Curb Your Catholicism

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of sitting down and watching a new episode of my favorite television show of all time Curb Your Enthusiasm. The episode was about several different things including women who wear shirts showing off a less than flattering midriff, not scooting over to make room for someone at the dining table and of course, Larry’s character having trouble controlling his medication-induced extremely strong stream of urine. Needless to say, three brilliant concepts to pack into one show. At one point, Larry accidentally splashes a picture of Jesus with spray from his strong steam and his midriff-showing secretary and her mother take it to be a miracle as it appears the piss makes Jesus look like he was crying. Hilarious, and a pretty awesome social satire in my humble opinion. Of course, some people didn’t think so.

Bill Donohue, the president of the “Catholic League” (what kind of sport they play I’m not exactly sure) released this statement regarding the episode:

Mention Larry David in a word association game and “Seinfeld” rolls off the lips. That show, which David created, wrote and produced, was brilliant. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is not. Indeed, last night’s episode demonstrates that David’s best years are behind him. He ought to quit while he’s ahead.

At one point in the show, David goes to the bathroom in a Catholic home and splatters urine on a picture of Jesus; he doesn’t clean it off. Then a Catholic woman goes to the bathroom, sees the picture and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her equally stupid mother and the two of them fall to their knees in prayer. When David and Jerry Seinfeld (playing himself) are asked if they ever experienced a miracle, David answers, “every erection is a miracle.” That’s what passes for creativity these days.

Was Larry David always this crude? Would he think it comedic if someone urinated on a picture of his mother? This might be fun to watch, but since HBO only likes to dump on Catholics (it was just a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on “Real Time with Bill Maher”), and David is Jewish, we’ll never know.

Pretty ridiculous, right? I thought so too. Let’s start with the first paragraph of this so called “statement”.

Nice job Bill, you’ve managed to point out that Larry David was a co-creator of Seinfeld, something that everyone and their brother (Jerry Christ in Jesus’ case) knows. Further more, I like how you mentioned that Larry’s days of brilliance are behind him and that he should quit. That’s really Christian of you. Who knew that you could judge people and personally insult their work and it would be perfectly within the bounds of how Jesus said a Christian should live? And, who made you the authority on what is considered good and bad? I personally don’t like Seinfeld and never did, yet I find Curb Your Enthusiasm brilliant and important all the same. The difference being, I don’t pretend to adhere to religious dogma that tells me “Don’t Judge, Lest You Be Judged.” That’s your guy that said that Bill, remember? It’s in that one book, I think. Strike one.

Larry David, Creator and Star of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Cross the desert with 12 men and land right on paragraph two. You take issue with the fact that Larry pisses on a picture of Jesus, but doesn’t clean it off. Would it be better if he had cleaned it off? What difference does him cleaning off the picture make? It’s a picture, it’s not like he’s pissing on Jesus Christ himself. Here’s the funny part, later in the episode Larry accidentally DOES piss on his bare midriffed secretary and you seem to have no problem with that. According to your logic, wouldn’t that be offensive to women? Shouldn’t you take issue with that? Don’t the rights and respect of women matter? I also like how you point out that the CATHOLIC mother and daughter tandem in the episode are “stupid”. That’s really great that you’d call your own folks by such a Christian-appropriate term. The funny thing is, this kind of thing happens all of the time across the country. People see the Virgin Mary in grilled cheese sandwiches, Jesus in pancakes, the baby Jesus on a brick wall, but these people are perfectly logical? Or, are you calling all of the people who follow your sect of Christianity stupid?

Also, I find it really funny that you have a problem with Larry saying “every erection is a miracle”. Perhaps if it weren’t so easy for your lot to get erections from sexually abusing underaged altar boys against their will, I’d be interested in your take on this situation. You are not the judge of humor and you certainly aren’t the judge of who does what with their sexual organs. Strike Two.

