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Meet “Mayhem”

  • Posted on August 4, 2010 at 2:37 pm

I love the “Mayhem” commercials from Allstate.  If I was in the market for insurance, I might even consider Allstate just because I love their commercials.  Fortunately for me I have a low cost insurance company that I would be hard pressed to leave.  You can catch a good compilation of the commercials here.

http://www.allstate.com/mayhem-is-everywhere/main.aspx

If you haven’t seen the ads, you need to watch for them because they are hilarious.  They are a reminder of the potential “Mayhem” that exists in our lives when we are driving our car.  Too bad “Mayhem” is so handsome even if he acts deranged as real “Mayhem” is much uglier in truth.

These commercials remind me of the mayhem many of us might feel about business and politics today.  Mayhem is all around us.  Just think about the BP oil spill and now the Enbridge spill in Michigan as well.  The problem is no one is really protecting us from it like an insurance company is supposed to do.  The government keeps holding hands with BP like they are star crossed lovers and they are convincing us that everything will be okay because they got married and the baby will not be a “bastard”.  No, in fact that baby has disappeared and you know that old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind!”  However that “Mayhem” is going to haunt us for years to come with health and environmental issues.

Some have felt the deranged sting from “Mayhem” when they lost their jobs and their waiting in line filing for unemployment.  They are put in a state of panic wondering what they are going to do.  The 99ers met “Mayhem” head on and there was no insurance company to bail them out.  Their unemployment ran out before they could figure out how to deal with the mayhem this economy threw at them.

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan probably meet “Mayhem” often.  He may be waiting in a roadside bomb or a sniper somewhere.  The soldiers do their jobs hoping “Mayhem” stays away from them and their friends.  However, “Mayhem” always finds those people that it really wants to seek and none of our soldiers are safe from “Mayhem”.  The politicians don’t protect them and don’t even put forth good policy decisions that make the soldiers know when the job is really done and they can put “Mayhem” to rest.

“Mayhem” is touching all of us in some way or another.  Our schools are under funded and cuts are being made that will certainly make it easier for “Mayhem” to enter the lives of our most vulnerable, our children.  “Mayhem” might take the appearance of an over- stressed teacher, crowded classrooms or missing programs but “Mayhem” will make an appearance.

As we are stuck defending our homes because of cuts in police protection, be prepared to meet “Mayhem” when someone decides their business is your business.  “Mayhem” happily follows the troubled and the criminal.

“Mayhem” has even entered congress.  How else can we explain the fact that everything seems to be so ineptly handled?  The unemployment extension couldn’t be passed until after the July 4th recess.  Obviously congress didn’t feel the bite of “Mayhem” personally or they would have pushed this through in any way possible as soon as possible.  The “Mayhem” that really exists in congress is the way it works or doesn’t work.  When the Republicans were in power, they didn’t need 60 plus senators to get things done.  However, now that the Democrats are in power, they struggle to get anything done and blame it on the Republicans.  Those Republicans must be very powerful to be so clever.  President Obama came into office with a boat load of people behind him.  He could have done so much but he chose to shake hands with “Mayhem” and let him take over.  It really is sad that “Mayhem” has taken the voice of people like Newt Gingrich.

Senators and Representatives will probably understand “Mayhem” better when they meet him in November.  He’ll be smiling but they will be in the fight for their political lives as most people could care less about anyone in public office today.  Would you throw a lifeline to your senator or representative?  Many people think it’s time to clean house.  The only problem is what will “Mayhem” like this bring us?  More people like Newt Gingrich?  I don’t think that’s what we need but I sure hope “Mayhem” makes everyone think before he leaves us alone after the storm!

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Coffee or Tea? Neither Please!

