When Was The Last Time You Thought About Blowing Your Brains Out?

Some shocking statistics show that if you are in the United States Military, then there is a good chance that it hasn't been too long since you thought about suicide. After reading this distressing article, and doing some further research of my own around the web (mainly at this site), I came up with some startling figures.

The suicide rate amongst members of the United States Army is the highest it has been in twenty-six years. There were 118 suicides in the American Armed Forces in 2006, which is a staggering number when you consider that the number-one killer (come on, you all know what that is - IEDs) of our children in Iraq only killed 462 in 2006. This means that self-inflicted deaths have caused one quarter as many deaths as the cause of death we all know from the evening news. IED is a house-hold term nowadays, and yet we never hear about how frequent suicides are today within our armed forces. The total number of dead United States troops in Iraq was 822 in the year of 2006 alone. That means that 14.35% of all the deaths in 2006 were from suicides! That's an enormous percentage!

All of this comes at a time when the Army, in particular, is attempting to find ways to help their members to a larger degree as far as their mental health is concerned. It's a good thing, because 100 of the 118 suicides in 2006 came from the Army alone. Fourteen were from the Marines, and four were from the Navy. There were no suicides in 2006 amongst members of our Air Force.

Why is this? Experts say that it is mostly because of the protracted involvement we have had with Iraq. Things have gone on much longer than expected, and the reasons for our occupation are becoming less and less clear as time goes on. Well, that's what I got from the article, but I would contend that it doesn't take an expert to figure that out.

Frankly, it is disgusting when the numbers are crunched. We hear constantly how this soldier and that soldier got blown into hamburger by an IED on some stranger's street in some stranger's country fighting for no good reason. I cannot recall one instance of hearing a news story about suicides in our armed forces. If it causes roughly 25% as many deaths, you would think there would be at least one story about it, right?

The report that announced these numbers said that there was a direct correlation between the number of days deployed and suicide. Before I get emails from people saying that this report must be published by some "liberally biased site," let me just state that the report was published by the United States Army.

I hope this blog gets you to think, and to perhaps take some action.

"But R.A.Matheson," I can hear you asking, "what action can I take?"

If you are in a major city, then I can guarantee that there are plenty of anti-war rallies in your area. If you aren't in a city of substantial size, you can hook up with like-minded individuals by posting on bookstore bulletin boards, or handing out flyers. Start your own thing if there is nothing around. If these options aren't doable, get online and start blogging about it, or go and support websites such as antiwar.com, or do all of the above.

No matter what you do, it helps. Even discussing it with friends or family helps raise awareness of the issue, and awareness is the first step to taking action.


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Dalton Trumbo, Where Are You?

We need another Dalton Trumbo. Someone who could write in a way that would stir us, a way that would shock us. Someone who would stand up for what they believed in even at the cost of their freedom, even at the cost of having to change their name and flee to Mexico.

Who was Dalton Trumbo? In my opinion, he is one of the greatest American Novelists, and a true American that lived in the Twentieth Century. He wrote the movie "Papillon", and wrote and directed the movies "Exodus" and "Spartacus." More importantly, he wrote the novel Johnny Got His Gun. For an example of his writing, I provide the following from his Vietnam-era introduction for Johnny Got His Gun, where Dalton does a little arithmetic for us:

"Numbers have dehumanized us. Over breakfast coffee we read of 40,000 American dead in Vietnam. Instead of vomiting, we reach for the toast. Our morning rush through crowded streets is not to cry murder but to hit that trough before somebody else gobbles our share.

An equation: 40,000 dead young men = 3,000 tons of bone and flesh, 124,000 pounds of brain matter, 50,000 gallons of blood, 1,840,000 years of life that will never be lived, 100,000 children who will never be born."

His book, "Johnny Got His Gun," which I read for the first time in Tenth Grade, changed my life. It instilled the mostly pacifist and antiwar viewpoints that, except for a few years in my early/mid twenties, are still with me today as I enter my thirties. It is the most powerful book I can imagine ever being written. Dalton was blacklisted, spent eleven months in prison, and eventually fled to Mexico to avoid the reprocussions of having written Johnny Got His Gun. Eventually, he found favor in the U.S. and Hollywood again and did a film adaptation in 1971 for his novel, which inspired Metallica's song "One." Metallica used scenes from the movie in the video for the song, and instead of wrangling with legal rights, the band bought the movie rights outright.

