The Value of Virtue

I used to love doing business using ebay and paypal. It was such a slick operation and the experience on the large was positive. But there are so many scams and schemes out there now that I feel like I'm taking unreasonable chances anytime I fire it up. Buying on eBay is plagued by stolen identities that are black holes for your money. Selling through paypal is plagued by chargebacks after the goods have been shipped and recieved. I'm a pretty wary customer and have uncovered a number of schemes, but I think it's just a matter of time until I get burned.

I'd like to have the money to set up and crush the scammers just for fun. Pull them in and pin them down and then duct tape them to a chair in a dark room and cut off body parts as a warning to future thieves. When they steal, they increase the need for security and caution, they decrease the market for goods, they drive up the cost of doing business for everyone. Commerce suffers, putting constant downward pressure on the economy, and trite or no, it is those at the bottom that get hurt most.

Think about it. Do you add to the cost of doing business? Are you the kind of customer or merchant that you would want to do business with?

Character for Sale

Two of the past 4 movies I've rented were about men of character. Athletes that had internal strength that matched their physical prowess. Since I'm always on the lookout for irony, conundrum, and paradox, this presented an interesting opportunity.

Coach Carter and Cinderella Man glorify men with values and principles that used to be common in this country. Values and principles that Hollywood ridicules and undermines at almost every chance. Hollywood dispises honor, virtue and loyalty. Hollywood is corrupt. So corrupt that they will glorify values they personally scorn in order to make money.

On the screen they sell imitation character, they sell a product they don't actually believe in. They have values, but their values won't generate nearly as much revenue. People aren't inspired by selfishness. The road to glory is service and sacrifice.

It's too bad they don't learn anything from the parts they play. To them, virtue, honor and loyalty are just play acting. It's only skin deep. It comes off with the make-up as soon as the filming is over. Then it's back to the easy lie, the backstabbing deal, and the self-indulgent schedule.

This is not to say that there are no virtuous people in entertainment, but it sure feels that way sometimes.

The Liberal Definition of the Best Country

In the block of voters that constitute the Democrat Party, there are differnt groups that consider the following conditions to be central to defining the place they'd like to live.

-Criminals are not punished.
-Police are prosecuted
-Unborn children are murdered (Womb to the Tomb)
-Parents have no say in school curricula.
-Non-Citizen Terrorists have more rights than US military ID Card Carrying Legal Combatants.
-The will of the people is invalid without the approval of judges.
-Communities can transfer homes of citizens to developers to increase the tax base.
-Dead people and felons vote.
-Live people vote as many times as their conscience allows.
-Pornography is protected free speech.
-TV commercial about an incumbent politician is prohibited speech.
-A crucifix in a jar of urine should be subsidized with federal money as art.
-Employers must hire an incompetent minority member over a competent white male.
-All references to the nation being establish by religious white men must be eradicated from the education system. Harriet Tubman is the greatest American of the 1800's. Rosa Parks is the greatest American of the 1900's
-Creative, productive people are punished with confiscatory tax rates.
-Cultures with stone age technology, misogynistic traditions, astronomical infant mortality rates, destructive superstitions are superior to western culture.
-Commerce is evil unless it deals in pornography, entertainment or fashion.
-Marriage can be between any number of individuals or animals.
-Age does not determine sexual potential (NAMBLA)
-There may be no government recognition of the 2000 year old Christmas tradition.
-The entirely fabricated Kwaanzaa tradition is of great cultural value.


It started as a reply to a comment. It's fun. Feel free to add.

Today is the Solstice

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. After that, the weather will still be cold and wet, but at least the days are getting longer.

I do feel an urge to light a big log on fire and dance around it.

Democrat J-Turn

The J-turn is a driving maneuver that lets you reverse directions without ever letting the wheels stop turning.

Has anyone else seen the Democrats spinning their wheels getting ready to reverse direction on the Patriot Act? Their polling data must be telling them that the voters want the intelligence and justice services to be able to share information and "connect the dots" to stop terrorist activities.

What a conundrum, in order to destroy the Bush Presidency, it may be necessary to allow attacks on the nation.

How hard it must be to hate one's country so.

Apparently there are some procedural rules that will let the law stand without forcing the Democrats to actually vote on it.



HooHah

Weasel Submission

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

The Paradox of the Sunshine Patriots

You cannot support the troops without supporting the war. War is what they do. They execute the policy of the nation. Even when it is ugly and extreme. The time and place to determine national policy is on election day at the ballot box. Once the troops are mobilized, deployed, and engaged, the time for discussion is over. The only way to support the troops once they are fighting is with a firm commitment to win.

Troops shouldn't be sent into battle wondering if the nation will surrender the day after. Once the battle starts, there's only one way out that supports the troops. Anything else is betrayal.

