Current Event Horizon

What’s in a word?

An Ordinary Man — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:14:58 +0000

Ok after carefully examining all aspects and weighing the potential outcomes I must be honest to myself above all else and have concluded that I am attracted to women and have been since I was child. I always knew that I liked playing the hero, saving the damsel in distress, kissing girls, and getting dirty. My family was understanding, they knew other kids wanted to grow up to be policeman, fireman or cowboys, I wanted to be a gynecologist. Couldn’t tell you how women are able to wrangle themselves into their brassieres, but, over the years I developed couple of fool proof moves to get them out of one. I knew one day that I would find someone who, like I, wanted to spend the rest of my life with, be faithful to and get married to, to HER. Yep a flaming heterosexual, and proud of it. So get used to it because I refuse to go away or be silenced by those who don’t agree with my lifestyle. So I guess the question I need to find an answer to is, if I am only attracted to females does that make me a lesbian? I mean I guess I live a lesbian lifestyle having no insecurities about being affectionate to my woman in public. I do have a number of flannel shirts, wear short hair and have quite a collection of baseball caps. I love playing softball. Nearly every one of my parties must has at least one hummus dish to snack on, and I have listened to Ani DiFranco on occasion.
Unfortunately, the definition of the word lesbian refers to “…a woman whose sexual orientation is to a woman.” So that about shuts down that thought. I could just amend the definition and start using the word to describe a ‘woman, or man, whose sexual orientation is to a woman’. I know it’s stupid, people would say that I should just use the term heterosexual and leave the word lesbian alone since the word lesbian has always ment a woman whose sexual orientation is to a woman. Always! So why do lesbians, and gays for that matter, want to use the word marriage to signify their committed union to a member of the same sex?
Since the first use of the word ‘marriage’, it has always described a state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a sworn consensual and contractual relationship. But, as a legal definition affecting United States citizens who are being denied a state of being in a sworn consensual and contractual relationship by virtue of their gender is problematic and, more importantly, unconstitutional. In 2004 the Massachusetts Supreme Court agreed with a challenge to the laws of that state prohibiting the issuance of a marriage license to any couple other than a man and a woman. Their ruling required the state legislature to rewrite the statutes regarding marriage widening the definition to allow any couple the right to secure a marriage license.
Soooooo, to answer the question why do homosexual couples want to use the term ‘marriage’? Why do they want to obtain a license allowing them to become married and enter into a state of being in a sworn consensual and contractual relationship? Because, regardless of any moral, religious, or cultural objections people may have to same sex couples obtaining a license to marry, The Constitution of the United Stated as it stands provids for equal protection under the law for all it’s residents. The rights, privileges, and legal protection that have, by legal statute and definition in the past, been exclusively granted only to heterosexual couples MUST be granted to all couples presenting themselves to the county clerks all across this land.

The Fall From Grace

An Ordinary Man — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:36:32 +0000

The Presidents advisors and handlers are working overtime to seize the narrative and redefine the issues for the election. The campaign has suffered one gaff after another this spring. Unlike the 2008 “Hope and Change” juggernaut, the 2012 incumbent is fighting for his political life. He falsely believes his base will always stand behind him so his attack ads seem to generate poll numbers that appear to give him the lead, firing up his base but largely being dismissed by the right. The battle has been and will continue to be the middle. And this is where he will ultimately loose the race.

In order to appeal to the middle this time he will increasingly have to distance himself from his ultra liberal base, the steadfast union socialists, The Occupy Crowd, the fringe rights movements, and the ALHDB’S (Aging Liberal Hippie Dousche Bags – I know it’s a Southpark thing). The last 3 1/2 years have have been a nightmare for this block. His promises have gone unfulfilled. He is continuing the policies of his predecessor, which he blasted to get elected, and is causing such heartburn for his far left support. The polling numbers among his strongest supporters will hold steady for the time being, but that strength will evaporate as this block, and the Independants that jumped onto his bandwagon, see little difference between Obama, the progressive canidate of hope and change in 2008, and McCane the conservative challenger. The progressives were convinced “Conservative” McCane would have continued many of the controversial policies of the “Conservative” Bush adminstration, that were in fact continued under “Progressive” Obama administration.