I am saddened to think what you would consider of today's situation in Iraq and elsewehre in the world. I am sure you would be even more ashamed. Back in your day, Dalton, the politicians were at least able to convince the masses that words such as "freedom" and "democracy" meant something. Nowadays, no one believes in those words anymore, and yet we still send our sons (and daughters now) off to be blown into little meaty bits for absolutely no good reason. It's sick, and I bet if you could choose, you'd be glad to remain dead so as to not face the disgusting world we now live in.

Dalton, I'm sure you know what Plato said about war, and I'm sure you've found it to be true.

Rest in Peace Dalton Trumbo.

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New Post Schedule

Things have become incredibly busy now that I am in the last semester at my University. I will try to keep the posting to at least once a week, but posting every other day is no longer something I can do. I hope you understand, and continue to read.

Thank you.

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Your Children Disgust Me

I'm sure there will be a ton of hate-mail about this one, and yes, it may be a tiny bit tongue-in-cheek. That's the only sort of disclaimer I'm going to offer.

But really, folks, I hate your children. I may be biased, but is my child the only one that doesn't look like a clay-mation doll that used fat instead of clay, and then went horribly wrong? I may be biased, but is my child the only one that doesn't smell like week-old bacon? I may be biased, but is my child the only one with an I.Q. over eighty? I may be biased, but is my child the only one that has a personality that is tolerable?

I can't stand other people's children. They really disgust me. I'm sure every parent feels this way a bit, but when I take him to say, his school, I almost feel bad for leaving him with that riff-raff. It's the most accredited school in the state, and is attached to a major University, and all the parents of these kids are either current University students, or alumni. But seriously, if a kid there isn't ugly, it's drooling, if it's not drooling, it's got snot dried all over it's fat face, if there's no snot, then it's staring off into space like it is brain damaged, and if it's not doing that, well...you get the point.

Don't get me wrong, I mean, there are a few kids I like. My baby-sitter has a couple of cute and nice children, and so does my best friend. It's hard for me to think of any other children that I can tolerate though.

I mean, really. My kid is a genius. He just turned four, and he can do some simple addition (four plus four is, two plus three is, five and five is, six and six is, etc.), he can read a number of three-letter words, and can phonetically sound out and decode some two syllable words even when he's not familiar with them. He can browse a free game site such as shockwave.com or nickarcade.com and find a game that looks good, download it, install it, create a shortcut on the quicklaunch bar for the game, and then delete the install file. He can type a number of names, and knows how to type the correct things to login to the computer. He can hear an album once and then not again for nine months, and then when you do finally put it on again, just choosing some random song, he can tell you what it's called and what number it is and what band it is.

For instance, we listened to Nine Inch Nail's "Pretty Hate Machine" a ton a few months back while riding around in the car. Over a couple of weeks, we listened, but never really got past track eight or nine. Only one time did we listen to the last song. A few weeks later, I put the cd in again and my son says, "Daddy, can we hear number ten Ringfinger?" I didn't even realize what he was asking for because I hadn't listened to the whole album in years.

The point of all this is that my child rules, and yours drools. Okay, again, I'm being a bit facetious here, but isn't it the right of every parent to be highly biased in favor of their child? I think it is, and I hope if you are a parent that you are as well.

It's like that Mars Volta song, you know, the one. Now, if I could only find that Mars Volta record, I'd look up the song title. I guess It'd be easier to just go ask my son what it's called. I'm sure it'd be quicker.

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You Were So Hot in High School...Now You Are a Joke

The other day I was driving up the road. I swear that I saw this girl from high school. She was walking along the sidewalk. She still had the big 90s haircut that you could land a plane on, and looked to be about two hundred pounds. No, she wasn't particularly tall. She was five-five I'd guess. She was pretty chunky for a thirty-or-so-year-old woman, and I had to laugh to myself.

I mean, this girl was the hottest chick around in high school. I remember telling my friend, just before starting High School, that I had found out this girl was going to my school instead of his. He was so jealous, and I actually managed to become friends with her over the years, and even dated her younger sister for a bit.