  • Posted on March 13, 2010 at 4:14 pm

Coffee or Tea, what do you prefer today?  Today is the coming out party of the “Coffee Party”.  You know the anti “Tea Party” party.  I’m already tired of both of these parties.  Neither one has a clue what’s really going on across this country.  People are anxious but they aren’t looking for cutesy named parties like “Coffee or Tea”.  People are tired of being taken for granted and worrying about their jobs and health care.  Neither of the two major parties, Democratic and Republican, are meeting the needs of their constituents.  Both are working hard to garnish money from lobbyists and those lobbyists are not our neighbors.  This newly formed “Coffee” party has Obama’s fingers all over it from the association to Jim Webb to people that worked to elect Obama.  I, for one, am tired of being manipulated by any political party.  My best guess is these are the “Starbuck” lovers that are willing to pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee.  They are definitely out of my league and are probably what the right refers to as “latte” lovers.  Oh, well, these are just labels we bandy around.  I refuse to put a label on my frustration and distrust of this new movement or the Tea Party one as well.  The Republican Party was quick to get on board the funding of the Tea Party movement so that makes that party completely distrustful to me.  I can probably say the same for this new Coffee Party.  From my point of view I want to hear more politicians sounding like Rep. Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island:

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/220793&start=18530&end=18784

He isn’t running any more so maybe he decided he was free to say what he’s really thinking.  I don’t know but this is the fire for the people that I want to see in my representatives.

Here is a post by “Wonk the Vote” much worth reading about coffee, tea and FDR.  http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/coffee-summits-not-coffee-parties/

I really enjoyed reading about FDR and his discussion of a second bill of rights.

I want a party that represents the “workers” of America.  These are the people that keep this country moving from factory jobs, police, teachers, transportation, and healthcare to the guy that picks up your garbage.  These are the people we all know that are our neighbors.  They aren’t a CEO and they don’t work on Wall Street.  They aren’t a Washington politician and while they may own a “mom and pop” store.  They don’t own “Wal-Mart” and they certainly aren’t a movie star!  We are the forgotten in this country.  While we make up the largest share of voters we are woefully under represented in our government.  While the wealthy including the politicians, CEO’s, Wall Street and Hollywood try to manipulate us at every turn by showing us what a war should be on screen, or by telling us to buy those ridiculous light bulbs that don’t last six months let alone five years, to always telling us we are the “greatest” and hoping we still believe that lie or to manipulating us to grasp our little “nest egg.”  We are the greatest to them if we keep buying the same old garbage they keep selling.  It’s time all of us woke up and figured out that these people are only looking at their own best interests.  The politician wants to get reelected so he will tell us anything.  The movie star wants to make more money so they call us to action on everything from the environment to our values of patriotism.  They do this because they are part of the corporate owned media.  Wall Street just wants our money and they will play games with the market to get it.  Once you’re in that market they will shake a few out ever so often and it could be your retirement that’s lost!

We, the true Americans, need to wise up and see these people that garner so much respect in the media for what they truly are.  We have the Internet.  We don’t need to be told by some Joe Scarborough on MSNBC or Wolf Blitzer on CNN or any other media pundit what’s going on in this country.  We can see by getting online and also by talking to our neighbors.  Here in Sturgis we know our property values have gone down.  We know there are vacant homes in town.  We can see that funding in our state is getting pretty down right scary.  We know that everything from the police to schools to state services have been cut and yet we still see plenty of money for war and politics.  We see politicians whooping it up at the Whitehouse with parties and dignitaries and don’t forget about those constant calls from the two parties for money for their next campaigns.  We see money going to two wars and a potential third and no one says, “Whoa, wait a minute!  What about the American people?”  I hear this phrase in my head.  I heard it as a teacher from GW Bush and now I’m playing it over in my mind.  That is over and over, “Expect more and pay less!”  This is in reference to teachers and I am a teacher but it really is in reference to all American workers.  We can all expect to do more and get paid less if we continue to buy what the politicians and the wealth in this country are selling.  Hollywood, politicians, CEO’s will all live large while the rest of us tighten our belts, pray we don’t lose our jobs or health insurance and scrape by.

Now do I want coffee or tea?  Not exactly!  I want real representation and I’m not going to get it over a cup of coffee or tea.  The best I can do as an American worker is to keep putting my voice out there.  I’ll keep calling my congress people and hope they change and I’ll keep saying what I think!