And here we are at your swan song, the third and final paragraph. You bring up the fact that Catholics are apparently being targeted by HBO which is just so blatantly untrue it’s laughable. In the case of Curb Your Enthusiasm alone I’ve seen Larry David make fun of Jews, Christians, African Americans, Asians, dentists, doctors, patients, nurses, comedians, parking attendants, lawyers, chefs, holocaust survivors, survivor cast members, lesbians, Ted Danson, old people, child singers, private investigators, adoption, cousins, Richard Lewis, hookers, corpses, dogs, hurricane Katrina survivors, dolls, children, deli’s, HBO, freaks, car salesman and women who wear bras, and that’s probably just one season. Boy, it is time for you guys to grow up and stop making everything about you. It’s vain, and I’m pretty sure Jesus was against that too.

Also, nice job making mention of Sarah Silverman and Larry David, and pointing out that Larry happens to be Jewish (so is Sarah for the record which I’m sure you knew, hence mentioning them together). So, to get this straight it’s not okay for Larry to poke fun at people of the Christian faith, but it’s okay for you to insinuate that Larry can make fun of Catholics (which he never does directly by the way) because he is Jewish? That sounds pretty pretttttty pretttttttttttty anti-Semitic to me, buddy. Strike Three, you’re out.

So, Bill, here we are. You’ve officially shown us in a short three paragraph “statement” about the last episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that the truest of Christian ideals and values apparently don’t need to be applied to someone in a position of authority in the “Catholic League” like yourself. Why should these humble values of charity, forgiveness and lack of judgment apply to the stupid (your word) followers of your religion but not yourself? Sounds kinda hypoctrical there, Bill.

What Larry David did with Seinfeld and what he is doing with Curb Your Enthusiasm is to point out some of the more ridiculous aspects of our society for the sake of amusing people, making people laugh. Larry David takes what our society has given him and puts something positive back out into the world, in the form of humor. Rather than judge and insult Larry David, why not commend him for encouraging people to not take themselves so seriously and allowing them to laugh at themselves and the world around them? Why not show the world that the Catholics can turn the other cheek and laugh just like every other group (including fat people, bald people, Paul Simon fans, independent clothing store owners, and widows alike) has been able to do? Or, if none of this suits what you want to do, why not change the fucking channel?

Instant Karma! (is gonna get you)

Is it me or is everyone today a complete and total asshole? I feel like literally everywhere I go, from restaurants to stores to anything where you have to deal with some sort of employee, that person couldn’t be more rude and non-caring about helping the customer with what they need. This seems to be at an influx right now for some reason and it’s getting ridiculous. Regardless of what people might think, it is NOT hard to be a decent person to the people you interact with on a daily basis. I’m going to go further and say that you have to go OUT OF YOUR WAY to be a complete and total rude asshole and it’s just getting ridiculous. It’s time for people to get over themselves and learn how to interact with others. I’m not saying you have to be ‘Sweetie Mcsweetnuts’, that’s not what I’m expecting. But, I am expecting you to return the same kindness I show you by saying please and thank you. It’s not about being a good employee or salesperson, it’s about being a decent human being. It’s just not that hard.

Captain America

Please watch in full.

The woman at my polling place asked me do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people. I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?

Pure Bug Beauty

In light of all the “hubbub” and excitement surrounding the release of the new film “Sherlock Holmes” starring the very talented Robert Downey Jr, and the less talented yet still enchanting Rachel McAdams and Jude Law, I wanted to bring up an interesting fact about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of the literary giant Sherlock Holmes) that most people know nothing about. Mr. Doyle was a very big believer in Spiritualism and all things of that nature and even went as far as to say that Harry Houdini actually had real psychic powers and just wasn’t really telling anybody the truth. Although Houdini and Doyle were friends, Houdini would (obviously) deny this statement on a basis of rationality. Houdini, while being the pre-eminent magicians of this or any time was also a dedicated student of rational thought and skepticism. Houdini detested when people claimed to have supernatural powers and often set out to prove those who proclaimed such a feat, false, and always succeeded. So, with such a reputation as an anti-supernaturalist, why would his friend Arthur Conan Doyle put forward that he really believe this to be true?

Because Arthur Conan Doyle believed in “fairies” and was a nut-job.

Let me backtrack. In 1917 two English cousins by the names of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths aged 16 and 10 respectively, borrowed Elise’s father’s camera and used some elementary cardboard cut outs of fairies and took pictures of themselves interacting with said “fairies” and thus was born the Cottingley “Fairies” incident. The girls claimed the photographs were real, and that only they were the medium which could view and take pictures of the “fairies” and that if anyone else was witnessing the photos being taken, they wouldn’t work (nothing too suspicious there). One look at the grainy photos and any rational thinking person (like Houdini himself) would realize that these picture are fabricated and are a product of two teenage girls’ tom foolery.

