Thursday, March 19, 2009

Not Politics

This is a photo of a coping saw. It kinda' ties in if you read the rest of the story

One of the reasons that I never talk about politics on this blog is not because I'm not interested, it's just that it seems so darn divisive, and nothing is solved on a blogsite. I said just this morning that if I were President I could solve this countries problems in a heartbeat, and there would be no Democrat or Republican split, because I would run as an "American All Inclusive", where the number one priority would be America and Americans first. If that sounds selfish or racist it's not. It's just that I have too many years of training in saving other people as a medical and a fire department first responder. It is drilled into us repeatedly that the first priority is keep ourselves safe, because if we don't, we only add to the problem.

If someone is drowning in the surf, we as first responders are trained to not jump in the surf to save that person unless we have the proper training and equipment to save that person, with small risk to ourselves. The reasoning is, if there is only one person in the surf, we have one person to save, if somebody else jumps in to save that person without a reasonable chance that it can be accomplished, the situation then becomes, TWO people that need saving. I use that example because it is often the situation, that when a person is washed of a beach there is multiple drowning of people trying to rescue the stricken victim.

The same thing could be said of America, years ago when Reagan said that we should be “part of the world economy”. It sent a chill up my spine. What he did is, he threw America in the stormy economic ocean with the Idea that America could sink or swim with the rest of the world economy, and the whole world would become strong. Conversely, what happened is he brought the American economy down to the level of the rest of the world. The other thing, there were money sharks in the water that didn’t necessarily play fair. America didn’t have the training or experience to be in the water with communist countries.

What some people see as selfishness, by wanting the American economy to stay within it’s borders, I see as the only chance to save the world from drowning. We could have saved the world from this economic mess if we had kept ourselves safe. Now we will do very well if we can keep ourselves from being sucked under by the every deepening whirlpool of economic destruction.

So, I know that some folks approach problems with very simple solutions, like Flying Pigs that can haul freight, or the Hippopotamus that brought rain the dessert by hatching into a Butterfly, and flying through the rain clouds to cause a rainstorm.

I don’t expect anybody commenting on the blog will have any real solutions, but they are fun to talk about. Like, how much fun would it be to see Nancy Pelosi fall into and unheated swimming pool? Or see George bush trip and fall into a cowpie with his smirk?

Like most of my family, my Cousin “Oregon” just happens to work in the lumber industry. They tell me that he is a Damn fine saw-filer, and that is the only reason that he is still working while so many other lumber workers are laid off. Most mill workers will tell you the saw-filer makes the mill run. If the saws don’t run right, nothing goes good.

My cousin “Oregon” offered a solution. I kind of like the “Feel Good” aspect of it, but it’s right up there with “When Pigs Fly”. Those are the kind of comments that I’m looking for. Hang great expectations, I want to see some real gut felt opinions. Ones that won’t happen. or solve a darn thing, but wouldn’t it be fun if they happened?

Here's "oregons" opinion:
"Well is isn't Greenday anymore and I see lots of hits with no comments here so I'll throw something this way.

I think they should leave AIG alone and all that signed the Omnibus bill should chip in to pay for the bonus' that the CEO's received.

I wish we could have a new election and have it be a write in vote only, for all the seats in Washington. I might add, I would like to see this election this November.

Oregon"

18 comments:

spyrock said...

now that obama has ordered the dea to stop arresting medical mj users, why not go one step further and extend the medical mj criteria to everyday stress and allow everyone to use it and grow it for their own personal reasons.
then we could have a chili cook off style competition to see who has the best strain. then we could finally see whether or not kush grows best with love or chickenshit. and speaking of chickenshit, i think the laws against mj kush are chickenshit.

\ said...

if u r an american in the living room --what are yuo in the bathroom?

Anonymous said...

european

Ernie Branscomb said...

Yure shittin me! I gonna stay in the kitchen!

Anonymous said...