My point in all this is that it's funny how the power pendulum swings. I mean, this girl had anything she wanted as a teenager because of her looks. Every guy wanted her, teachers were nicer to her than other people, and because she had an older boyfriend she got to go to the cool parties and ride around in his car starting at like fourteen. Girls hated her (not to her face of course), and guys wanted her.

Now, that older bad-boy boyfriend is probably some overweight construction worker that she has to avoid having sex with every night, while her six rug rats snore through their snot in their beds and on the couch. Or she desperately posts to craigslist searching for a "relationship" when she knows that only means "sex" to the guys that would respond. They probably bring home twenty-five thousand between the two of them per year, and live near the place I saw her walking.

Now, the guys like me that she would hardly give the time to in high school are getting degrees and have careers that are worth something to society and to themselves financially. Guys like me are the guys these girls desperately seek now, but can't find. I loved when I heard these women say in high school, "Where are all the nice guys?" We were right where we always were, home alone on the weekends wishing that girl would talk to us more while she was out with that jerk of a boyfriend. We always got to hear them complain about him Monday morning.

Well now the power has shifted, and you are lonely and prowling craigslist for us. Well, guess what? We've been taken by a woman better, prettier, smarter, funnier and more caring than you. We're poets, musicians, career men, family guys, artists, and just overall good guys.

Your time has passed now that your teen-beauty has passed. It's our turn to have our pick of whom to be with.

Think of that the next time that greasy guy is breathing down your neck.

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The New Face of Iraq

I just read a harrowing article in the most recent Discover magazine. Now, this is not a magazine that normally writes about anything political, and I guess this really isn’t a political issue, although I am sure some will see it as some form of “liberal media” attack. Anyone that would think that is a horse’s ass blinded by partisanship, and it sickens me at the realization that I am sure this Discover article will probably be labeled as such in some circles. Either that, or a blind eye will be turned to it. It’s probably safe to say that this is the course of action most who read it will take, amongst those of you who bother to lie down less-than five dollars of your easily-earned (I don’t care what your job is) cash and spend the twenty minutes of your time that is too important and tied up with doing useless shit to read an article about something.

I’ll try to summarize, because as I said before, I’m pretty sure one of the ten of you who read this will actually go get the magazine and do something pro-active regarding the issue. “Well, R.A.Matheson, what are you doing about this issue,” I can hear you saying. Well, my friend, I took the twenty minutes to read and become aware of the issue to begin with, and now I am spending the time to read this and spread awareness.

The issue is the Iraqi medical situation. The article title is “Iraq’s Medical Meltdown.” Here is a quick list of bullet points I pulled from reading the article.

Out of 190,000 Iraqi police, more than 12,000 have been killed since the United States-led invansion in 2003, according to the Iraq’s interior minister.

1. Some lucky Iraqis injured in the conflict are sent to the Air Force hospital where they receive unparalleled treatment for one week before being shuffled off to one of the four worst health-care systems in the Middle East. Iraq was previously the best.
2. Iraq had 34,000 doctors before the 2003 invasion. Since then, 2,000 have been murdered and 18,000 have fled the country.
3. In Vietnam, the United States had “an efficient system in place to maintain health care. Not this time.”
1. The Medical Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) treated 220,000 Vietnamese civilians from 1965-1970. American medics treated nearly 40 million civilians from 1963-1971. So far, the hospital that treats the vast majority of all civilians has handled just 2,000 civilians a year.
4. In 2003, Bush did something that Dr. Frederick Burkle (trauma center doctor who headed up a trauma center in the first Gulf War, and has led recovery efforts for more than twenty years in other war-torn nations) said was “unprecedented.” Bush took the organization, the USAID, that provided and oversaw care for civilians injured in wars with the US and handed its job over to the Department of Defense, “leaving a single agency in charge of both engaging the enemy and patching up the people they blow apart.”

Burkle states that “in Africa the recovery rate of its countries takes about a decade. It is going to take a long time for Iraq to come back. Even if there is a will, there are no doctors or nurses...They will never see the country they had before.”

I’ll leave you with another from Burkle. “The Bush Administration violated every single tenet that has been known in humanitarian circles for decades.”

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Bipolar - The Cop-Out Disease

Okay, so today I had time to post here. I might actually post some again this week if I get more time.