We have seen failed stimulus programs which did nothing but drive up our debt and lowered our bond ratings. He nearly lost his signature legislation which has been defined by the Supreme Court to be a tax. We have an economy that continues to appear stalled, unemployment numbers at unacceptable levels, and a loss of personal wealth among the middle class that will take years for them to recover from.

Obamas’ ads critical of Romneys time in the private sector will backfire on the President. The voters will continue to focus on the economy, courtesy of those liberal attack ads trying to convict Romney of outsourcing American jobs during his tenure at Bain Capital. Looking into this claim, “factcheck.org” found that the outsourcing was in fact a development of several overseas call centers supporting the foreign exports of the companies Bain was working with. They also found that the companies expanded their American workforce to meet the growing export demand.

His disillusioned base could never bring themselves to vote for a conservative and ultimately will stay home rather than take part in the process as a form of personal protest. The Independants, sensing no real hope of any positive change with 4 more years of Obama, will swing to Romney and his business experience hoping for an improving economy under the former venture capitalist, and corporate CEO. The race will come down to who the voters think stands the highest likelihood of success creating jobs and turning the economy around, the continued policies of the present administration which have failed to produce any meaningful positive growth or the successful self made millionaire and former CEO with a proven ability to produce capital, expand employment, and whose morals and values mirror that of the vast majority of Americans who hope for an end to the cultural decline they have seen under this administration.

Quick thought about the power grid

An Ordinary Man — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:06:30 +0000

The electric grid is straining to keep pace with demand. Plants are dropping off line as a result of not being able to meet stringent emissions regulations that prohibit them from continuing the status quo. The issue here is that American regulators have adopted highly restrictive emissions discharge maximums and arbitrary deadlines for adherence to them. The American Coal Industry, and with it the massive US reserves, has been shackled and accused of being THE cause of global warming. There are many outside the United States who have focused on this issue to strategically impede our growth using carbon output reductions as a means of disrupting our economic prowess to their own selfish ends.

Promoters of green energy Insisting on promoting solar, wind and other alternate green sources, at the expense of proven and reliable methods, ignore the fact that they cannot be depended on to be our primary sources based on current technology. I seriously doubt that within my lifetime we will see alternate sources continue to be anything more than a novelty providing a mere fraction of the need. I understand the argument that if we as a people don’t invest the massive amounts of capital needed to promote the research and development of alternate sources they will never become our primary sources. Historically, any investment in the firms associated with these sources has provided abysmal returns for both the taxpayer and private equality investors. With our economy in the tank, these laudable goals must be weighed against the harm it is causing to our industrial base, the direct affect to the Americans jobs being lost, and the drag it produces on the economy as regulations and taxation strangle the possibility of economic recovery. It’s hard to find support for corrective measures that promote environmental cures, but result in the economic death of those whose livelihoods are snuffed out by the changes implemented. To put it into simple terms, a doctor cannot pat themselves on the back for having the courage and resolve to follow a program that cures the disease but kills the patient.

Too much change, so little hope….

An Ordinary Man — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:31:52 +0000

Too much change, so little hope!!!!!