There is the first photo that sparked the world’s interest in the existence of real fairies. That is Frances posing with the “fairies” although if you look closely you can see the waterfall in the background is blurred due to slow shutter speed on a moving object. However, the “fairies” though jumping, appear crystal clear with no blurring, an obvious check in the fabricated column.

There is picture number two. This time Elsie is shown with a “gnome”.

Arthur Conan Doyle saw these photos and was so convinced they showed true “fairies” in existence, that he wrote two pamphlets and an entire book on arguing the existence and explaining the history of “fairies” entitled The Coming of the Fairies, which is still in print. Conan Doyle also argued that only with more pictures could the argument for the existance of “fairies” finally be proven. So, low and behold, three years later the girls produced more photos featuring them patrolling nature with the “fairies” by their side. Conan Doyle was convinced and continued defending the “fairy” theory for years.

Of course, with most hoaxes, the shit inevitably hit the fan when Fred Gettings in 1971 found the very book that Elsie and Frances took the pictures of the “fairies” from (a children’s book that had come out in 1914 or 15) and the final nail in the coffin came when the girls themselves went on to confess that the photos were indeed faked, as if anyone with a rational thinking mind had any doubt. It’s just too bad that spiritualist and talented author Arthur Conan Doyle wasn’t around to hear how it was his belief in them and celebrity influence, that drove the girls to keep quiet about the truth behind those events.

And so, here we are. How is it, you ask, that Conan Doyle could create such a literary juggernaut as Sherlock Holmes, a rational thinking, level headed hero of thought and logical reasoning and he himself be fooled by pre-teen girls playing with cardboard cut outs and a father’s camera, not to mention go so far as to defend it to the point of published novels and pamphlets defending their authenticity? That, my friends, sounds like a case for Sherlock himself. Someone call Robert Downey Jr!

Grow Up and Blow Away

Color me offended.

I made the horrible mistake of paying $10 tonight to see “The Invention of Lying” with a friend of mine. Not only was this a mistake on the surface (this movie was a level of shitty that a public toilet smack dab in the middle of Mexico city couldn’t imagine) but it also re-lit the flame of dissapointment and disgust within me. Yes, this was yet another movie that published the same horrible lie I’ve been fighting against for years. This movie potrayed a situation that had to offend not just me, but everyone (the other two people) in the theater as well. This movie once again bet it’s hand on an age old assumption and lie that just flat out isn’t true: It’s possible for a fat guy to get the attractive girl he desires.

Now, Ricky Gervais isn’t the only guilty party here. The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of Queens, According to Jim, Still Standing and plenty of other sitcoms and feature films have done their part to perpetuate the myth that fat guys have any sort of chance at getting the attractive girl they want. In every one one of these examples the woman looks past the fat guys’ fatness and other turn offs and falls in love with the man and they live happily ever after. I call shenanigans on this bullshit.

This kind of things DOES NOT happen in the real world and it’s time society accepted it. Let me speak for fat guys everywhere when I say; “enough is enough”. I’m tired of being expected to suddenly walk out of a theater with hope that Jennifer Garner (who let’s be honest, isn’t much of a looker herself) would have any interest in Ricky Gervais. It just wouldn’t happen. Stop giving us hope that it will.

And now a message specifically for my brethren:

Fatties everywhere, heed my words. Give up on the hope of falling in love with the cute girl from work, or the girl who thinks you’re funny behind the deli counter. Save your self the agony and pain because regardless of what CBS tells you, it’s just not going to happen. Sure, you may be funny and able to make her laugh, but in the end that means nothing. Face Facts. Face your Fat. There is no hope.

Now….go ahead and finish your sandwich.

The Subtle Racism in America

Part Two: Attempting to Delegitimize Barack Obama’s Presidency

Holding the office of the President of the United States of America is a position that grants you the utmost respect in the world, quite literally. This doesn’t mean everybody loves you and this certainly doesn’t mean everybody agrees with you (including up to 49% of the country the day you take office). But what this does mean is you’re granted a series of titles, positions and formalities that are unique only to the President and his predecessors. For instance, although a President may have no military background, he is automatically the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Military. Even if the President has no experience in the Judicial branch of government, he automatically in granted the power on January 20th, to select nominees to serve on the Supreme Court for a lifetime term.

Another automatic aspect of the President of the United States is the instant amount of respect that is given to you, both in your own country and overseas. The President is quite literally the leader of the free world, a symbol for America and all that it represents around the world (which probably to the chagrin of many nay-sayers, still represents hope, opportunity and freedom to those impoverished and under privileged). He is greeted by Governments around the world with the most lavish of accommodations in the most traditional and respectful ways that particular country’s cultural history deems. This is the case regardless of the religious denomination, political affiliation, background and race of the President. If this is the case overseas, why is it not the case here in the United States?

What I’m going to attempt to show you is how the Presidency of Barack Obama has been a historic one; and not just because of the overwhelming support he received and all the ground he broke winning the Presidential election last year. More what I’m going to focus on are his opponents; those who not only reject Barack Obama on his political beliefs, but something more. I believe there is an underlying effort (whether it be a conscious effort, or one that is springing up from the subconscious of his detractors) to delegitimize the Presidency of Barack Obama for no other reason than his skin color. We’re going to exploring two different examples here which will hopefully show you where this theory comes from, and why I believe it to be true.

Example 1:

On September 8th, 2009 Barack Obama planned to address the nation’s school children on the importance of working hard, dedicating themselves to their education and taking responsibility for their learning. Nowhere in his plans, nor in the actual speech would President Obama even come close to mentioning anything about Democratic policy, liberal ideals or attempt to “indoctrinate students with Socialist ideology.” Although this was clear to the reasoning, common sense using folks here in America, it didn’t stop Republican opponents and critics of President Obama of claiming he would attempt to do those ridiculous things. These pointless and politically motivated accusations went as far as convincing school districts across the south of banning their students from hearing a positive and inspiring message from the most powerful and important person in our country.

To actually think that Mr. Obama would be using this speech to school children as a way to spread his political message is an insane prospect. It takes a mind who would actually think of doing something like that themselves to assume that the President of the United States would ever stoop to such a level. It’s a ludicrous notion and one that comes from an interesting twist of purpose. Most opponents of this speech protested that they didn’t want their children being indoctrinated with political rhetoric and wasting time that could be spent on normal school curriculum. In reality, they didn’t want Barack Obama’s liberal, Democratic ideals to be force fed down their children’s throats, which was never going to happen in the first place. So, what did they do? They banned their students from hearing the speech from the Presidents on the importance of education. By their actions alone, they showed their impressionable young students which political philosophies are okay, and which are not. By opposing Mr. Obama’s speech on the grounds that it might politically influence a young kid who has no business being politically influenced, they have successfully politically influenced their children into believing that what President Barack Obama stands for is wrong, easily dealt away with, and not deserving of respect. The words “stunningly hypocritical” come to mind.

What these superintendents and parents around the country have done is not only a detriment to their children, but also a detriment to America itself. Perhaps a young child watching this speech could have been inspired to work hard, and learn to love school and eventually become the President or a politician in his or her own right. Perhaps a young child in the south would have been inspired and surprised by the  accessibility of the most powerful man in the world and impressed with his dedication to the children of this country and changed the way they thought of government. And most importantly, perhaps a child would have been able to see his leader, The President of the United States talking directly to him about education and self responsibility and learned a certain amount of respect for those who’ve worked hard before him, relied on themselves and worked hard to achieve success. But, alas, with the selfish acts of these “proponents of education” we will never know.

You might be asking, what does this have to do with the president’s Race? Simple. Both Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush gave similar speeches to school children, and though they may have been criticized publicly (no such evidence can be found for the Regan speech) they both went off to school children around the country without a hitch. The legitimacy of the message was never called into question to the point where banning the speech seemed like a logical choice. The educators and parents of the time felt like most rational minded independent thinking people did today, that the Presidents speech about education was simply that. Regardless of how you feel about the Presidents political opinions, they are still the President of the United States. They are still the most powerful man in the country and they deserve respect. Regardless of who is President, they’ve undoubtedly have had to make sacrifices to get where they are and that is a good role model for school children. regardless of their political affiliation, or yours for that matter.