The other day I was at someone's house and a commercial for "Restless Leg Syndrome" came on the television. This person started asking everyone about some other disease, a mental disorder, that people claimed to have that made them depressed or sad and blame their parents for everything they do. He said it was the cop-out disease, but he couldn't remember the name of it. I knew he was going to say what it was, because it's something I was diagnosed with a year ago.

He left the room and came back and said, "Bipolar! That's it!"

I instantly remembered when I got diagnosed. I went over to their house a little later and it came up and of course this person said, "Oh that's a bullshit disease. Everyone has that now." I asked him who he knew that had it, and of course he could only strug and say, "Well...I'm just saying is all." Yeah, that's what I thought. You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

This person is an alcoholic that has been sober for like fifteen years. I felt like I should have said something like, "Oh, what's that disease people pretend to have, where they act like they can't decide whether or not they get drunk? Oh yeah! Alcoholism!" Now, I'm not trying to rag on people that are alcoholics, but c'mon. I mean, I would say a chemical imbalance in the brain would be more of a "disease" than alcoholism. I mean, if I catch a flu, I cannot decide not to have it anymore. That's a disease. But getting drunk too much? No matter what, you always make that dicision before you pick up the drink. That's not a disease, sorry. If it was, it would take medication or something to get rid of, not the person simply buckling down and deciding not to suffer from it anymore. You can't go to some program and tell everyone you have cancer, and then talk about it a bunch, exert your will, and then suddenly the cancer goes away.

Before I left, I was also thinking, "Oh, what's that disease where you think you know all about something that you know nothing about?"

The answer came easily enough.

"Ignorance."

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Intermittent Posting This Week

Just to let you all know, I may not be online mostly until this coming Friday, and the every-other-day-posts will resume on Friday or Saturday. In the meantime, catch up on ones you haven't read, and remember to subscribe!

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Just Imagine This Happened to You...

Imagine:

It is a nice day and you are at home relaxing. The doorbell rings, and you answer it. A cop is there, and demands you identify yourself. You tell him you don't have to, so you shut the door, as he is getting aggressive with his voice. Suddenly, he tries to kick the door in but can't so he smashes your front window, cuts his hand while trying to unlock your deadbolt, gets in and chases you down through your house, puts you in a choke-hold, and when your partner tries to call 911 the officer threatens to pepper spray them. The cop pulls out his billy club, so you run out of your house only to find nine police cars had shown up.

Neighbors are not told what is going on but told to go home. The cops then pull out tasers and threaten to taser you, so you surrender. You are handcuffed, and charged with "assaulting a government officer" because the cop cut his hand trying to break into your home. The cop says that your partner hit him while she was on the phone, but there is a recording of the call and it is obvious this didn't happen.

What did you do to deserve this? You flew a flag upside down outside, and pissed off a National Guard Staff Sergeant who happened to have an underling in the local police force. The SSgt ordered the police subordinate to "deal with (them)."

Here is the full story. Read it, and call the number at the bottom. Demand that the charges be dropped and that an apology be given.

Sheriff Van Duncan's Office: 828-250-4503

On a side-note, today is my last class ever. I'm writing this in the class, which, like all my other classes, is a joke. I never really pay attention. I spend most classes doing homework, writing, and browsing the internet. In the two years I've been at Arizona State University West, I've got all A's and B's, with only one C. My GPA is 3.6 or so. I'm not a genius...I just think most people are more stupider than I are.

I have another class that runs through the end of this week, but it is online. Right now is my last face-to-face class because in the Autumn I am doing my student teaching, and there are no classes during that last semester. I'll be teaching 730am to 3pm Mon-Fri for free. After that, on December 14th, I graduate. After a year of teaching, I'll be getting my Master's online, and then moving to teach at a college instead of the public school. Well, probably...we'll see how it goes teaching in our horrible public school system. It's funny, because if I may say so myself, I will be a better than average teacher; however, because of this I don't want to get stifled in the horrible right-winged public education system. The worse the system gets, the less good teachers want to teach in it. In other words, the worse it gets, the worse it gets. Make sense?

Anyways, bye bye school. Call that sheriff!

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The Word Fuck

What a great word. It's an adjective, a verb, and a noun. You can even make a sentence using almost nothing but this chameleon of a word. "Hey fuck, fucking fuck the fuck off you fucking fucker!" I'm sure you've all heard this or discussed it before, but it was just brought to my attention again after watching the movie "F*CK" which was made around 2003 or so. It's basically an hour and a half discussion about the word.

For instance, I'm sure you've all heard the stories about where the word comes from. What does the word FUCK mean? Where does it come from? Think of the stories you've heard about its origins. Do you want to know where it really comes from? The answer is that nobody knows. The origins of the word are lost, and all linguists know is that it had its origins a few hundred years ago. The best they can guess is that it is a word of Germanic origination that probably meant something like skewer or stab, and from there it went on to mean to have sex with (the metaphor is so plain, I'm not going to explain it).

Drew Carey made the point that he worries much more about someone who uses words like "fudge" or "darnit" when they should use the word fuck. I mean, really, what are these people hiding?

So I just thought I'd bring the word fuck into your day, and tell you all about this documentary. I hope you enjoyed the entry.

Not that I give a fuck, really, so fuck it.

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Update on Posting Schedule

As I run two blogs, I have decided that from now on I shall alternate each day between them. My other blog, if you weren't aware, is The Atheist Bible Study. Subscribe below, and add me to whatever feed reader you use.

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Seven Moves Every Sex Goddess Has Mastered!

Do you want to know how to turn your man on like nothing else? Do you want to get him so steamed his rocket fires off like an atom-bomb? Well, if so, don't read Cosmopolitan magazine. Well, if you are completely sexually ignorant (as many women are) then maybe it can do you some good. But really, if you are this lame in bed, I really think you need more help than a woman's magazine whose prime demographic is women with sub-100 I.Q.s is going to give you.

It seems every month, the cover has some headline about how to become a sex goddess. Last month's issue said this:

Sex Smarts - Secrets of Male Arousal - A suprising Trigger to His Deepest Sex Cravings

What did the article tell you guys like? It said that you should put a mirror up during sex because guys like to see the sex happening. What else? Rub your own breasts. What else? Keep a piece of clothes on, because guys like to feel like it is spontaneous sex.

Wow! Who knew?! Guys like boobs that are played with and like watching sex. Did you really need Cosmo to tell you that? If so, I feel sorry for whomever you're sleeping with.

The other cover-story on this same magazine was:

What Even Experienced Chicks Forget to Do in Bed

What were the amazing sexual tips in this article?

1 - Initiate sex sometimes instead of letting him come to you all the time.
2 - Smile and talk during sex.
3 - Make noise during sex.
4 - Touch his body.

So, to recap girls, remember that men like to feel like you want them and that you enjoy their bodies and having sex with them. Don't forget that! Yes, you actually have to at least pretend to enjoy getting it on with the guy you're with. Sorry, but guys sort of like that a bit, in case you didn't know.

My girlfriend just picked up her (okay, mine too) guilty pleasure magazine, which is Cosmopolitan, for this month. There's this picture of Julia Stiles on the cover and she looks pretty hot, but it's mostly because of this dress she's wearing. I'd much rather see my girl in it, and that's not for any brownie points, because I've pretty much got that area overflowing already. I just think my girlfriend is hotter. Besides, she's got way nicer breasts, and this dress really slinks across the breast area.

In any case, what is this month's tip? You know there is one on every cover. It's my favorite part of the magazine. This month says:

Erotic SEX (yes it is in bold) 7 Boundary-Pushing Moves All Men Secretly Crave (and You'll Get Off On Too)

Okay, with such a title, I'm expecting it to be like facial cum-shots, or anal sex, or watching porn while banging you doggy-style, or something pretty freaky that every man wants but is afraid will get him smacked if he asks for. The threesome thing is just a given, so I assume this article will skip that one.

These tips are: get him to think dirty, be creative, treat him to sexy sights, catch him off-guard, tempt and tease him, be a voyeur, and switch up the venues.

Okay girls, remember, a guy likes to think about nasty stuff and then be able to see it and do it spontaneously, and likes to do it somewhere besides the bed from time to time. Wow. Simply genius. Now, I'm not off base here, am I? Is it just because I am a man that this all seems so painfully obvious?

BONUS! While flipping the pages, I found an article which is named pretty much exactly what I named this blog. It is a total coincidence.