He went from being the larger than life canidate of hope and change, to something small and petty. Once decisive and powerful, he has become a shrill, weak, easily dismissed, bleating sheep ready to be sheared. I cannot imagine there are those that actually thought Candidate Obama could usher in an era of progressive ideals and virtues. Are you proud of the man that sits in judgement of those he wants eliminated creating kill lists, which even include U.S. Citizens, simply because HE BELIEVES that they represent a threat to America, or worse, that it will make him look tough on foreign policy. He commented on the controversity that surrounds the death of a black 17 year old in Florida. Why that poor child could have been the son he never had. Yet he thinks nothing of giving the go ahead to let an innocent 16 year old teen traveling with his father be killed because Obama believed their deaths would make us safer. Of course the teens father was very likely guilty of everything he and others believed about him, but what crime did his son commit?
Candidate Obama screamed at the inequity of those who have been held without trial for years from the Islamic wars yet just this past week ok’d a facelift of the place to allow it to keep running for years to come, actually expanding the capacity, making ready for what? He tells America’s historic foes don’t worry, after the election I can give you everything you want, just be patient when I am a lame duck not facing re-election we can accomidate your demands. He attacks success as if you should be ashamed of your hard work and the rewards that come with it. In fact you should pay more since you can.
He and many others continue to promote United Nations schemes that will result in American sovereignty taking a back seat to those who are neither loyal to, nor represent, American interests. Attacks on common sense by fascist third world dictators hell bent on high jacking the process for their personal gain. I truly am shocked when I hear woman within his administration promoting the activities of the UN. I mean can you see any of the Islamic States holding positions on the committees for human rights with their stone age treatment of women. The bastions of secular freedoms in the middle east are being erradicated by Fundamental Islamists who will relegate womens status to, well, that of property. The infurating part is that Obama has instituted policies which have supported the agendas of those Islamists who have begun to view the administration as allies in their war on women. If they were unaware what the result would be in the aftermath of the Lybian revolution they were plain incompetent. The administration took great efforts to interject US Airpower into the struggle but stood idly by as the fledgling democracies liberation from tyranny were overwhelmed by organized groups who quickly seized power in the vacuum during the aftermath. (American and British Navy ships shot hundreds of Tommahawks and their aircraft flew hundreds of sorties early on). The presidents claims that it was the will of the people is just nonsense. The “Brotherhood” swooped in from outside the country co-opting the democratic process instituting an islamic state which American planes and munitions helped fashion thanks to Obama.
Then theres the whole carbon trading non-sense and the “UN officials” in charge of it hoping to receive immunity from being held accountable for charges stemming from conflicts of interest and outright fraud surrounding the hidden workings and the billions funneling thru for and to whom we will never be allowed to know. Hell, we will not even be allowed to ask! They want to institute a treaty that has been floating around to tax Americans for their footprints, take the payments from the treasury and put them into UN accounts off shore to really just redistribute our wealth.
So I ask if you support the guy…… Are you proud of his accomplishments? How has any of this change made you more hopeful, secured the present, or provided for your children’s future? Are we better off today than we were 4 years ago? But most importanty, what form of lunacy do you suffer from if you think Americans must endure 4 more years of this?
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It’s all smoke and mirrors.

An Ordinary Man — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:49:32 +0000

