But don’t expect someone to stop saying something just because it offends you. Free speech is important. I do NOT like the message the KKK has (and where I live, there are more than a few KKK members!). But I will fight to the death to ensure that they have the right to spew their offensive message.

But to quell free speech just because someone is offended is a VERY slippery slope. I have read the constitution cover to cover. Nowhere in those (to me) sacred words do I see a right to NOT be offended. If something I say offends you, stop reading, stop listening, move away. Choose not to buy my newspaper (if I publish one) or my blog (in this case) if you feel strongly enough, boycott my advertisers if you choose. But don’t take a single step on that slippery slope that could end up in censorship. If we have the right to censor people because their words might offend others, then I have a long, long list of people to be muzzled. These are the people who cry loudest to have others stifled because they do not like the message.

More thoughts, written well, HERE

Edited to add: Still not satisfied. Screw ’em

Y’know, I feel like an idiot.

I listened to my parents, and emulated them.

Buy a house that I could afford, and pay a bit extra each month and pay it off as soon as you can.

Don’t get in over your head.

build equity.

Pay for toys after you have paid your bills.

ANd what did it get me? Bupkis. Yet the guy down the street, who never paid more than his minimum payment (interest only I might add) kept refinancing his home every time he could get an appraiser to say that it was worth morenand took cash out each time and bought a boat, 2 Harleys, and ATV, a new home entertainement center, 2 new BMW’s (and a Mercedes SUV). He’s the guy who makes me feel unsuccesful.

He gets help from Obama and the Democrats. I, because I am not behind, and have, if not sacrificed, at least haven’t spent in a profligate manner, get nothing.

I am pissed. Now I wish that I had spent my way into foreclosure like my neighbor so I could get my principal reduced and my mortgage payment knocked down to 31% of my income. (right now, my mortgage is higher than that!)

Next time the parental units give advice, I think I’ll ignore it…..Seems the rules they played by have changed.

“I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks”

Barack Obama 02/24/09

Either he really believes his own bullshit, or he thinks the American people are that stupid.

“There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. “

B.O. same date

Not mentioning the fact that he nearly doubled the deficit with his bailout plan.

SO let’s just say that I work in a customer service industry. I meet a LOT of people who travel far from home.

I am getting tired of meeting people who have issues with their luck “I am having SUCH bad luck this week” or “the world hates me” or “if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”.

First of all, you whiny little shits, if you generally have bad luck, then perhaps it is something you have done, or something you did,, and perhaps it is time to either change your way of doing things, or try to balance the kharmic scales a bit. Generally I find that as I talk to these people that the “luck” that they are having is caused by their own actions.

My grandfather on my dad’s side used to always say “luck is when preparation meets opportunity” and I have generally found this to be true. If you bother to prepare for things, then things aren’t so bad. No one can prepare for everything, but if you have ANY plans at all, you have more than most in preparation and therefore you are prepared to have good luck.

If you are travelling, take the time to check your car over. Check the oil, the tires, and belts etc. That way, you probably will be “lucky” that the engine does not blow up due to lack of oil. Don’t leave Kalifornia in a car that most people would be afraid to drive across town in, and then complain when it leaves you stranded in the Midwest after it dies due to old age and neglect. Be smart enough to have a spare key in your wallet (if you are a man) or purse (if you carry a purse). Be “lucky” enough to have that if you lock yourself out….

Don’t be like the lady that I met yesterday. Living on the road, with 4 children. She had nowhere to go, having locked herself and her children out of the van they were living in. Despite the fact that they were far from home, she had only one key (like it costs SO much to get a copy and give it to one of your kids to hold).

As I learned their story, I went from feeling sorry for them, to pitying them, to really being disgusted with them, especially the mother. Mom was setting such a poor example for the kids. Mom needed help, but Mom wouldn’t do anything to help herself. She expected someone else to find a locksmith for her to open the van (BTW<>

Seems that the reason that they had no home was not that they had lost it due to foreclosure, not because of job loss, or injury to the point where someone couldn’t work, but rather because the landlord had kicked them out of their duplex. Seems that then, they had lived in hotels for a while, but then were out of cash, and then lived on churches goodwill. Best part is that the reason that they got kicked out of their house is that the daughter would not stop sleeping with the son of the landlord, who lived next door. The daughter is 14 YEARS OLD! Now leaving morals aside, and the fact that the daughter is too young to be sleeping around, one would think that a mother who does not work could keep track of the daughter enough to keep her from sleeping around. Let’s face it, it is also junior’s fault that they got caught in bed together, but junior is not the one that is getting kicked out of his home if he does not stop screwing around…..Seems that the landlord (who is a highly religious and moral man) informed them that the lease would not be renewed 90 DAYS BEFORE it ended. Seems that they dithered and failed to find anywhere else to live…..then used all their money to live in hotels until that ran out…

SO the lesson is: don’t wait for someone else to do for you, do for yourself. Stop making your life worse, keep track of your kids, and stop digging when you are in a hole.

Once again…..”Poverty , laziness, and lack of planning are roommates” . Jesus, These are the people that the liberals feel that I should help and feel sorry for.

Fuck’em.

Most problems resolve themselves into self-evident solutions if you have enough reliable information and if you can eliminate emotion from the evaluation of it. — Mel Tappan, “Tappan on Survival”

I really wish that I was this eloquent.