Well of course, greed caps (10 million? 100 million?) will be neccessary for the rich. Excessive wealth accumulated through the racket of capitalism goes back into a common pot for the common good. Greed for the greatest good of all!
How much does one person/family need?
Why do we tolerate a rich elite?

Ernie Branscomb said...

I've already had a drink tonight, I didn't wait for bedtime like Bunny to do my happy drug, so I shouldn't be posting anything, but I couldn't resist!

I spent a week in Washington D.C. studying early American History. I know what Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and the early framers of America went through to build this country. I can tell you that if they were around today they would be ashamed of us. How could we let this great country slip so deep into this economic quagmire. Greed has taken over. It is difficult to see past making a great fortune, like the higher-ups in AIG do. If somebody offered me millions of dollars in bonus money. I would probably screw everybody too. Basically I’m a good guy, so the kind of money that they make has got to be part of the problem. Nobody deserves to make enough money to be willing to screw-over their fellow man (or woman, sorry). That should be a number one principle. There should never be enough money in anything to temp anybody to screw over their fellow countryman. (or woman. This P.C. thing is getting ridiculous! What is the modern day term for human being?)

Anonymous said...

hu-monkey!

Indie said...

Great post, Ernie. O am too tired right now to think of any clever solutions or outlandish ideas. I'll sleep on it and get back to you.

Indie said...

I mean "I" am too tired. The first thing to go is my typing...

Ernie Branscomb said...

I thought maybe to honor St Patrick you changed your name to O'Indie.

Anonymous said...

This'll probably get me thrown in a FEMA brig with that omar fella...but get the greedy clowns out of their suits. What is this obsession with plumage that the humonkeys have? When did it become ok for people to wear threads worth more than the average income of many of the worlds poor? Why is looking your best more important than being loving and taking care of others? Are men stuck wearing suits just because the fancy world requires major costumage to disguise the content?
Together with the greed tax, how about a spending on clothing limit?
I think I just lost the Mall vote, and the aren't-I-somethin'-in-a-suit vote.

Anonymous said...

I agree! Make them rich greedsters buy their clothing off the rack! Either that, or put them rich greedsters ON the rack!

Anonymous said...

Nationalize the gas and oil companies so poor people can get cheaper prices without having to have Chavez of Venezuela provide it(as he repeatedly and generously has).
National wealth for the nation, not for the extractors of the resources.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Donald Trumps says that we will never come out of this recession until we have some control over our oil companies. He says that as we pull out of the recession the oil companies will raise their prices and keep us there. He says that we need to develop our own oil recourses, and not be held in the stranglehold of Opec.

If American corporations did business like Opec, they would all go to jail for collusion. Opec has regular meetings to set prices. Business in the U.S. can’t do that.

Anonymous said...

Beg to differ on that last part Ernie...what the US refineries do is just as bad; for years they have ignored building new refineries, and colluded to shut down the spigot at this end, in the variety of ways at their disposal.
Enron was some pretty serious collusion.
During the first months of bush the seconds first term Cheney held the infamous secret energy policy meeting with oil execs. FOIA turned up a few maps that showed they were looking at that Iraqui oil. The national outrage from 9/11got hijacked to justify taking out Saddam and putting in permanent military bases to guard the oilfields. The volatile Middle
East gave savvy investors a way to jack up prices through speculation ...wahoo... greed is there. If oil companies can make record profits while civilization is tumbling, wahoo... collusion and greed are there.
Obviously, I do not have a high view of American business ethics.
And I would know, or my name isn't Ronald Stump

Robin Shelley said...

Wait a minute! Your cousin, Oregon, is working? Where?!!
(-;

Ernie Branscomb said...

Another Casualty??? Tell Oregon not to worry too much, Obama is going to bail out his bank for him!

Robin Shelley said...

"Temporarily laid off" is what they're calling it... lack of work. For a month. South Coast is still in business so far as we know. My husband is a filer with Oregon. (I was being a smart-alec... sort of... sorry... sort of.) (-: