View from the Black Hole: March 2008

I received this email about a commencement address attributed to Neal Boortz, however, I am going to take exception to some of the paragraphs-- it seems to be putting down liberals, however, about 2/3's of the complaints refer to what the current administration has been doing for the past 8 years....... emphasis and comments mine.

This is very, very long but much worth while reading it completely. One of my retirement friends found out who this was. It’s Neal Boortz. He was born in 1945 in Bryn Mawr, PA, is an
Aggie, a lawyer and his dad was a Marine Corps pilot in WW11. To find out more about him, go to www.en.widipedia.org/Neal Boortz. Enjoy. ******************** A Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta . His speech is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected . Agree or not, his views are thought provoking. It would have been particularly entertaining to have witnessed the faculty's reaction! Don't stop reading if and when you find things that disturb you, you'll find other stuff that you'll find genuinely part of the reality of life in the Untied States of America. His Commencement Address

"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees. This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach. By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. How true how true...

Believe me, the learning has just begun. Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in. Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast' (yes they are going to change faster than you think. You are going to realize that no matter who is talking, they don't want to reduce the size of the government and that those in power will always vote to keep those in power, in power.... just look at how congress keeps itself from having term limits and will vote itself a raise even when the rest of us (rich & poor alike) are having cash flow problems)

... including your own assessment of just how much you really know. So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." (yes, from the right you hear "I Think" .. sure.. they think about how to get you to think that businesses are more deserving of your tax dollars than you are.. that they know best about what is best for you. that if they don't support business interests that you as individuals don't count.. business and the capital system above the individual!! How ironic considering the paragraph coming up)

From the Liberals you will hear references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. (Most of the time it's individuals who have semi-shady dealings with someone who may or may not have a pall of suspicion caste upon them)

On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.(not really, we are going to let you think the individual has all kinds of rights, but because of National Security, we as the Gov't are going to walk all over those rights, but it's okay, because you won't know it because we have to do it so we can protect you from the rest of the world ---
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics.(Here's where I really dislike this man.... this last statement sounds like what the Republican mainstream has been doing for the last 8 years + the campaign 18 months so realistically, the Replublican party has had it's nose up GWB's butt for nearly 10 years!!! Enough is enough!)
Conservatives and Libertarians think(Libertarians think, conservatives force their view upon you wether you want it or not. --) and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual. Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses. (I don't know where this man has been, but Democrats also believe in the right of the individual to protect their lives and livelihoods, the difference is that the Republican is indifferent to the plight of anyone but himself, the Democrat is concerned first about himself and for the "masses" because society must take care of it's citizenry.)

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now. (yes, the name on the degree is yours and yours alone, however, you cannot get by by yourself, and at some point in our miserable existance, one must rely on the state and all of it's faults to get by (student aid come to mind?).

If, by the t ime you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a libertarian or a conservative, (consider yourself lucky) rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years. Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings. (and no it isn't your spouse who wants to sit at home and raise the kids) Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market. Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising.This last sentence sounds like some Republican who cheated on his taxes.. & for that matter, it probably involved a Democrat also.

An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment and benefit. That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have A power that no individual has, or will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.
(Gee.. doesn't this sound like what the gov't has done with FISA? Gee, the corporate greed we've seen for 8 years) You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to. Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you. So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. (okay, he does say some negative things about the gov't, however, when you need a helping hand because you lost your job, your unemployment benefits have run out, you have nothing else to take to the pawn shop, who are you going to turn to to help you out? That agent, that 1 ton gorilla, that gov't you didn't want any part of) so... LET"S BE CLEAR ON THIS SHALL WE!!! no it is not wrong to distrust the gov't.. it is even patriotic to QUESTION the gov't. what is unconscienable is when the gov't tells you one thing and does another, when the govt says "oh, this or that is okay" and come to find out, conventional wisdom, most educated academics, and even a few "kooks" say "no, the gov't lied to protect this or that company/industry" and the pathetic sheep that have been conned just excuse the behaviour ---

Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal. Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world. First is that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. (what is it Inigo Montoya says in "The Princess Bride": I do not think it means what he thinks it means!... no diversity is white men having to accept that they are not in charge of everyone else; the arguement against diversity is their last attempt to keep the rest of us (white black brown yellow women challenged, etc) from becoming more empowered to throw them out of the government.... )

Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again. Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications. Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. (correct, however, I have found that if you include diversity into yor excellence, ability and hard work, not only do you reap the rewards from it, so do those around/below you)
From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess. We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses. You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so. Forget it. Forget those rights! (How more correct could he be!! you don't have any of those right guaranteed to you in the constitution!! Find where those rights are spelled out in .. )I'll tell you what your rights are! You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another. You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof. You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money. The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles.(again a good point he makes, however, I think it applies more to the Right Wing Republicans than it does to left wing democrats---aren't the RWR the ones that want to tell me that I can't get an abortion becaue "THEY" think it is a sin against God? What about my right as an individual? the RWR want to tell me that unless I believe in the same God they do, I'm going to burn in hell, what about my rights as an individual? These statements sound more like someone who is trying more to convince himself than convince anyone else. At least a liberal will allow EVERYBODY to participate and will take into account what I WANT, ......) Their being imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly. By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left(again, here is a description of a right wing republican, "less fortunate" came about so the rich didn't have to think about what their companies were doing to American's while they got richer on the backs of "outsourcing", etc....) Yes please think about it....