I have always viewed the historical organized socialist movement as having a negative impact on the average American worker. With organized labor I acknowledge collective bargaining is a recognized method to compel business to come to the table and negotiate wages for skilled labor. Labor sees employers posting profits and they hear tales of corporate largess to the upper management. They also see management fight tooth and nail to hold overhead down including employee wages and benefits. However, they all fail to understand they have no moral, constitutional or god given right to the company profits. The purpose of the company is to make profit. Profit is not evil or wrong. The employees may band together to bargain for increases to their benefits yet the market for their services is fixed to what can be earned by their efforts. Most folks have an unrealistic opinion of their economic impact to their company’s success. They must make the company profitable or the purpose for their employment will cease. This is not an issue of fairness but reality. Let’s face it someone holding the janitor’s position does not have the same impact on the profitability of a business as say the CEO. The average worker cannot fathom they have reached a point in their careers where their knowledge, skills, and effort have a marginal effect on the bottom line and it’s overhead costs like their salaries and benefits is what dictates their employment future. We cannot realistically expect that all jobs will have the potential to be able to support families. Unless of course we are willing to pay $30.00 for a big mac. Wage gaps among individuals exist primarily due to the difference in skills, experience, schooling, and intelligence. Reward for effort is a basic need. Reward for impact is whatever the owners choose it to be. Not so for organized labor. The wage scale is anything they can force the company to pay. Unless there is a paradigm shift within the US as a whole, there will always be those who are at the bottom of the wage scale. Efforts to improve the salaries of the average union worker come with an economic price. To point to the companies success in a bid to improve their position is really a desire on the part of labor wanting to shift the profit into an overhead cost. Salaries are overhead, a cost of doing business. So what did the owners get for the increased overhead? Usually nothing more than seeing less profit. Workers who have nothing more than their lunch pails invested in a firm are shocked when their demands to share in the profits fall on deaf ears. Liberal politicians and socialists wanting to expand government programs skim personal and corporate wealth to pay for the growth in the public sector. But really, increasing funding to government programs is just a euphemism for handing out money from the Treasury to help a particular group of citizens fund their lifestyle. Segments of our society are in real need thru no fault of their own, however, this help must have a limit when given to those who are able to help themselves. We cannot continue to provide basic sustenance to a segment fully able to fend for themselves. What is the motivation to succeed if the handout is open ended? Success is at the heart of the problem. Do you know our schools spend more to support poor and average students than is spent on the gifted? It’s as if success is something to be ashamed of. I for one refuse to apologize for my success, I earned it. While my friends were busy chugging down brews at the local beer joint, I was studious and prepared myself for the future. For them to now require I share in my success simply because of their choices is unacceptable. Also, asking me to share my wealth marginalizes my lifetime of hard work, rewards mediocrity, and hides from the reality that while we all are given the same 24 hours to work with, some of us just manage our time better. For that I should pay more? Since the dawn of the industrial age we have struggled with this issue in one form or another. Workers united to improve conditions, wages, and benefits. There was an undeniable need to change the working environment in the early days of organized labor. Today however it looks more about punishing success, then promoting true need. They hold to a sense of entitlement with regard to the company’s profits. They want to hold management salaries and profits to a wage ratio that will increase the workers benefits as profits rise, but of course never decrease. No desire to share risk, just the profit. The “desire to supply all needs” socialist model will collapse our economy, leading to greater suffering than before. All one has to do is look at the years of liberal governments, the generous welfare system, cradle to grave healthcare, full, and complete retirement regardless of time worked, which have unraveled the European financial system. Since governments were tied to the euro they were unable to prop up their local economies by printing more money and as a result had to borrow to make payments on social programs that were being stretched to the seams by an aging population, unregulated immigration, and giving everyone that showed up a very generous package regardless of their contribution to the system. The system had to recoil from the weight of all that debt piled on by well intentioned folks wanting to help everyone. When measures were implemented reducing the irrational exuberance the masses rejected them not wanting to be weaned from the teat. Give us everything, charge us nothing, make someone else pay, and have someone else assume the risk is the model of the modern socialist labor movement. Left unchecked they would absorb the profit and distribute to the workers. Socialism is a failed economic model that at its core cannot be sustained indefinitely and leaves economies bankrupt.

Those damn 1%’ers

An Ordinary Man — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:43:45 +0000

If your child is a straight A student, they are likely to represent only 1% of all students attending public schools yet they are disproportionately more likely to control nearly 99% of the praise and gold stars in primary school, and nearly all academic scholarships in the secondary setting. In an effort to reduce the nearly epidemic drop out rate among average to academically bankrupt students from households earning below $250,000.00 per year, a group that has been historically disadvantaged by the way, a bold new initiative has been presented that has the potential to level the classroom out and allow those with poor academic backgrounds the ability to progress and achieve the successes they are entitled to as public school attendees. The 1%’ers have held a virtual monopoly on access to the best teachers, classroom equipment, student aid jobs, and upon graduation full ride academic scholarships and acceptance to tier one schools. They have benefited from the extra attention and it is time for them to pay their fair share. Beginning with this upcoming semester the top 1% academically will have to give up 40% of their total grade point averages as part of this new progressive program. Students with the lowest grade point averages will be given access to those points to assist them in meeting the minimum passing grade point average so the dream of graduation will not be lost to a whole generation of acadamically weak youth. It is wrong to automatically assume that those with failing grades, poor attendance, criminal records, and can shoot 45% from the field, are somehow getting a free ride here. On the contrary, their pain can almost be heard behind their laughter. Their eyes are red and dilated but that is from the tears shed contemplating their uncertain futures. Well now, we as a people can insure that those who were likely to see a life full of hair nets and name tags secure meaningful careers as doctors, lawyers, and rocket scientists. No longer will they fret having to take home their progress report and it’s abysmal scores, fearful of having their social life interrupted with meaningless requirements. No longer will they spend endless hours ruining their eyesight squinting at the small print, the spector of physical injury from paper cuts striking fear into them. No we owe it to those whose needs are the greatest to give them the most. Passing grades are a basic student right, and it is our duty to provide an environment where all student can equally achieve and find the pride that has been missing in their lives for so long. We cannot wait for high minded radical steps to correct the deficiencies, we need the change now. We cannot wait for the failed programs and policies, tutoring, head start, smaller class sizes these student are failing now and working harder will just take too long. I am sure that once the requirements of this initiative are in place the joy that was once the privilege of so few will be shared by all. Stay tuned because we will be tackling the deplorable and discriminatory practices condoned by athletic departments all across our land. Standing proudly with the president we will be announcing the components of the “Everyone Gets to Play” varsity athletics fairness doctrine in the near future.