It’s no surprise that a majority of the watch-bans on the Presidents speech happened in the southern part of the United States. The south has a well documented history of prejudice against all minorities, particularly African Americans. Although many forms of racism have been combated by groundbreaking acts such as The Civil Rights Movement and the eventual Civil Rights Act, there still exists many, underlying forms of prejudice woven deep within the bloodlines of the southern population. Racism has moved out from being socially acceptable in the mainstream, but perhaps more dangerously, it has moved under the rug and into the silence. Southern racism has gone from white only drinking fountains, to white-only ways of thinking. Harboring such anger and hatred toward a group of people with no outlet, is perhaps more dangerous than being able to outwardly display you’re bigotry and this is what is happening in the south. This isn’t to say all southern people are racist, far from it. But for those who hold such grudges against the President that they’d be willing to jeopardize the educational and patriotic well being of their children, their racist feeling (once again, whether it be a conscious or subconscious feeling) is clearly a motivating factor in this heinous decision making. I would be hard pressed to believe a video message from a white Republican President would be met with the same type of scrutiny and (false) “concern for the educational value of the speech.” If John McCain were the speaker instead of President Obama, no qualms would be raised about his political message or purpose. Kids would be encouraged to sit back and listen to the words of a self made, successful man. How sad that they missed out on this wonderful opportunity.

Example 2:

Congressman Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) was made infamous by his inappropriate outburst during President Barack Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress on healthcare. Mr. Wilson yelled out “You Lie” when President Obama made a point about Illegal immigrants receiving healthcare in America. I want to make something clear. This event didn’t take place during a debate or panel on a specific issue. Mr. Wilson chose to interrupt the President of the United States while he was giving a State of the Union type speech to the joint session of Congress. This simply is not done. The level of inappropriateness of this action is so far out of scope a word to describe it simply eludes me. There is a certain level of respect, a certain level of sanctity about the way our government does things. No matter what else happens, things are run on a platform of respect and tradition because that is simply just the way things are done. Never would anyone have the right or let alone the reason to interrupt the President in a situation like this. Joe Wilson has embarrassed himself, the people of South Carolina (the state he represents) and the entire American population both at home and around the world.

The problem isn’t only the fact that Mr. Wilson embarrassed himself and acted completely inappropriately by interrupting the President of the United States, it’s what he interrupted him by saying. In a time where the perception of America around the world is perhaps at it’s most unsure, Mr. Wilson took it upon himself to disrespectfully call out the most internationally popular President we’ve had in recent history. What Mr. Wilson failed to realize is that not only is he offending every person in America by acting so inappropriately, but he’s also tarnishing the opinions of the millions of people around the world who supported Barack Obama and stepping on their beliefs as well. In the eyes of the world, Mr. Wilson took it upon himself to attempt to delegitimize the power, knowledge and intentions of America’s leader by calling him a liar. No word choices could have undermined President Obama more and been more damaging. His choice was clear and purposeful.  His choice to act so inappropriately was motivated (whether conscious or not) by his prejudice against African Americans.

You don’t have to search hard to find incidents and involvements in Mr. Wilson’s past that would lead you to these same conclusions. Mr. Wilson openly and purposefully defended the flying of the Confederate Flag (a clear symbol of racism and treason) above the South Carolina state house building, and even went as far as to defend the Confederate heritage as being “very honorable”. He was one of 7 members of the 43 in the South Carolina senate to actually publicly vote to keep the Confederate flag flying. It has also been reported that Mr. Wilson is a current and active member of the group “Sons of Confederate Veterans” which has been linked to a neo-confederate mindset, as well as being supporters of secession and dismissing the horrifying instituation of slavery as “benign”.  Going even deeper, Mr. Wilson was mentored by and served under notoriously racist and long serving senator Strom Thurmond  (who performed the longest filibuster in history, attempting to halt the passing of the civil rights act) who was later found out to have fathered a bi-racial daughter. When Mr. Thurmond’s daughter finally came forward with the information of who her father was, Mr. Wilson described her and the situation as “a smear on the image” of Mr. Thurmond. Mr. Wilson later apologized (something he’s been doing quite a bit of recently).

