Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.
I monitor a lot of different sites, looking for more business for my design firm. Sadly, a lot of the sites that match those who need a designer with people like me are filled with scammers, looking to make a quick, illicit buck off of coders, scribes, and graphic artists. Here’s a prime example of a scammer’s job request:
=========================
Job type: Web Design [Read more…] about Caveat Venditor! (Seller beware!)
I grew up in the South, in the 1960s. It was a time of racial unrest. I remember seeing posters around Shreveport, advertising a concert planned by James Brown – the hardest working man in show business. What a lot of people don’t know about Brown is that he also helped to defuse the ticking time bomb of racial unrest, rather than work to exploit racial tensions, as so many self-styled ‘leaders’ do today.
Fast-forward to 2015. Two incidents in the news make me think that racism is still a huge problem in the USA, but not for the reasons – and the people – that you’d think. I’m afraid that this time around, it’s not Conservatives that have a problem with race. It’s Liberals. And there’s a litmus test that determines just how “black” or how “brown” you are, and it’s got nothing to do with a color swatch book. Let me explain… [Read more…] about Ranking Race.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions, messages, and comments about the incident that happened this weekend in McKinney (where I live), about a video posted to the ‘net, showing three McKinney PD officers detaining and arresting some kids at a pool party. If you watched the video, (shot on a cell phone by a bystander) you see very angry cops, one of whom pulls his gun (and then re-holsters it, when the other two officers flank him), and a young girl grabbed by her pigtails and forced to the ground, face in the grass and handcuffed. Pretty shocking stuff. So what really happened? And is this as bad a situation as it looks on the video?
Let’s everybody take a step back, and then take a deep breath. [Read more…] about Yes, Virginia…it CAN happen here…
NEWSFLASH: There is NO Constitutional right to ban something that might offend you.
I know this comes as a huge shock to Progressives, Atheists and Muslims everywhere. And I hate to be the one to break this tragic news to you (not really) but I looked it up. Nowhere in the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the other Amendments is there language that guarantees that you should be protected from any- and everything that causes you to be offended. [Read more…] about Offensensitivity.
I’m on the mailing list of a site called “Change.org.” It’s a site that allows people to post petitions to lobby for changes in public policy. Some of them make sense. Some don’t. This morning, I received an impassioned plea from one Megan Perez, regarding food allergies and vending machines. Here’s a condensed version (emphasis mine): [Read more…] about Where Does It End?
To the Honorable Chief Justice John Roberts and the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States of America:
If it please the court, we hereby submit this petition for an injunction to bind the United States Government from any activity in support of the concept of Climate Change, including, but not limited to, “cap and trade,” “carbon taxes,” “carbon emissions,” and “environmental impact,” either through legislation, executive action, or administrative regulations. We ask the court’s help, due to the fact that Climate Change (nee: “Global Warming,” nee: “Global Cooling”) is so clearly a religion, and therefore violates Article I of the United States Constitution prohibiting the establishment of religion and abridging freedom of speech or of the press. [Read more…] about The People v. Climate Change
I’m confused. You see, I grew up in a household where a person’s word was their bond. But apparently, I’m mistaken.
I said that very phrase just the other day, and my daughter asked me “what’s a bond?” I explained it as something of value that you put up as collateral, essentially something that you forfeit if you don’t keep your word. I told her about collateral on loans, and explained that the phrase essentially meant that “my word should be good enough for you, because I’m a man of my word.” I’ve always tried to be VERY careful about that with my daughter. I think as parents, it’s way too easy to promise your child something and then not make good on it, for a variety of reasons. I’ve tried to be up-front with my child, and if I can’t honor my promise when I promised to do so, I’ve always let her know, and then made it up to her as soon as I could. Because of that, she trusts me. She believes I will keep my word, because I always do. [Read more…] about Do Vows Matter Anymore?
I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Here’s a partial list of what I’ve read/am reading/rereading lately:
As I’ve been reading, I’ve been thinking – thinking about my country, how it works, how it’s changing, and what I want to see for our future. [Read more…] about What are you willing to fight for?
As you might have already heard, several states’ legislatures have passed – or are in the process of passing – laws that (re)assert states rights for guns that are manufactured, sold, and used within their respective states. Conventional wisdom is that these laws are going through in order to provide test cases that will come before the Supreme Court in order to decide a fundamental question: does the Federal Government have the right to pass and enforce laws, flying in the face of the 10th Amendment.
I fervently hope that these cases get to the Supremes, and that the States Rights side prevails. We could be looking at the undoing of roughly 80 years worth of progressive laws that have upset the delicate balance between the Federal government and the “Several States.”
All that notwithstanding, the states that are passing/have passed these laws made me stop and ponder for a different reason. For instance, the first state to pass such a law was…Montana. Not to take away anything from Big Sky country, but Montana isn’t exactly (forgive me) number one with a bullet on my list of states where gun manufacturers ply their trade. Matter of fact, I was under the impression that most gun manufacturers were located in Illinois. Turns out, I was wrong. [Read more…] about Perception v. Reality: Guns & States Rights
Q: What are the eight scariest words in the English language?
A: We’re from the government…we’re here to help.
When the Founding Fathers first got together to form a more perfect Union, their first try, the Articles of Confederation, was a dismal failure. After having gone through years of oppression and taxation without representation courtesy of King George III, newly-minted Americans were loathe to repeat the same mistakes. Unfortunately, the first try didn’t exactly hit one out of the park. Call it a bunt, or better yet, a foul tip. The government was too weak, and frankly, completely unworkable. The Founders realized this, scrapped it and tried again. What they ended up with was nothing short of pure gold. The U.S. Constitution is the Gold Standard by which all other governments are judged. But in the years since, Congress after Congress, and more Presidents than I’d care to admit, have drifted away from that cherished concept of “original intent” and warped our Constitution – and our Federal government – into something the Founders would recognize only as the very thing they were fighting against.
I’ve just finished reading The Five Thousand Year Leap, and if you haven’t read it already, buy a copy and read it. If you have read it, go back and read it again. I plan to. It details not only what the Founders meant by every section in the document, but explains why they made the choices they did, and why it’s so vitally important to keep the Federal government from usurping any more power than is explicitly granted them within the Constitution. [Read more…] about When Governments Attack.