As for the inane idea that war is a betrayal...they're volunteers, you idiots! They knew what they signed up for. Just because you don't think this nation is worth defending, does not mean that everyone agrees. They've already taken an oath to give their lives to execute the missions the nation gives them. They've decided that the nation is more important than themselves. Oh, that we could find a liberal that thought that.

The last thing a warrior needs is to have the value of his commitment questioned by a bunch of panty-waist wussies that care about their own worthless lives more than they care about the nation.

Don't transfer your miserable fears and self-loathing to us, we'll not save ourselves at the expense of the nation. You run and hide like the Frenchmen that you are. The chasm that separates you from us is beyond the comprehension of your pitiful little minds. There's a reason they make movies about men (and women) of action. Intuitively, everyone knows what mankind can and ought to be.

If we wanted to be safe, we'd have stuntmen...like all the anti-war Hollywood posers.

Or thick security, like all the politicians.

You can't help but admire the daring and dangerous. You actors portray our heroics on the screen and politicians like Kerry press their dime-store credentials for political advantage.

Conundrum: The source of the glory that you use to your personal gain is war. Yet you claim to despise war.

Paradox: The troops define success as victory. If you don't support the victory, you don't support the troops.

How hard it must be to hate one's country so.

The Yardstick

The measure of a warrior is not size or strength
The measure of a warrior is not wealth or power
The measure of a warrior is not longevity
The measure of a warrior is not cruelty or destruction
The measure of a warrior is not guile

The measure of a warrior is his will to win
The measure of a warrior is his skill with his weapons
The measure of a warrior is his understanding of the enemy
The measure of a warrior is his ingenuity
The measure of a warrior is his command of the terrain
The measure of a warrior is his decisiveness
The measure of a warrior is speedy victory with minimum waste
The measure of a warrior is the esteem of his comrades

Troops don't want to be SAFE.They want to WIN!

The road to glory is service and sacrifice, not self-indulgence and self-survival.

The people that want to protect the troops by bringing them home don’t think this nation embodies values worth dying for. According to their values, the leaders of the troops are forsaking them to an unholy demise. These people do not understand the troops or the leaders.

The troops are willing to lay everything on the altar of liberty. I know… I have the privilege of leading them on a daily basis. They will not only fearlessly march into the gates of hell, they’ll laugh and tell stories about it afterward.

We raise our troops on stories of danger and heroics, where victory was separated from defeat by the narrowist of margins. The outcome balanced on the sharp edge of a combat knife and decided by commitment and the will to act on it. Our culture is different from the liberal culture. The liberal version of offense is hateful rhetoric followed by a backward somersault into the fetal position.

Troops don’t fear pain or death as much as they fear the shame of defeat. Pain and death are milestones on the road to glory. Defeat lasts forever. This is why liberals are calling for surrender and defeat. They loath the military. Nothing would make them happier than to see the military carry the shame of a defeat for the next 10 years. We were ashamed after Vietnam from 1973 through 1983. Morale was shot, Training suffered. We were treated as second class. We didn't like it.

Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war. But once they are loosed, don't call them off of the quarry till they have killed the beast. It's what they're bred for. Let them do the job.

Remember Pearl Harbor

It's December 7th. Remember Pearl Harbor.

Remember that if you drop your guard, someone with ambition will sucker punch you in order to put you down hard.

Remember Pearl Harbor. Then remember the smoking hole of Nagasaki. Never confuse overconfidence with incompetence.

Never underestimate a determined and committed enemy. Never fail to be a determined and committed enemy.

In war, commitment for the long hard fight is as important as all the tangibles.

The Face of Pride

They were carrying 65LB military packs on a 6.5 mile march around the base. He tripped and fell flat on his face. He got clear of the rucksack, got up, evaluated his mobility, and hoisted his ruck back on. With his face battered and bleeding, he smiled at his teammates and said "Let's Roll.

This is who we are. We are not the whiners, the crybabies, the victims. We are the Avengers. We are Agents of Wrath. We are the Protective Wall. We do these things that this exceptional nation full of exceptional people will continue.

Todd Beamer, this one's for you, because you are one of us.

Tirade on the "Gay Complex" et al

This is a recent reply to a comment in an earlier post

Why would I care if you get angry?

Next!

I am not going to hold your hand through the research. Go get the comparative statistics on Gay versus Straight mortality (that's morality with a "t" in it) from any source you want to find, Use an insurance company, the National Center for Disease Control or medical or psychiatric journals. I can't believe this isn't bedtime talk for you guys.

Did I say Gay couples were dangerous? Noooooooooo. I asked a question with the premise that statistically, (measured across a representative population) there appear to be risks in gay behaviors that are not present in heterosexual behaviors.

I also didn't say anything about killing yourself off. I hinted that anthropologically, a gene that decreases the probability of reproduction eventually self-eliminates from the gene pool. Strategic thinking isn't part of the the whole liberal thing, it must not be part of the Gay thing either.

I also didn't say or indicate homosexuality is or should be a crime. I listed other behaviors that have increased risk and asked if we should federally subsidize them too.

As for homosexuality not hurting anyone, I'm afraid I know different. It hurts people.It kills people, Maybe you're just new at this. Has anyone warned you about Hepatitis? E. Coli? There was some obscure thing going around called HIV too. These diseases spread when infected body fluids break into the circulatory system. Certain tender, loving gay practices are ideal for causing this. Do yourself a favor, get every inoculation you can. I tell you this because I care.

You said homosexuality can't be cured. Hmmmm. they used to say that about a lot of things. If we just don't really know what causes it, we really don't know if it is a condition that can or should be cured... do we? Maybe it shouldn't be cured. Maybe it's the solution to global warming and all of society's problems. Let's not assume it's the end of the world but let's not assume it's the greatest innovation since paisley prints either.

You wrote that there's no evidence that heterosexual behavior is genetic. Actually the evidence that straight behavior originates in the DNA is pretty conclusive. There's tons of psychology, anthopology, OB/gyn and other science. All that stuff about how the male reproductive stuff and the female reproductive stuff work together would be a pretty good clue. Heterosexual behavior is the only sexual behavior that has direct genetic causal effects. If one stopped thinking with ones emotions, one would be able to see that. One more comment like that, and I'll declare you a frickin' idiot and ban your posting.

The real question follows from that - why does all that genetic coding not work in some people? What causes a willingness to participate in homosexual behaviors when they have no obvious reproductive or anthropological precursors. Until we know what motivates gay behavior and can come to grips with the apparent risk factors, it would be silly and short-sighted to promote it equally with other models of behavior that lower risk factors.

There is also the statistical blip that an increase in gay behavior sometimes pre-curses the collapse of cultures. (Greeks, Romans, and certain other eastern and western dynasties.) Is there a connection? Or is that increase just an outcome of the other factors that precede the fall of empires.

Gay is not something to be hated or feared. But it needs to be understood before it should or will be fully accepted and validated. Natural selection would appear to rule out a purely genetic cause. Therefore it seems reasonable that we look at cultural, psychological, metabolic, nutritional, precursors that may carry influence.

I ask the questions because I refuse the "it's just the way I am" excuse. We are who we are based on genetics, learning, nutrition, exercise, nurture, metabolics and perhaps other factors. Blindly accepting oneself or another as "the finished product" is a limiting, self-destructive view. If you don't understand this, think of it as an application of the third law of thermodynamics as applied to the human being. If you don't know what the third law of thermo is, maybe I'm not as ignorant as you think I am.

I manage the careers and employment of about 100 people where I serve. I reject "It's just the way I am" as a strategy with them too. "It's just the way I am" seeks to avoid accountability, fails to ascertain causal factors, and undermines ambition or progress. I frequently am called as motivational and leadership teacher.

Caught your note about my high school education. First, don't believe everything you think you know. Your information is flawed. It's another fact you don't have straight. (Notice the clever use of the word straight there.) Second, Your premise is flawed too. Don't put too much faith in college. In the vast majority of students, it doesn't take. It may indicate to future bosses that you are willing to take a long term view and finish the chore. It doesn't mean you know anything or can apply it effectively. Where I work, all the post-graduates refer to me as the "adult leadership".

As for your social view that we use and unfair share of the world's resources. We produce more efficiently than everyone else. That means we get more out of those resources. That's one of the reasons we can afford a huge trade deficit year after year. Other people around the world are being enriched by our labors. It also means that we pollute less per pound of production.

Africa is not poor because we have stolen their resources. When I was in Angola in 1992, gas was 25 cents per gallon, 1/4 of the price in the US. Africa has coal/oil reserves and rare and precious strategic minerals and metals. They are poor because tribalism and nepotism don't respect property and the sanctity of contract. The powerful steal from those with the drive and talent to produce. So those with ambition - -leave. They go to the US, Europe, the Caribbean, Canada and even Asia to avoid the deficiencies of anachronistic political/social structure.

What you fail to grasp is that the laws of supply and demand put resources where they will be used most efficiently to meet the greatest demand.

If someone else could put those resources to better use, the supply chain would rip them away from us and deliver them elsewhere. It's starting to happen with China. Unhampered by environmental regulations, trade unions, confiscatory taxes, chinese industry is ramping up efficient capability. As they do, they are putting enormous pressure on the oil and steel markets. One way or the other, resources go to the most efficient use.

And don't tell me that feeding the starving is better use. Feeding the unproductive starving so that they breed more unproductive starving people is an idiotic proposition. What they need is cultural change. Cultural change will fix the problem. Throwing resources at it just delays the problem till tomorrow.

This post is closed to further ramblings. When you have something scientific to say, Post it. But I will delete any further emo twaddle.

The more I look at this whole Gay Complex, the more I see some kind of victim strategy. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it eventually.

Get to the bottom... Hoo-Hah