mathman's Blog

To the legislators who no longer represent me in both the house and the senate of the United States of America:

 

 

It is with stalwart disdain that I write you these words.  You no longer have any sense of the American people and I grant you less respect than a whore on the street.  The whore, at least, is open and honest in attributing everything to monetary exchange for favors.

 

 

I will not vote for you should you vote for the bail-out of any company.  Those people took a risk and believed in you and your short-sighted regulations and they heartily deserve whatever befalls them.  There is no negotiation on this point.  You will not get my vote should you vote for any bail-out.  Period.

 

 

Rather than waste our money on those who have shown a marked inability to make money properly, you will push to grant to each adult citizen of the United States of America, one million dollars, tax-free.  Within weeks, we, the people of the United States of America, will turn the economy around without the merest trace of your fingerprint.  This will cost half what you are proposing to put forward to cure both your own short-sightedness (and greed) and that of those corporate entities who failed to hold faith with those who invested in their enterprises.

 

 

This is also non-negotiable.  Failure to do this will result in my vote going elsewhere.  Nothing you have done in the past will carry you through this momentous moment in our history where you must choose between rule by the people or rule by the government, since those two have become completely divorced from each other.

 

 

I don’t fear hardship, nor do I fear pain.  Both are necessary, at this time, to resolve ourselves as a nation and recover our belief in our future.  Your incessant pandering and slobbering to remain in office have become stinking pustules of pox on the face of this great nation and you are no longer worthy of respect.  You must learn to stand for some higher ideals, or humble yourself, pick up some tools, and actually work with your hands for a living.  Your reign of power must end for us to survive.  You can no longer point fingers at problems because you are the problem.  Until you can see that, you have no vote from me.  Until you begin to understand the shame you have wrought on our country, you have no purpose beyond your own self aggrandizing pride.  I spit on your pride with relish.  You have mortgaged my children’s future, and now you wish to mortgage my grandchildren’s future for your future in office.  We are not so stupid that we do not see who you are.  And we are not so weak that we cannot exist without you.  Rather, we would prosper without you.

 

 

The choice is now yours.  My vote is mine.  The time has come for you to find out if you have anything of substance.

 

 

An American Citizen

 

If you are in your 20s and you expect social security, you'd best come up with a disability now, because it's not going to be there when you get there.  It's going to be in the board room of AIG.  We need to let the economy do it's own thing.  Yes, it might be tough for a while, but it would recover.  I believe that, in the end, we are setting ourselves up for a much harder, longer, more devastating economic disaster, in the end, than we would have to face in the short run.  I believed the same thing when we bailed out the Savings and Loans years ago and, lo and behold, here we go again and, lo and behold, it's larger and bigger than it was before.  Historically, every attempt by any government, be it a king, a parliament, a legislative body, a collective, whatever you want, to affect an economy has never worked.  We never learn.  So be sure and tell your grandkids that it was worth their future to keep your lifestyle now.  Ask them how they expected you to survive without your large screen TV.  Elucidate the horrors of having your cell phone cut off so that you cannot be called at any time, any where, any place which, by the way, shows just how important you are, doesn't it?  Yes...we deserve our comfort far more than our grandchildren.  They should be willing to sacrifice so that we can keep our SUVs and max out those credit cards so we can have what we want (and we want it NOW!).

Even though they will be our grandchildren...I wonder who the child really is.

I was watching Fox7 weather on Thursday and they are talking about 4 storms in the Atlantic.  I'm just wondering how much it's going to cost me to help people to continue to live in the same place that it has been shown to be dangerous to live but they refuse to leave.  At some point, don't we have to tell them they made a choice and they have to pay for it themselves?  I guess I'll have to start working another job so they can stay in the path of these storms.