I will be the first to admit that I do not think that Mr. Wilson sat listening to President Obama’s speech on healthcare and was consciously thinking about how he could purposefully delegitimize Mr. Obama’s Presidency. In truth, I think it goes deeper than that. Based on his actions and associations, it’s quite clear that Mr. Wilson has a lack of respect for African American’s as a whole. He may not outright hate people for the color of their skin, but because of his lack of respect and ill will toward that specific group of people, he deemed it acceptable to interrupt Barack Obama as he spoke to the joint session of Congress, something that is simply not done. Mr. Wilson thinks that Mr. Obama’s Presidency is illegitimate. He does not think that (whether it be consciously or subconsciously) that Barack Obama deserves the same respect that a white President would or he simply would have never made such an outburst. Something deep within the mind of Joe Wilson has lead him to believe that a black man, a black President should not be taken seriously. Mr. Wilson, for whatever reason, sees President Obama as an inferior, even though he has risen to the level of ultimate superior in this country. Mr. Wilson’s complete lack of respect for American tradition, politics and the processes we’ve adopted is downright embarrassing and is worthy of an in-depth look into his purpose and ethics.

You might be wondering how President Barack Obama responded to all of this. He responded just as you would think an intelligent man of any race would. He simply called it a “mistake’ and accepted Joe Wilson’s half hearted, sincere-less apology. Would Barack Obama ever come forward and say that this outburst was motivated by race, even though it clearly has the markings of something that could be? No. Would Barack Obama ever come forward like former President Jimmy Carter came forward and declare Mr. Wilson’s actions racial motivated and completely inappropriate? No. Barack Obama did exactly what you expected him to do. He shrugged his shoulders, turned the other cheek and simply went back to work on what he believes will help make America better for Americans, whether they live in South Dakota or South Carolina. He showed patience, forgiveness and ability to move past pointless acts of childishness and bigotry, which, I don’t know about you, but to me sounds like an awfully good lesson for our school children.

Something So Right

“For example, in the United States some 40 percent of the population doesn’t believe in Evolution (and) believes that the world was created within the last 10,000 years. That’s an educational disgrace and those people, the majority of them couldn’t possibly believe that if they were exposed to the evidence.” – Richard Dawkins

Educate yourself

The Subtle Racism in America

Part one: Mexican Immigrants and the American Economy

Aside from healthcare (which hopefully we’ll eventually get to) one of the hot button issues of the last year in American politics has been that of illegal immigration. No one has been more outspoken on this issue than CNN host Lou Dobbs on his show Lou Dobbs Tonight. Being an everyday citizen with a job, who pays taxes and participates in the economy of this country, what I don’t understand is why exactly Mr. Dobbs and the rest of the outspoken immigration critics are so against the idea of immigrants coming into this country. It seems to me this country was built on the backs of immigrants and should always have a place for the “tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free” like the inscription on our beloved Statue of Liberty states. The point of this essay is to hopefully lay out some of the reasons Mr. Doobs and the like are so adamant that illegal immigration will ruin the American way of life.

Because of our shared border and the vast majority of illegal immigrants in America today coming from Mexico, these will be the folks we focus on today. The “supposed” reason for anti-immigration support will appear in bold, while the explanation of why that is false will appear directly underneath. Let’s begin:

All illegal criminals enter this country illegally and therefor have committed a crime and should be arrested.

In reality according to the Government Accountability Office,  “as many as 50 percent of immigrants in the U.S. legally did not break the law or ’surreptitiously cross the border’ to enter this country. They simply overstayed their visas after entering legally.”

But the other fifty percent, they entered this country illegally and therefore deserve no rights nor the protection of our government, like a natural born citizen would.

It is very clear in the 14th amendment that “Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within it’s jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Meaning, according to the Constitution of the United States that any person living within boundaries of the United States deserves and is anointed with the protection of the civil liberties and rights that any natural born citizen is eligible for.

Illegal immigrants are natural born killers and bring their innate wrong doing to the streets of the United States.