Contraception, pay to play

An Ordinary Man — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:37:31 +0000

It’s hard for men to fully appreciate this issue. While I may have a moral objection to abortion as a means of birth control, since contraceptive measures are readility available, but apparently underutilized, as a fiscal conservative the economic impacts on society cannot be ignored. If a woman that is unprepared to be a mother for whatever reason is forced to bring a pregnancy to term there are only two real choices ahead of her. Keep the child or give up the child. If she does not have the financial resources necessary to support the decision to keep it, there are social programs in place, however inadequate, to provide some sort of safety net funded by taxpayers. Those programs are a costly but abysmal failure, never really doing much more than insuring a life of poverty for the woman and her child. Pregnancy is a totally preventable medical condition, except for one reported instance of immaculate conception. It would seem just looking at the numbers that if we as a society are not prepared to completely cut the programs out, making the women fend for themselves, then providing funding for contraceptives to prevent the pregnancy in the first place is a no brainier. While I am ignoring the males contribution, and the irresponsible behavior that results in a pregnancy, to all this, it is the woman’s unique physiology that creates the dilemma. He can run off leaving her to holding the bag. (No pun intended). Most conversations I have with people usually can be broken down into to three categories; those that say the slut should keep her legs closed; those that want to put an end to all assistance punishing the woman for her irresponsible behavior which resulted in an unwanted pregnancy; and finely those that believe in a responsible balanced approach. I will admit the first two categories have the highest number of participants. I believe in the third category. We should be providing education, prevention access, limited termination access, and a limited time comprehensive economic assistance package. We cannot continue the current programs where there are no incentives to become self sufficient. In fact the current system encourages cradle to grave dependency and promotes a culture of entitlement where irresponsibility is excused.

A Most Inconvienient Truth

An Ordinary Man — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:20:51 +0000