Several recent news stories have highlighted the efforts of Boy Scouts to put together school kits to give to students in need.  I applaud their efforts and commend them for their community spirit.  However, the comment was made that "Austin ISD only graduates 56% of their students."  I have to take exception to that wording.  Austin ISD graduates 100% of the students who complete the requirements.  That 44% of the students that attend AISD CHOOSE not to graduate is a function of the choice those students made.  It has nothing to do with the fact that AISD offers everything they need to graduate and everything to do with personal choice.  I'm really uncertain that the graduation rates have made much of a change over time.  We may be smarter to make the choice to provide vocational training rather than this "one size fits all", "everyone needs a high school diploma" thinking that we seem to have fallen victim to.  A small amount of research will reveal that an inordinate amount of money is spent simply trying to recover dropouts that would be much better spent in the classroom.  If a student chooses to drop out, let them.  It would just mean more resources for those who actually wish an education and they might actually get a much better education without all that money wasted on people who don't care to graduate.  Once someone turns 18, no one can stop them from dropping out.  They are legal and able to make their own decisions.  But the school they drop out from will be penalized (and might lose money as a result) because an adult made a choice.  A good analogy might be if we decided how much TXDOT money went for I35 based on whether or not drivers chose to use the main thoroughfare from MLK to 52nd street or whether they chose to drive on the overhead lanes.  It is something over which no one but the driver has any control in the same way that a student is the one who makes the choice to drop out.  Let's quit penalizing school districts because students make choices about their own lives.  It is almost as though there is a tacit agreement that we should brainwash students to keep them in school.  Let's concentrate on those who want an education, provide them with everything they need, and let those who make other choices figure it out themselves.  Many will eventually.   That can be seem by all the older students on any campus.  Although I did graduate from high school, it took me another 27 years to get to the point that I actually wanted to graduate from college and did so.  I guess that "one size" didn't fit me, either.

Since everyone seems focused on change, lately, it seems timely to propose something that might actually prompt some real change.  I'm reasonably certain that any presidential candidate will continue the status quo and we'll be in the same boat no matter who we elect, although one might cost me far more than another.  So let's forget both of those losers for a second and deal with something that has some real teeth.  With a single change, we could revolutionize our country and how we think about it and how much attention everyone pays to it.  This simple proposal is the passing of a constitutional amendment that would ban payroll deductions for any reason whatsoever.  It would require every taxpaying citizen to come up with their taxes in a single check on, or before April 15 every year.  We could see several immediate changes as a result of this: (1) People would begin to have to think about their money and see what they really have and how to budget it so that they wouldn't end up in default on April 15.  (2)  People would see what they actually are paying and would no longer be fooled into believing that the pittance that is returned each year (without any interest, by the way) is something to jump around with joy.  In other words, we would no longer be stupid.  I hear people crying with joy at the $500 check they get back on taxes and completely ignoring the $5700 they paid.  I can't think of another word to describe that other than stupid...sorry.  (3)  People would surely take note once they actually saw what it was costing them in that huge check and become much, much more involved.  (4)  People would have more money because they would be able to make interest on that money during the year rather than having the government take the money and pay no interest.  Go ahead...try to get a loan from a bank without interest.  But the government does that to us all year long.  Thieves!  (5)  We would find REAL accountability because everyone would be aware of that huge check looming every year and want to know where every dollar goes.  It's only a single change...but think of the ramifications.

Kudos to rbb50 for actually proposing this as part of his platform if he is elected although he may have intimated that he would simply do away with taxes.  I'm pretty sure that is not going to happen anytime soon, so I'm proposing we start here.  Then we can work on eliminating taxes after that.  Gosh, then we would have to have personal responsibility for our own lives and the things we do with that life.  What a concept.

Lead item on tonights (July 8) news:  Policeman's pistol found in park by family.  Followed by a detailed analysis of his work history and current position. 

Let me juxtapose this with the recent incidents that have been highlighted where police have been accused of disproportionate action.

No one examined the mental history of Sophia King.  She was crazy and a danger to citizens (obviously) yet the focus was on how police can better deal with crazy people who put average citizens in danger.

No one examined gang ties for any of the other recent shootings.  All we ever saw were family members crying about how good the boys were.  I'm sure BTK and others also had people willing to say good things about them as well.

We're obviously losing touch with some critical values in the newsrooms.  LIke the fact that average, normal, law-abiding citizens deserve more rights and protection than criminals.  Like the fact that police officers not only have to put their lives on the line each day, they now have to worry about being second-guessed on anything they might do and so may (although I hope not) fail to act as quickly as necessary for the safety of one of those citizens.  Where will the blame fall, then?  Will the press stand up and say, "We did it?"  I don't think they have the guts to do so.  It's time to quit sensationalizing anything that happens with the police while ignoring the underlying issues that force them into the situations they find themselves.

I'm willing to bet that everyone involved in any of the instances in recent years went off on the cops with horrible invective and/or violent actions because that's how I hear people talk about it....generally as a result of the reporting that occurs and the derogatory way in which the police are always presented.

I, for one, am glad they are there.  New Orleans is a great example of what it would be like if they weren't.  Is that what we want?  Maybe we should appreciate more and criticize less.  It's really a shame that so much popular rap presents such a slanted view of the police and extols the virtues of crime.  Our children believe this garbage and may put themselves in the wrong place as a result.  Then who will you blame?