According to a 1997 paper sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Urban Institute “Few stereotypes of immigrants are as enduring, or have been proven so categorically false over literally decades of research, as the notion that immigrants are disproportionately likely to engage in criminal activity. If anything, immigrants are disproportionately unlikely to be criminal.”

To expand further, independent studies throughout our history including 1901, 1911, 1931, 1985 up through this year have statistically proven that illegal immigrants are LESS likely to commit a crime then a natively born American, bringing the argument of their presence increasing our tax dollars used for prisons and other type programs to a screeching halt.

Illegal immigrants are ruining the United States economy.

Most economists believe that the overall impact on the economy of the United States by illegal immigrants is a small, almost non-significant amount. That non-significant amount, when averaged with our entire economy shows that the effects of illegal immigration is a small net POSITIVE and according to Harvard’s George Borjas, the average American’s wealth is INCREASED by less than one percent because of illegal immigration.

Illegal immigrants are ruining the wages in the United States.

A good portion of illegal immigrants take jobs that natural born American citizens simply don’t want, like in construction and farming. Even if these positions we not being filled by immigrants, American workers would quickly move from other parts of the country to fill these positions in big cities such a New York and Los Angeles, causing wages to once again dip to their current levels because of excess supply and limited demand.

Still, American’s could use those jobs.

American’s, even when desperate are still picky about where they work. Most of the unattractive jobs that illegal immigrants fill would simply be filled by technology and automation. This would in turn hurt our economy by taking away their contributions.

So with all of these explanations readily available to the everyday public, why is it figureheads like Lou Dobbs and Glen Beck are so outspoken about illegal Immigration? What is it that draws them to this very topic instead of the hundreds of other real problems we have facing the American way of life? What is it deep down inside of them that makes them think that the worst thing that could possibly happen to the United States of America is Mexican families coming over the border in order to pursue the very American dream that Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Beck’s elders did so many years ago? Simple; it’s call prejudice.

When it comes down to it, people are against immigration because it brings people who are different from they are into our country. With people come cultural traditions and new ways of doing things, and that scares the traditionalists that think the American way, is the only way and the right way. Why are people so afraid of people? Everyone wants the same things, regardless of the language that they speak, the food that they eat, or the traditions that they adhere to.

There are morons and cultural outcasts who do wrong in every sect of humanity around the world, but these people are the exception, not the rule. We shouldn’t let the misbehavior of a few define our opinion of the majority. Being culturally uninformed leads to being intolerant. Being intolerant leads to holding thoughts of prejudice, and holding thoughts of prejudice leads to ignoring facts and common sense to put down another group of people and deny them the things that you have. Have we become so selfish we’ve forgotten what America is all about?

The American way used to mean opportunity, respect and rights for all people. The American way was wanting your brothers and neighbors to have the same rights and chances that you had and continue to have. Just because you happened to be born above Mexico and below Canada doesn’t mean you deserve to have any better of a chance of success then someone born halfway across the world. It is a selfish and intolerant opinion to believe that illegal immigrants are the downfall of the American way of life. It is this subtle racism, this stereotypical thinking that is the real Achilles’ heal of our society.

Mexican immigrants don’t come to our country to change it into a new Guadalajara, they come because they’ve learned about the American way of life. They’ve learned that in American, hard work and responsibility can pay off in dividends like safety and stability for their family, which is value important to ALL people, regardless of race of place of birth. They’ve learned that America is the land of opportunity, where all people can be successful, regardless of their economic standing and background. Let’s show them the idealistic America, the welcoming and warm America is the real America and that this racism, this prejudice against them is the exception, and not the rule.

Couldn’t Pour Piss Out of a Boot with Instructions on the Heel.

Well, if you’re teetering on the edge of killing yourself because you have lost complete faith in your fellow countrymen as well as everyone else around you, do NOT watch this video.

If you’re like me, and you’re ALWAYS on the brink, and you love to feed the fire with digusting examples of why our country; our world is in such a horrible state (and the people who are trying to clean it up are met with roadblocks at every turn) then be sure to click the little play button below.

This video comes from the brilliant minds at New Left Media. Armed with a camera and microphone, they ventured down the dangerous path of questioning the participants of the DC Tea Party march against..well…anything these morons felt like marching against. Watch, and be astounded by the ignorance…

*Can you believe that preaching, “God Loving” fucking idiot who said “Abortion is a greater evil than taxes or slavery”? How can you have the balls to spout such ignorant, racist rhetoric and sleep at night? Unbelievable.

