative assistants call for them. This user had been prompted to change his Windows password this morning per the domain security policy and was successfully helped by one of my colleagues.

About 5 hours later I take a call from this same user who has not forgotten his new password. Small problem, he’s on the west coast and the domain administrators have left for the day since they are on the east coast. That seemly lack of foresight by corporate is another story for another time. I explained that he would need to follow the steps to recover from a Windows soft-lock since I did not have access to his domain account and the ability to reset his password.

It goes without saying that he was a little pissed off and yet seemed to understand the situation. Not 10 minutes later, his assistant called in for him with the same problem. I politely explained what the user needed to do and why I could not reset his password until tomorrow morning. She actually thanked me and hung up.

At this point I am thinking what a moron and how could this guy be selling software. So I pick up another call and before I can get the corporate sponsored greeting out of my mouth, the caller hangs up on me. I could tell by the background noise that it was the aforementioned user since another trait of the wanabe-vip is to call in while on the worst possible speaker phone connection. In summary all I can say is that’s another Monday for you and that guy was such a tool.

Later…………..

Call Me Mr. Mom

My wife has once again joined the ranks of the employed after spending the last 3 1/2 years raising my son and having my daughter. In response to this turn of events, I have unleashed my Mr. Mom side. No more free weekends for me, alas my weekends of debauchery are now ended.

I had a plan. I swear I did; only my children conspired against me and set me on the plan for failure. Saturday was to be a day that I would tidy around the house as well as watch the kids. That went right out the window. My son who is in the final stages of potty training decided that he would not wear underwear today. I try to be understanding to his needs (my lib side was showing) but could not really debate him on it. See, his sister had other plans.

My daughter was a preemie and came 2 months early, but thanks to God and the stubbornness that she got from me, she is doing great and has no ill effects from coming at 31 weeks. She was slow to start with nursing and has mostly fed from a bottle for the last 3 months. Lately she had taken to nursing with a fierceness that makes her old man proud.

She has even at times refused the bottle in order to nurse. Can you see where this could be a problem for someone like myself who lacks the ability to generate breast milk? That was the case on Saturday afternoon. After explaining my lack of breast milk to my daughter, she finally saw the logic of my argument and took the bottle.

In all we survived Saturday and looked forward to football Sunday. See, I have watched the kids before on Sunday while Mrs. Mad Tech ran errands or just got out of the house for a few hours. Notice the time frame, a few hours. I was now tasked with caring for the kids for about 9 hours. Due to the wife's schedule, that including 2 meals plus snacks and a nap. Once again I had a plan.

I made breakfast for the son and I and settled in for a morning of football (yes morning, I am in freaking Arizona.). My wife had fed the girl before she left so I was good for a couple of hours, especially since she went back to sleep. I got the boy to wear his underwear with the promise of a bike ride to the park. That idea went to shit as soon as I realized it was raining. Yes it does rain in Arizona every once and awhile.

Then all hell broke loose, the girl wanted a bottle and the boy had to use the bathroom. Calgon take me away. I managed to get everyone squared away without too much trouble. The boy got his PB&J for lunch and the girl got her defrosted breast milk. I then decided since Philly was beating the crap out of Green Bay, sorry co-worker who will not be named you know who you are, we would take a nap. That thankfully went very well.

In summary, my wife does an incredible job raising my kids and has my undying gratitude and love. I have watched my son many times in the past and always thought it was no big deal. Man, throw a second kid in the mix with an age difference to boot, watch out. To the many SAHM's that pass through this blog, you’re awesome. To my wife I am sorry I have diminished your efforts in the past, never again I promise. As for the house, when I get a handle on the children, the household chores will be done. I am going to bed early, later...........

Another Hero's Story

I ran across this story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of all places and have to give them credit for running it, albeit on their web version as far as I know since I don't subscribe or live in Seattle.

The story is about one of those” poorly trained National Guardsman". This guy is a hero and put aside any concern for his safety to help defend his fellow soldiers. Kudos to Tech Sgt. Kevin Whalen for his efforts and thank you for your service to this country. The link to the story is below. Enjoy..................

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/

1st Annual WTF Friday Rant

I have decided that on Friday's I will post a collection of eye-popping, WTF generating links that I have stumbled across during the pervious week. Or in this case, today, since I just thought of this idea like five minutes ago. So to kick off the inaugural WTF Friday rant, I present the following stories for your review, with a side order of smart-ass comments from me.
Enjoy...................