Take a minute the next time you see a cop and just say, "Thanks."

The last time I looked, I would have to buy something, i.e. spend some money, to receive a rebate.  By definition, a rebate is a refund or reimbursement or a return.  Therefore, it would seem that one would have to put something in for there to be a rebate.  In fact, most of the trucks in advertisements on TV have fairly decent rebates.  I have recently seen several in the $5,000 to $10,000 range.  But, then again, you have to buy the truck first.

So...how in h#$% do we get a sequence on the news about how the IRS is "working hard" to insure that those who DON'T FILE INCOME TAX RETURNS get their rebate?  What rebate?  They didn't pay in, did they?  Hopefully, there is a minimum here.  If you paid in MORE than $300, then, ok...you get your rebate.  I think you might be able to get there if you work some, but not enough to file.  If this is the case, I would wish that the news would present it so.  However, the news did not make this clear, only that those who didn't file would receive their rebate.

Believe me, I think we should all  be getting a rebate equal to 9/10s of our income tax.  Perhaps that would curb some of the runaway spending presently ruining our economy.  But the history of our maggots, leaches and vultures in the government tends to make me think that people who don't pay anything will be getting their "rebate" as well and that is just, flat wrong.

America has changed radically in the last few years.  The current economic crisis is no longer viewed as a problem that can be corrected by the economic community, rather, it is viewed as a problem that only the federal government can correct.  This misconstrued belief belies the lessons of history that show that any government that becomes involved in commerce to a high degree leads to the end of the country.  The political climate has shifted from belief in the government as the protector of our rights to belief in the government as the vehicle of all the cures for all our problems.  This is despite the fact that government regulation and laws passed by congress have all led to the state in which we find ourselves.  The government encouraged the sub-prime situation to get more people into homes which creates a larger voting block for those in office.  Now that our fingers are burned, what makes us think we can turn to the same people who created the problem to fix it?  The most robust economy in the last 50 years occurred during the Monica Lewinsky soap opera when congress was entirely focused on something besides the economy.  While I rue the results of that fiasco (our children believe that sex is not really sex...thanks a lot, Bill), it stands as a clear indicator that we need to limit the ability of the government to jack with the economy.  Couple this with single term limits on the maggots, leaches and vultures that inhabit our capital and we might have a chance at a future.  Unfortunately, we may have crossed the PONR (point of no return) where the people have come to believe that government CAN fix anything.  Please, list those things government has "fixed" if you can.  They are charged with protecting us, and the military has actually done so quite well.  Aside from that single example, which, of course, is outlined in the Constitution as a duty of government, I can't find anything else they have ever "fixed."  Every "fix" I can find has led to more problems, with the recent sub-prime fiasco being the most visible at this time.  Think back to the Savings & Loan fiasco years back.  Again, government involvement led to nothing more than bailing them out at our expense.  Did it help?  No...look at the sub-prime.  We need to learn to let people hurt when they make bad decisions.  No one changes when things are good, but when things hurt, people make changes in their lives.  It's time to quit avoiding hurt and begin embracing it as the vehicle of change.  Let us hope we haven't achieved PONR, but I suspect we have.  Too bad.  We used to believe we could do anything we wanted.  Now we need government to help us?  No...we need to be personally responsible for what we do and if we screw up, we need to feel it.  Then we will change for the better.  Get government out of our hair and let them get back to fixing the roads.  God knows we need that in Austin.

Wow, if this weather is indicative of global warming...BRING IT ON!  I live down here because I hate the cold.  Sometimes I wish we'd annex Mexico so I could get warmer.

I have a proposal I think we should have a vote on.  I propose that MyFoxAustin can the "Traffic" blog because we all think the traffic sucks and we're so disenchanted by it that we don't even post anymore because we all agree and realize that nothing will ever be done about it.  Instead, let's increase the size of the "News Blogs" section to make up the slack that canning the "Traffic" blog would create.

A "Yes" vote means can Traffic, increase News.

A "No" vote means keep blogs as they are.