Think about it, and you'll understand why. To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street. (especially the choice you made when you took a job working for a company who's CEO proceeds to bankrupt the company by paying himself & his "crony" friends on the company's board of directors & funding their lavish lifestyle & those of their family)
If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes.(now here, it comes, pay attention.... Here is a Republican wanting to let you in that he's not into believing in any type of income redistributin schemes, but his party's answer to 1 period of recession and the coming stagflation is to throw money at it, and to cut taxes for the rich and for companies. and yes, just like a republican to say they are only evening out the odds when in fact they are lining the pockets of those who have screwed the public, their employees and the government. )

After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. (no, my fellow students, the "success = luck" idea is more closely attributed to Republican philosophy.. work hard, gain profit,IF you succeed, you can be one of us)

Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." (Mr. Gephardt wasn't a very good legislator, and he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and if that's the best example he could find, then my friends you need to quit reading)
He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice.(yes, and every choice you make now, will be magnified 1000 times by the time you are 40)see comments about working for company who's CEO bankrupted company, below.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice." That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life.(no we wouldn't want the corp exec who ran the company into the ground to bamboozle us again, then run for the governor of texas then run for and win the presidency of the u.s.... no we wouldn't want ANYBODY that wouldn't own up to their mistakes to EVER be in a position of power.

Not when it is so much easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say, "You S. O. B.! You did this to me!" (so when i am a victim of a fat cat getting fatter by hiding $$ and not wanting to pay his bills but wantingto continue to live the lifestyle, do i get to come to you and complain... no? oh that's right, because i made a choice to work for a crook, i can't complain, but he gets the benefit of the bankruptcy court to provide protection to him so he can keep his lifestyle and livelihood, at the expense of the middle class taxpayer---- so now he doesn't have to pay any of his debtors but neither is he held accountable for his actions... what a life... !!!)

The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms. Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school. Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car. (Your choice define you, so make them wisely..... believe only 1/2 of what you see and NONE of what you hear!.. He is certainly making some sense here... )

Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich. The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses.(Tell me what business person started out rich? even bill gates and warren buffet started out as an ordinary citizen? but okay, i'll give you that rich people provide capital, however, if you don't have the joe schmoe coming to & from work everyday, where the hell would your business be? with you working 7 days a week 365 days a year, and closing inside of 3-1/2 years. So.. we are back to the arguement of : which is more important, the boss or the worker????)

Businesses that hire people. Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich. Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich. Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns.(i'm all for the rich, however, their interests shouldn't be above those of the masses--- financially, politically, religiously, civilly(?) yes, the rich to serve their purpose in terms of the geopolitical turmoil of this country, but they are not it's only or it's most important citizens.

Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. That is the most untrue statement i have ever heard, & what's funny is that I only hear it from RICH PEOPLE!!! I can't believe that someone hasn't disproved it as an urban myth.. or have they???

I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more "fair." (their fair share is what they would be paying... instead of getting tax breaks they don't need, & the gov't throwing $$ at it's citizenry that won't solve an economic crisis no matter how much $$ you go into debt.

You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. (Again, this is an arguement that I only hear from rich people!!... but a reasonable explanation is the pool figure out that they need to save & the rich haven't figured out that they can't continue the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed but can't afford, because of those pesky job choices!!!0
But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor. Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and $1 million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as "living in poverty." (here we go.. anybody living the above lifestyle usually votes republican, -- so now there is a description of republicans living off the tit of the american public & according to whomever wrote/delivered/thought out this speech, seems to be saying that's it's okay to milk the gov't when you are as well off as the person above is described. Gee, i guess if I could get away with it, why not? ...... wait, it would't be right to inflict my CHOICES on the public/govt to absorb/payfor. But if i am lucky and i do have the above trappings and vote democratic, well, i'm living in poverty and cheating the government.... LOL)

Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news. How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty." (again, this describes most of the republican party, and when they employee most of their close relatives in their office, and pay them for 2 or 3 hours work / week, well well well.... no wonder congress votes itself a payraise with the frequency of a menstrual cycle.

This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. (and that's usually due to the spender living beyond his/her means!!)

Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics. Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. (which means if business interests persist, you as an individual will have NO RIGHTS at all, that corporate interests have more pull with 'the people's business" than the people.

If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of "poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder. I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth So, get over it. (the writer is right, do not be too sensitivity and take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt... and then dilute it for clarity..... question EVERYTHING!!! Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours. Keep it that way. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers. Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote, 1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being. 2. Use wisely your power of choice. 3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark. Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back. Class dismissed" this is good advice at the end.... so sorry this was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LONG...

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View from the Black Hole

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Mish Mash for Sunday Breakfast

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Abbott and Costello

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Saturday Night

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Obama -- hmm

Friday, March 14, 2008

Shame on you Newt!!

Friday--

Monday, March 10, 2008

Monday Post

Friday, March 7, 2008

This is long... get ready to read ... but i feel better...

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Elections and other things

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