Here you are probably driving a Volt and recycling coke cans while he floats around in private jets. He has you taking unheated baths in dimly lit 400 ft square efficiencies while he has a $30,000-a-year utility bill caused in part from his spa and heated pool at his 20 room Tennessee mansion. He has you convinced that the ocean levels will rise as a result of your carbon footprint yet he buys beachfront property. This climate thing, I don’t know if it’s man-made CO2 that traps heat causing global warming, or if it may be volcanoes causing global cooling, or if it’s the darned sun spots… and neither does Al Gore. I do wonder if he wants to become the first carbon billionaire. Let me tell you he is poised to do it. He is heavily invested in groups such as The Alliance for Climate Protection here in the U.S. and in the U.K. it’s the Generation Investment Management group. In March 2008 his Alliance for Climate Protection launched a three-year, $300 million campaign aimed at promoting government policy that would lobby governments to enact legislation to force carbon markets and carbon trading where Al Gore is essentially either a founder or a partner. One of them is in Chicago which, interesting enough, prior to being elected, President Obama was a board member of a group that helped directly fund The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). So when I read that the former Vice President appeared to loose it in Aspen last year, ranting at those who dispute climate change “…are a group of people, washing back at you the same crap over and over and over again. There’s no longer a shared reality … It’s no longer acceptable in mixed company — meaning bipartisan company — to use the goddamn word ‘climate’, …They pay pseudo scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: ‘This climate thing, it’s nonsense.” But with more and more main stream science groups reviewing the research, evidence is emerging that does not support his claims and he could really lose his shirt on this one. The former V.P. and his cronies sought out the environmental movement as a means to rake in the dough because the potential profit in cleaning up the mess would be immense. They sought a way to unite the believers and came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, of water shortages, and famine were caused by human activities and the real issue then was humanity itself. Identify a problem then offer a solution, but don’t forget to add in your profit margin. The problem with the science surrounding this issue is that it’s all correct, but from what perspective? The effects of global warming caused by CO2, the burning of fossil fuels, could be offset by global cooling from volcanic eruptions sending sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere and ultimately lead to the formation sulfate aerosols. According to the United States Geological Survey, the conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid, which condenses rapidly in the stratosphere, is what forms these fine sulfate aerosols. It is the creation of these aerosols, which causes an increase in the reflection of (thermal) radiation from the Sun back into space, results in a net cooling of the Earth’s lower atmosphere for years after the eruption. Al Gore’s and others made investments then used their considerable influence to lobby for policies and laws that maximized their potential profits. They have lost credibility and soon they will likely be exposed as the charlatans’ they are. The real loser here will be the environment again. With no profit to be made Gore and his business partners will walk out with whatever green they can stuff into their pockets.

Livin on the edge -

An Ordinary Man — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:00:42 +0000

I have no time to judge others, I leave that to someone who is vastly more equipped than I to perform that role. Rather than exclude I emulate my teacher and find areas of commonality, give freely of my time and meager resources, and speak the truth and I treat others as they have treated me. Honest dialogue punctuated by a lively discourse, where in the end each of us may end it by agreeing to disagree does not seem possible anymore. Civility is viewed by many to be a quaint old fashion mannerism practiced by those who cling to bygone eras. It has become a casualty of the times we live in. People rush around trying to outdo each other and become the most obnoxious supporter of their pet cause, eager to you drown out and verbally attacking anyone that dares to have a differing opinion. So I pose this question, “When exactly did it become fashionable and totally acceptable to be a complete dick?” I have grown weary of lock jawed zealots on both sides of the political spectrum who cannot get beyond their latest talking point to have a meaningful dialog regarding fiscal, social, and political issues. Feigned indignation and self righteousness appear to be the current models of political discourse today. You can no longer respectfully challenge someone’s views, graciously giving them a venue to air their position, without having the conversation degenerate into a comparison of your family linage and its close association to the Third Reich. I refuse to be labeled a racist and elitist if I seek the abolishment of wealth redistribution ponzi schemes like the earned income credit or support someone besides the sitting president in the next election. Let’s get beyond the fact he is a person from a historically disadvantaged ethnic group. I am truly thankful that America has not allowed our past to define our future and had looked beyond the color of his skin and elected him to our highest political office. This secures for us all the concept, and now reality, of the American dream. But now, I look at it in purely economic terms, what has he done for me? I am over the euphoria of his historic ascension and realize that I disagree with the policies he has championed and believe they have resulted in a net negative fiscally for our collective future, and cannot see a favorable outcome for my fiscal future if we have four more years of the same. We have been short on hope, and have seen way too much change. I am truly worse off now then when he was elected. From the beginning he did nothing to justify my support. His fiscal policies were hostile towards my bottom line and his social experiments in my opinion nearly bankrupt the American Dream for my children’s children. It would be insanity to support his reelection, for me. I gain nothing, and stand to loose everything I have worked so hard to achieve if he is granted four more years. He had his shot and he failed in my opinion. It was not because of his color of his skin, but because his vision of our future is not lining up with mine and countless others who are tired of being marginalized and made to feel as if we have overdrawn the account.