Being one of the last smokers in Travis County, I am awaiting the law that requires me to wear a large, scarlet 'S' somewhere on my person before I am allowed to walk in public.  This, of course, precedes the denial of medical rights to smokers (as is happening in England right now) and probably will lead down that road to the eventual "disposal" of all smokers as "harmful" to society.  I have always been courteous to non-smokers and field-strip my cigarettes (the paper and tobacco are organic products that break down) and toss the butts into the trash.  Unfortunately, I can now no longer quit smoking because the tax on the cigarettes has been tied to helping children so it is my duty to continue to smoke "for the children."  In fact, if you are reading this, you need to start smoking so that you, too, can "help the children."  Those of you who continue your non-smoking ways need to examine your morals and values because you do not support "the children" by smoking.  We need to begin a large campaign to increase the number of smokers so that we can increase the revenues to "help the children."  Only smoking can bring an end to childhood hunger, inadequate education, global warming, racial discrimination, homelessness, nepotism and lonely singles.  So, if you have any heart at all, pick up a pack today and contribute to the future of your country and help all those poor, destitute, hungry, homeless, uneducated masses out there.  Oh...and don't forget to sew that scarlet "S" onto your shirt so we can see who you are.

I thought Laura Hall was found guilty by a jury of her peers.   I thought she got some prison time.  What the #$%$ are we doing talking about her bail?  Ship her off to prison and bring her back when it's time for her appeal in court.  How many different ways does our legal system have to say:  "Oh, you jurors are just a stupid bunch of jerks and what you decided really doesn't have a thing to do with the legal system?"  This is crazy.  If her appeal fails, I'll bet the judge grants time served...which may end up being time served on bail.  Now it's looking insane.  If she gets out on bail while being guilty awaiting appeal, then her sentence should not start until she sets foot in prison.  I'm sure Jennifer Cave's parents are consoled by the way justice is being served.  They deserve so much more.  I'm ashamed of our legal system.

I inherently dislike the red light cameras because they seem to provide a solution to a problem that is not being addressed.  The traffic managers in Austin are idiots.  Example:  The standard throughout the United States is for lights to rotate clockwise around an intersection.  The intersection of Congress and Ben White, however, changes to some convoluted criss-cross, not-rotating setup from about 9AM to about 3PM.  It has never worked well, still doesn't work well, and won't work well next week.  The biggest problem in Austin is the total inefficiency and ineptness of traffic management.  Our lights last too long.  Side streets have to wait 2 to 4 minutes for a green light.  And people get tired of sitting at the lights.  When they get tired of sitting at the lights, I'll bet the odds of them running a "yellow" light increase, since they know they are destined to wait...forever...for the light to come back around.  The real solution to the problem is NOT red light cameras.  The real solution is good traffic management.  Take a trip to San Antonio.  As large as San Antonio is, there is not that much of a traffic jam during commute hours.  In general, it lasts about 30 to 45 minutes, at most.  In Austin, however, I have been stuck on MoPark between two exits, for 30 to 45 minutes.  I have been stuck on 35 between two exits for 30 to 45 minutes.  We need much better traffic management.  Maybe we should buy them a decent computer.  I figure that 286 they obviously use is pretty outdated by now.  It must be something like that, because only a complete moron would fail to notice the multiple problems we currently have with traffic management.  I'll bet if we fixed them we'd have fewer red light runners...and the ones who then ran red lights would really deserve to have their car impounded and license revoked and not just be frustrated drivers trying to make it home before the 9 o'clock news.

Uniquelyb:

Apparently, you missed the multiple stories about this policeman and his missionary work in Africa.  That's fact.  Your story is hyperbole.

We are not blind in Austin.  We merely examined facts and found that the facts merited a no-bill.  It has nothing to do with where the criminal was shot.  (Yes, I put the "criminal" in there simply to interpose some opposite hyperbole).

I'm amazed at your ability to read minds and look into the past and see events as they occur.  Have you been contacted by the Dallas Police for help in solving cases?  I won't bring up the "why did he run, did he have something to hide" line (although I'm definitely thinking it) but will posit that there is more to the story than you or I have heard.

All the "criminal"...err...excuse me...upstanding citizen...needed to do was remain in position and he would be alive today.  He might be in jail...but he'd be alive.  My question is: Who is teaching these "criminals"...err...excuse me...people to run from the police and/or fight the police?  Again...it all started...and ended...when he ran.  He made his choice.  Stupid choice...but he made it.  I'm tired of criminals having more rights than honest citizens.

 You said "I would never move there you people have serious issues..."  Thank you.  We appreciate you staying where you are.  Please don't come.  Maybe some good will come of this after all.

All recent furor over the firing of the justice department lawyers who "serve at the pleasure of the president" has brought one thing to the forefront for me.  When Congressmen accuse Alberto Gonzales of lying to them, I have to laugh because I know it takes a liar to spot a liar.  And they've been lying to us for years.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find out they are lying about Alberto lying.

How do you know a legislator is lying?

His mouth is open.