Six Skills Sex Goddesses Master

What are these? More of the same, I'm afraid

1 - She knows how to build anticipation Really? Guys like to look forward to being able to get in you? Wow...who knew?
2 - She makes sex fun. Myself, I prefer a girl that knows how to make sex boring. Doesn't every guy?
3 - She's really, really enthusiastic Again, I'd prefer a boring lay.
4 - She's not body shy And once again, I'd prefer a girl that is constantly hiding and whining about her body. Oh, and never being able to have the lights on so I can see her is great.
5 - She tells me exactly what she wants Also, I'd like to add that I prefer to spend the entire time in bed guessing just what the fuck she wants me to do, all the while listening to her complain about what I'm doing since it isn't right.
6 - She has a signature move
This is actually a decent tip. Yeah, I can see not every girl realizing this. A girl is more memorable when you can remember her for something special she does. My girl has two things, actually. Lucky me! ;-)

I can't let her secrets out though ladies. Cum to think of it, she has a few.

Image taken from http://struggle.net/ben/2004/bm/marilyn_swimsuit.jpg



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Thank (Insert Important spiritual figure here) for Illegal Aliens

The subject of illegal aliens is quite a touchy one, especially here in my home state of Arizona. The only reason for this blog is that I'd like to make a few points about my opinions on the matter.

First, there is the old point that everyone's heard before. That is that these people who come here to our country take away jobs from Americans. That tends to be the argument of those on the political right. Those on the left counter that these jobs being taken are jobs that no American wants anyways: landscaping, trash disposal, street cleaning, car washing, etc.

My personal opinion on this point is that, while the Left's opinions sound nice at first, I don't think it really holds water. When I think of the trash man in my neighborhood, I picture the two guys that come around in the truck. One is Hispanic, but the other is Caucasian. Whenever I see landscaping crews, sure, there are a number of Hispanics in the group, but I see just about as many white people. I must admit, at the car wash, there is not one single white person working out on the wash-line. Every single one of them is Hispanic.

I think it's ironic that those that complain about the illegal aliens the most (the right wingers and rich) are usually those caught using their help.

Secondly, there is the whole issue about the wall being built between our countries. It's actually more of a fence, if you've seen it. This idea is completely rediculous. These people are so determined to get here that a small fence isn't going to deter them.

Lastly, I'd like to point out the thing that many never consider. These people struggle and work their asses off, and as a result, our country is made better. Our landscapes being cleaned, our cars getting washed, and businesses finding cheap labor are all good things for the standard of living in our country, despite whether or not it is exactly ethical. In addition, what people never consider is that these people work so hard and do so with fake social security numbers. These people will never see a retirement plan or social security check in their lives, all the while having taxes taken out of their checks each month.

Have you ever thought of that? They must have a social security number to work, and therefore will be paying taxes, yet they will never receive the benefits we receive through paying our taxes: the right to vote, the right to police protection (without fear of being discovered), social security, etc.

While I am not sure as to exactly how I feel on the issues, I do admire these people for their tenacity and sacrifice. Through this sacrifice, our country sees benefits (their tax dollars and work) that we should be grateful for, so I say, "Thank (Insert important spiritual figure here) for Illegal Aliens."

Image taken from http://static.flickr.com/49/127073253_2e315f83de.jpg


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You're fat, and it's not genetics or a thyroid problem.

I saw the movie "Hairspray" recently, and it brought something to mind. My girlfriend said at the beginning, "Fat women love this movie." I told her I was just thinking that that must be true.

Beyond the movie itself, which was good (and I hate most musicals), the story about the fat girl was silly and personally a bit offensive. In the movie, she sang and argued against her being discriminated against for being fat. This is fine, as most fat people complain when people tell them they are fat. The problem that elevated this to the level of offensiveness was when she compares her being fat with causing her to struggle just as much as those that were African American during the Sixties. I am personally Caucasian, but it was still a bit off-putting. If I were African American I would have been outraged.

I am so sick of hearing fat people fighting for their "rights." It is rediculous for you to compare your "struggle" to that of people who were made slaves for centuries, or those born homosexual and have to struggle with that, or those born with mental and/or physical handicaps.