It Turns Out, We’re All Just Screwing Ourselves

by Josh Potter

In the September issue of The Atlantic, David Goldhill wrote an article entitled “What Washington Doesn’t Get About Health Care”, which was a fascinating and sweeping (roughly 12 pages) analysis of his perception of where this country’s health care woes originated. While the whole thing was informative and interesting, one section in particular was of particular intrigue to me. The section was entitled, “The Moral Hazard Economy” and explained that health insurance has encouraged a culture of passing costs, and thus, responsibility off on other people (or, in this case, huge corporate conglomerations). Essentially, Goldhill explained that insurance works in such a way that people can go into a doctor’s office for any reason and expect to pay none of, or very little of the actual bill since their insurance will cover the rest. Goldhill says:

For almost all our health-care needs, the current system allows us as consumers to ask providers, “What’s my share?” instead of, “How much does this cost?” – a question we ask before buying any other good or service.

What this has done is give pharmaceutical companies and doctors a large window of opportunity to develop a sickeningly (pun intended) large amount of medicines and care tactics (meant to sound like scare tactics) that we, most of the time, don’t actually need. Goldhill says, “The key message: you can benefit from this product and pass the bill on to someone else.” So what do pharmaceutical companies do? They make medicines for illnesses most people didn’t even know they had and sell it at inflated prices because, well, huge insurance conglomerates can afford it. Goldhill asks the interesting question: if pharmaceutical companies have such a captive audience (we will all get sick, and we will all end up needing medicine), why do they end up spending so much money on advertising? The answer harkens back to the fact that the consumers (us) don’t have to spend money on any of the medicines being advertised, so we go out and “purchase” them from our doctors without thinking. This is where Goldhill fails to continue. He spends so much time analyzing the failures of government oversight or insurance companies, but it can all be boiled down to the fact that no one is thinking.

We’ve all seen the commercial for the medicine helping to alleviate “RLS” or, Restless Leg Syndrome… There is no way in hell that is a real thing. If Restless Leg Syndrome is a curable ailment, then why can’t I go to the pharmacy and pick up my prescription for “Can’t Get Laid By a Real Live Woman-itus,” or “Can’t Sleep Because I Can’t Afford a Real Bed-emia”? The sad part is though, that people hopped off their couches (once they could get that weird leg-shaking thing under control) and “bought” (or rather, billed their insurance for) RLS medication. The same was true for every parent who shouldn’t have been a parent in the first place “buying” Adoral for their (retarded) kids, because they didn’t know why little timmy with the lunch composed of sour-patch-kids, lunchables and mommy’s used hypodermic needle couldn’t focus in school.

On a side note, my brother was diagnosed with ADD and Bi-Polar disorder when he was hardly a teenager and was prescribed Adoral. He is currently a recovering heroin addict.

What all this means, then, is that people need to start thinking. Think about it like this: 9 out of 10 people (which is still shockingly low) will see an infomercial for something like the “Shamwow” or “Snuggies” and say, “there is no way in HELL I am going to pay 29.99 for that piece of shit, no matter how many times I can clean my car without having to ring out a rag. But, when people see medication to help get their dicks hard, they jump at the opportunity because they can just bill their insurance instead of thinking, “maybe my dick is soft because my wife of thirty years looks eerily similar to the family dog, or because I AM SIXTY YEARS OLD!”


That is, indeed, the message folks. Though I could say this for most issues in this world today, the answer is THINK! Education is our biggest defense against any current event issue we are facing. Goldhill says it himself when he says, “Medical care, of course, is merely one component of our overall health. Nutrition, exercise, education, emotional security, our natural environment, and public safety may now be more important than care in producing further advances in longevity and quality of life…”

So, you want this whole health care “thing” to get solved? Let’s review what the illness (or at least one symptom of the illness) is: Our insurance companies have given doctors and pharmaceutical companies and unbelievable amount of market share to sell overpriced medication the general public doesn’t even need, but is made to believe we want.

So, what do we do? I have a prescription for you: a library card.