I used to like Tommy Thompson, but why give terrorist's any ideas? Especially if they are too dumb to think of targets on their own.
Tommy Thompson said what?
Tommy Thompson Part II

I am hard pressed to comment on this story, mainly because I can't understand why any sane human being could defend the reign of Kofi
American group slams US Diplomat for Annan Support
Annan's world is falling

I am glad to see that we are trusting our mall security to such a group of professionals, snooch to the booch.
Rent-a-cops look for suicide bombers

Good; now we don't have to worry about bring Anti-Trust charges against the Al Qaeda for their terrorist monopoly.
Terrors groups join the WMD bandwagon

Ok, so Russia is/isn't our friend and their leader is/isn't crazy. Now I understand.
Putin shows his bi-polar side

Kinda puts a crimp on all you South Beach M'Fer's, Daddy needs a fix of Splenda
Fake Sugar hits 50 bucks a Kilo?

Was your city naughty or nice this year?
Homeland Security plays Santa Claus

Ok, who checked his resume? You’re fired!
Does NBC really know who Brian Williams is?

The Long Overdue Work Rant

I am happy and grateful that I have a job. My job consists of babysitting a bunch of over paid salespeople tasked with selling, you'll never guess, software. A trained monkey could most likely do this job, ok, maybe only half of this job. Overall, it's a good job and I am glad to have it.

I have in the almost 9 months I have worked for this company never called in sick or taken time off, with the exception of the birth of my daughter and to have minor out-patient surgery. I don't expect kudos for it nor do I want them. In my book, you go to work each day, on time, and do your best. Imagine my surprise when I requested a couple of days off, (My Anniversary, and My Birthday) and was told to find someone to cover my shift.

I work the "closing shift" from 11am-8pm. I am pretty ok with it and it works out for us right now. I don't fault my supervisor for this policy, hell not even his supervisor, the policy I am sure comes from far above. At least I hope it does. The core issue is not really that I have to jump through hoops to take time off that has been earned, but that companies like mine are forced to do a lot more with a lot less.

Now, this is nothing new, I have not just scooped Drudge or anything. There are a lot of factors for doing more with less. In our case, we have 6 out of our 8 techs that are damn good and we can do the work that was previously done by about 30 if the old-timer's stories are true. As with any company if you can trim your costs, you make more profits so there is no surprise that we run a small crew on this account. Hell, if I was the Ops manager, I would do exactly the same thing.

I wish I could offer solutions to this issue but I don't have any. And I am certainly not going to scream about out-sourcing, because if you know me or have read this blog for awhile, I think the individual has to step up and take responsibility for his or hers employment. If I was a shitty employee, I would deserve and expect to be fired. It's my "job" to be the best I can, only then can I expect employment. Some would say, but that's not fair, everyone does not have the same skill set. My answer, too bad, someone has to take out the garbage and vacuum the floor.

I guess I am just old fashioned in my thinking that your best employees should be rewarded and the slackers be fired. Nowadays, everyone is so afraid of not being politically correct or being sued by a fired employee that the worst employees are not only given the privilege of continued employment but in some cases showered with bogus awards designed to make them feel better about their position in the company.

I used to care about things like that, but I found that my greatest reward is that I get to work another day and provide for my family. Sorry for the length, this rant has been building for a long time. As for those of you who I work with and read this, sorry, sometimes the truth hurts. By the way, you may want to Google "The Queen of the Sky" before you think about any work related action against me as the result of my online opinion. Remember the first amendment protects even me.
Later...........

10,000 Served And Counting

First of all, I promised myself I would not cry damnit. Wow, 10,000 hits since Oct. 21st, 2004. Thanks to each and everyone that has visited, even if only for 30 seconds. I would like to send special thanks to all who have chosen t0 add me to your blogroll over at Blog Explosion. Here's a list of their sites (in no order), pay them a visit. Thanks again to everyone, later...............

ficken chingers
anti-everything
Amy's Bad Groove
Blog Magazine
Read'em and Reap
Cadmusings
Cao's Blog
Cavalier's Guardian WatchBlog
Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Rite Turn Only
C.R.A.M.I.
Credendo Vides
The Apologist
The Daily Grind
Darth Apathy
Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative
Tasty Thoughts From The Elitist Pig
Dykes and The City
Follow That Star
Get Stewed
The Radical Centrist
Garfieldt's Blog
Section 31
imatt.us
New Trommetter Times
jmo reflections
Jennsylvania
Para-Bellum
JesseJ's Modblog
Boring Mommy
MUGround Poetry Magazine
MadKane
maxedoutmomma
Michael_the_ArchAngel
MentalAcrobatics
misguided thoughts
the Logic Free zone
Pastoral Thoughts
Richardson Zoo
Framptonia
To New Frontiers
Leaf's Right
Simple Thoughts
Whimsical Chaos - Shannon's Blog
It's A Matter Of Opinion
a ZA boy in the UK
The Glass Wall
One Day at a Time
The Left Ain't Right
The Van Dollen Family
selected pete
Solipsist
Shelley's incoherent ramblings.....
Snidget
The Common Man's point of view
Come Escape With Me
The Wrye Forest Agenda
The Royal Flush
The New American Revolutionist
Politics in Moderateland
Treb's Blog
California Hammonds
V Stands for Vampire
Who Knew?
Joy Unexpected

P.S. If your not listed, either I screwed up or you just blogmarked me after I wrote this. I would bet on me screwing up.