You are fat, and it's your fault. It's no one else's. What would you think if I smoked, and no one wanted to kiss me, and then I gathered similar people and marched and demanded that people be forced to kiss me? Personally, I would rather kiss a smoker than sit next to a fat person in their one-seat airplane ticket with their sweaty f*cking arms rolling over into my chair, with their smelly fat smell oozing into my nose while I try to eat.

Now I'm not saying I'm the thinnest person around, but if I were fat, I wouldn't be fighting for my rights as a fat person. I'd get on a freakin' treadmill.

You are fat, and you should have to buy two plane tickets.

You are fat, and you should have to buy two movie seats.

You are fat, and it's not your thyroid. The people I've known (two of them) that have a thyroid problem eat horribly, and are therefore fat. I guarantee you there are no Ethiopians with a thyroid problem that causes them to be fat. Sure, you may have to work harder to be thin, but you have no right to claim you have a disability on the level of Parkinson's Disease, as an example, because you are too lazy to work out a bit more than most people or watch what you eat better.

You are fat, and it's not your genetics. Sure, some families, such as mine, have a propensity for larger bodies. The women in my family have larger hips and thighs, but this does not mean they have a disability. If they wanted to be thinner, they could stop eating so many carbohydrates and heavy meat-based dishes. If genetics makes you fat, why are Europeans so thin compared to us? It's not because of genetics, it is because of culture and diet. That's it, and nothing more.

So stop complaining that you are being persecuted because you are fat. You are fat because you are lazy. It might be 3% genetics, and 5% your thyroid, but you are responsible for the other 92% of your fat, disgusting body.

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Can they make laws against what you think?

In George Orwell's books, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the author describes a dystopian society. Dystopia is the polar opposite of Utopia, the latter being a society that is perfect with no crime or hunger or problems of any sort. In a Utopia, everyone lives in a perfect, harmonious, just and fair society. A Dystopia is the opposite, where people live in oppression, fear, hunger, and poverty.

In this book, written in 1949, we are introduced to the concept of "Big Brother." Big Brother is basically the government and the agencies assigned to watching over people in order to make sure they are constantly obeying the law and acting as the government wants them to. One bureau of the government and Big Brother was "The Thought Police." It was their job to use psychology, surveillance, and other means to uncover those that had illegal thoughts. Anyone having illegal thoughts such as challenging the authority of, well, the authorities. These were the worst crimes possible, and punishable by death. The main character, Winston Smith, writes in his diary...

"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death."

and...

"Thoughtcrime is the only crime that matters."

This concept must be simply crazy to us that live in a democratic nation, right? In our modern civilized nation, with the freedom that our children are dying for across the world as I write this, the fact that simply thinking something could get you in trouble with the law is absolutely, completely, and wholly ludicrous to us. There is no way that thoughts could cause us to be punished by the law, right?

Well, think again (no pun intended).

In our country, there is something called a hate crime. This is a crime in which the person committing an act of violence is punished more severely than someone who committed that exact same act, but who had different thoughts in their head while committing the crime. Simply because they had the thoughts of hatred towards the object of their violence, and because their thoughts were focused on bigotry, racism, and/or sexism or other things, their crime is more severe than that of someone who say, just shoots someone randomly. I would go way off-track here if I got into how this makes the lives of some people worth more than others, so I won't go there in this post.

So there you go folks, watch what you think! There are certain thoughts that will cause you to be punished more severely than those that weren't thinking those thoughts.

Remember, "Big Brother is watching you"!

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One weekend a month, Two weeks a year my ass

I was saddened, nay, sickened, to read a story on Antiwar.com, which is my homepage. I usually check up each morning on the stories going around. That story, of twenty soldiers from one town in Ohio all dying within two days over in Iraq, is daunting. Something I noticed in the story was that fourteen of the twenty were reservists. These are men and women whom are only supposed to be used as a last-ditch resort, in the direst of circumstances.

This brought my thoughts to another arm of our military - The National Guard. These people are only supposed to be serving within the united states, guarding our nation at home. It was determined in 1889 that the President had no right to send the National Guard outside of the United States to fight in a war; in this case the Spanish-American War. Of course, we all know that they have done so througought our history since then; three quarters of the first troops to fight in the Phillipines were National Guards, and they also played an important role in World War One, to name a couple of instances.