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The Pope Wants Me to Clean Up My Lifestyle

  • Posted on January 2, 2010 at 3:03 pm

The Pope wants me to clean up my lifestyle.  Well not exactly, but I have always found it interesting when the elite tell the rest of us how to save the environment.  Now you must understand that I do believe in leaving a small footprint in terms of using the “gifts” God has given us as they pertain to the environment.  I find it interesting that in the last twenty years people seem to need bigger houses and cars to lead a normal life.  Even though I love art and you might think I’d want some architecturally huge structure to live in, I have never been one to have an interest in owning a large house.  It seems that I am very alone in this thought process however as I witness many people creating spaces for themselves that are bigger than any space I have ever lived in including those with my thirteen siblings and parents.  I have many family members that don’t agree with me on this issue as witnessed by their ever growing and evolving dwellings.  Yet, I don’t question their choices as I think we all know what’s best for our own life style.

In recent years we have all been heavily put upon with guilt by Al Gore, politicians and even the Pope.  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6000G220100101 All of these people leave anything but a small footprint on the environment with their jet set life styles but are some how willing to voice an opinion on this subject.  I guess it’s kind of a “Do as I say, not as I do.” type of moment.  Even the Pope is guilty of living larger than the majority of his vast parishioners yet he wants to encourage us to do what most of us already do naturally.  Some of us have always been frugal because we were raised that way.  My parents lived through the Depression so I always heard the following gems:  “Turn the lights off.  Shut the door, were you born in a barn?  Save some for the rest of us.  There are starving children in China and that nice little waste not want not thing.”

I find it very interesting that right now we are all being fed this vast knowledge about how we are harming the environment through our life style choices.  It seems if I choose to eat meat I must pay a carbon tax or something to offset such a terrible thing to do.  I can buy as much Chinese plastic junk without so much as a dirty look but if I buy groceries and bag with plastic I’m suspect to humiliation and explanations as to how they are reused at school.  Suddenly my old car is a problem as well.  It’s nine years old and works perfectly well and really isn’t a horrible gas guzzler so for Katie, the girl who grew up learning not to throw out things before their used up, it works fine.  I am encouraged to throw it away and buy a new energy efficient car that will pollute less even though Arnold can still drive his Hummer if he chooses to do so.   I on the other hand will be given incentives to “do the right thing”.  We are all manipulated by the elite.  They give us a piece of candy and then tax us for it.  You know the drill.

I personally feel that these very same people are now making plenty of money off this new love of all things “green” but the real love is the color green for MONEY.  Don’t you wonder how much Al Gore, who I used to just love by the way, has made off this “green economy”?  I can honestly say I don’t really know but I have my suspicions.  I just wish there would be some small print disclosure made for all of these people that are directing the rest of us to recycle, reuse and refuse to pollute.  Politicians could have disclosure statements on their websites that show what their real carbon footprints are and where there money is invested as well as who it investing in them.  The rest of us should just be smart.  I know I haven’t flown in years so I cannot possibly be polluting as much as any politician that flies on a weekly basis.  I know that I am wearing the same winter coat for the last three years and I try not to waste my money and efforts on things that will just be thrown out.

However, many of us are forced to pollute through corporations that no longer make things that last.  Anyone that talks to an appliance salesman knows that appliances are now given a life of seven to ten years.  When my father passed away a few years ago he was still using the same washer he had from thirty years ago.  Corporations are constantly pushing a newer version of whatever the last thing we bought was whether it is a computer, cell phone or some other gadget we can’t live without.  So, we get this very mixed message from all of this.  We are told to buy new appliances, cars, etc. because they will take less energy to run.  However, don’t expect them to last long but you won’t care because some nice advertisement will convince you that you need something else anyway!  Meanwhile, the rich will not significantly change their lifestyles.  They will still jet set all over the world.  They will still own multiple dwellings and they will still tell the rest of us how to live and our landfills will continue to be the dumping grounds for all of the old cars and appliances that we throw out.  Should listen to the Pope, Al Gore or any one else on this matter?  I say you have the free will to follow what you think is right.

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