Beware Bloggers, The ACLU Is Coming To Your Rescue

My goodness could it be that the "evil" ACLU is actually fulfilling its mission and protecting free speech. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. The ACLU has filed a friend of the court brief that defends mine and every other blogger out there from being sued over objectionable quotes.

The article can be found here and it goes like this, if I say something that is libelous or outrageous and one of my buddies in the sidebar quotes me on their blog, they can not be sued. Well the California Court of Appeals has ruled that any internet publisher, i.e. blogger, can be sued for objectionable material even if it's in the form of a quote of another's speech.

The ACLU filed this brief in defense of all internet publishers. It basically states that you or I can quote the most hateful and evil speech and as long as it's not our original writings or opinions, we are protected under the first amendment. See, I told you that the ACLU does some good every once and awhile. I do still think that they are a misguided organization that does a small portion of the good they could be accomplishing.

Enough of that love fest, here's a link detailing yet another battle over Christmas in schools. Gotta love it when lawyers fight among one another. I can see it now, coming on Fox this Saturday night, "When Lawyers Attack......"
Enjoy............

ACLU Vs. Parents

This is a very touchy subject and before I express my opinion, let me clearly state my position on gay rights, because in case you’re riding the short bus, this post is really about the ACLU.

My personal opinion is that anyone who homosexual has the same rights or privileges as anyone who is straight. Sounds simple enough, well here's the catch. I do not believe that anyone should have special rights because of some group they belong to; I do believe that everyone should be judged by the quality of their character and nothing else. I know that is a little naiveté.

Here's my example against "special rights". I am like most Americans and am over weight, now do I because of my physical attributes deserve "special rights", I think most would say no way in hell. In fact most would say get your ass to the gym and lose some weight. Let's apply this to a non-physical attribute such as sexual orientation. I am a proud Republican, should I because of my political affiliation be granted "special rights" to help combat the liberal bias that I deal with on a daily basis, including my place of employment or at a liberal dominated university? Again most would say hell no, tough it out or don't tell people your political leanings.

My opinion on the rights of homosexuals is simply that there are enough laws on the books to make sure they enjoy the same rights that all Americans enjoy. I have several friends that are gay and bi-sexual so I have a tiny bit of insight on this subject. Read that last sentence carefully, “a tiny bit of insight”. I don’t claim to be an expert on what it means to be gay. In fact one of my friends had to tell me that she was, I just don’t really care what people do in the privacy of their homes or think in those terms when dealing with people.

In my ideal world most people would share that opinion, live and let live. That is a simple concept, yet hard to execute. Now on to the target of my rant, the ACLU, they now seem to think that they should determine school curriculum without the input or consent of parents.

As I have said in the past, the ACLU does some good but they are beginning to really stray from their core mission. I ran across the story of the Boyd County School District. About 10 months ago, they settled a lawsuit with the ACLU over the ability of a Gay student group to meet on school grounds. As part of the settlement, the school would require all staff and students to view a video on being tolerant of gays. Ok, I have no problem with the school being sued for denying the student group access to school facilities. That was and is wrong regardless of whom the student group is.

What I do have a problem with is that the ACLU thinks that it knows better then these students parents on how to teach tolerance. I think that most would agree that a forced viewing of a 60 minute video is not going to cut it. Tolerance for good or bad is taught by friends and family. The school district has had the following response to the required viewing of the video: “According to the district, 105 of 730 middle school students didn't take the training after opting out while 145 of 971 high school students opted out and 324 didn't show up for school on the day of the training.”

The ACLU is now threatening to take the school back to court to force the students to sit through the video. I know that many may not view this as a big deal, and maybe it’s not. I have two young children and I would like to think that my school district values the opinions of its parents and encourages input from them. Here’s a comment from the ACLU lawyer on this turn of events. "The schools have great latitude in what they want to teach, including what's in training programs, and the training is now part of the school curriculum," Esseks said. "Parents don't get to say I don't want you to teach evolution or this, that or whatever else. If parents don't like it they can home school, they can go to a private school, they can go to a religious school."

Actually, the training video is not part of the curriculum, because if it was then the ACLU would not have to waste more of the taxpayer’s money in yet another court appearance. What I take from that quote is that the ACLU feels that no parent should have anything to do with the education of their children. If I was in the situation I would lay blame at the feet of the school district first then the ACLU.

I blame the school district for their short-sightedness in not involving the parents in the original settlement and ACLU for thinking they can dictate school curriculum without participation of the most important piece of this equation, the parents.

I included the links below for more information on this topic. Later…….

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/