But if one were to review the advertising machinery that is the main recruiting force for the National Guard, one sees that the image presented is not one of a branch that travels all over the globe, fighting insurgencies in foreign countries. No, if one were to watch the advertisements, you get the idea that the National Guard has little to do with the actual fighting. I remember, during my time as a member of the U.S. Air Force, being in Germany and seeing the picture of the C-130 cargo/transport plane that the Guardsmen in Iraq had written on. It said, in bright paint on the side, "Two Weeks a Year Our Asses!"

I always wondered what happened to them as far as disciplinary action went, but I'm sure it was worth it.

America, FUCK YEAH!

I saw the movie SICKO a couple weeks ago. It was great, and basically just more information that I already knew. It was just driven in more by the movie. I've said since about 2005 that I've wanted to move to Canada (specifically, Vancouver) when I graduated from college in 2007 or a while after establishing my career as a teacher say in 2009 or 2010. Now, it's about time to graduate, but moving is not legally possible for me. I got seperated in 2005 and the divorce was finalized in 2006. I have fifty percent custody now, and would not leave my son for anything. So now my plans are on hold until he's at least eighteen.

I really am so sick of this country. I'm so sick of hearing people saying that we are the best country in the world. What is the criteria?

Health care? The U.S. (I refuse to say "we") is #37. (source)

Education? I can't find the specific stats but we are like 33% lower than the mean of developed countries. I think we are like #52 in the world or something. The best source I could find in a quick google search was wikipedia which I know isn't the best "academic" source.

Beyond those, people will say that we offer democracy and freedoms on an unprecedented scale. Well, unprecedented is probably a word beyond the capacity of most people that still consider this country a great place. Well, for one, I know for a fact that England, Canada, and France offer just as much, if not more, freedom for individuals than the U.S. does. And what about The Netherlands? This country offers as much freedom as America, plus the ability to decide what one does with one's own consciousness. What a concept!

We could say that just about every other developed country in the world offers more opportunities than the U.S. because they offer more chances to learn and be healthy, two key stipulations in pursuing happiness, life, and liberty.

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Was there a Jesus? Is the Bible true?

You should go here and buy there DVD. It is fascinating. It deals with our modern mythology, Christ, the Bible, and drug use and drug history. It's very interesting and a fun watch. I've followed these guys since about 2002 and they really have their stuff together.

http://gnosticmedia.com/

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I am so tired of not learning anything in my University classes

I spent a year at a Glendale Community College, and the caliber of teachers was much higher than it is here at Arizona State University. I have no idea why the teachers were better there. Perhaps it is because these ones have a sort of hubris due to PhDs and having a "I'm a University Professor" attitude?

For example, today in class we talked about:

- collapsible runways that can save lives in plane crashes
- how English is the major language of the world
- how to use google documents
- whether or not independents can vote in the primary elections
- what country the teacher is from and how she doesn't want to get full citizenship

What is the class about? How to write persuasively. Now, it's not as if I am just starting college and not understanding that some professors use unrelated subjects to get at the main point. I am a senior who will graduate with my B.A. in December. I understand that, but after 3 weeks of a 5 week class, I am well aware that this instructor is not using this method. It has been this way with every instructor here; we ramble and discuss and debate various things for the class period, all of which are unrelated to the thing I am paying $1,200 to learn about.

I learned far more at GCC. Here at ASU, at one of the most accredited teacher-prep programs in the nation, I spend 75% of my class time on my laptop playing games and blogging.

Another thing is how scary it is that most of these people in my classes will be teachers soon. I mean, really. They are so uneducated and unintelligent. Classes drag on for so long and go into so many unrelated topics because of people asking these off-the-wall questions. Right now, as we speak, I am half-listening to someone talk about how to use "sophisticated" words such as "binary" in everyday conversation. Wait, no, now they're talking about doing crossword puzzles in the New York Times. Oh wait, no, they're talking about yahoo games and how it helps you solve the puzzles with hints.

Anyways...

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Interesting Blog...

This blog is one of a friend that I ran into. It's pretty witty and is mostly about travel, politics, and Malaysia. The blog is by someone that I had met online a few years ago, and just got caught up with after not having spoken in a while. If you get time, swing by and check it out.

http://areureadingthis.blogspot.com/