Suscitate's A-Nihilism

I just read the GOP and DNC platforms

2010-04-06T02:38:00.000-07:00

I believe both parties are out of touch with the people. Both parties are more concerned with their respective agenda than with the desires and needs of the people. If I did not fear the incompetence of the Libertarians I would probably become one.

Taxes: they are needed, the infrastructure MUST be supported. It is irresponsible for the GOP to brag about tax cuts when they caused a mushrooming of the debt. If we do not raises taxes now our children and grandchildren will face tax rates that we cannot imagine!

Social Security: it was designed to be a safety net for those that need it. People that retire with millions of dollars should not be eligible for Social Security. The retirement age needs to be raised (this will affect me), people are living longer now than they use to. The age of retirement should be the average age of the citizen. Speaking of retirement, how about raising the requirement to get a military pension from 20 to 25 years of service. Or changing the ability of someone to start collecting a check immediately after they retire. Why should a 38 year old be able to collect a full retirement? Make it 25% under 45, 50% under 50, 75% under 55, and full pension at 60. They can still collect after their service is complete, but I am not sure taxpayers should pay so much for people that can and do still work.

Education: Unless the quality of education is improved in this country, it will continue to fall apart. I know my grammar is shit, I am a product of the education system! I have very little science skills. My math ability is above average, but I still consider it weak. History is my strong point (and my major in college) and it pisses me off when I see both parties perverting history to support their agendas! Keep political agendas out of classrooms and textbooks! (This message is to Texas.) The fact the GOP supports allowing parents to use funds intended for the public school system to be used for private schools is INSANE! This benefits the wealthy, since the poor are less likely to qualify for such a school or pay any additional cost. Following that logic I should not have to pay school tax if I choose to not have a child. Of course I should have to pay school tax, it benefits society as a whole! The cost of higher education is out of control. Much like health care or gun ownership, education should be a right, not a privilege. Attacking the teacher seniority system will not change the problems in America's schools. The fact is that there is little hope amongst the poor of ever accomplishing anything. This means we are creating entire generations of people that are completely and utterly alienated. Even those people that are intelligent and try to achieve a college education find that they either cannot afford it or they end up so far in debt that even upon graduation there is little hope for them. With such a debt load students cannot plan on doing something they love or that maybe productive for society. There is a reason the US imports many scientists, nurses, people with math degrees... because there is no money in it for students. If you can only make 30K a year and you have a phd in math, that is as much as you can make in a factory or warehouse. (the figures are just examples, so chill people) Maybe if education was cheaper more qualified people would attempt to achieve degrees and they would not feel the need to follow a career that will enable them to pay their student loans. I speak this from experience. I am going to go for a MBA after I get my BA in history this year. The reason being so I can make more money, so I can afford to pursue a different Masters level degree. Education is the foundation of the future of any nation. The grades your students get will be the quality of leaders tomorrow. Yet we wonder why the country faces such ills?

Health Care: As I stated above, health care is a right! I am disturbed by the GOP playing politics with an issue that is so important. Yes they are unified, but for the wrong reasons. They need to have concerns for the people instead of their special interests. I am disturbed by the DNC plan. I see it as a bailout for the insurance industry. They are trying to create a culture where we will see our monthly payment to an insurance company as a necessary evil. I am not sure if I will ever make enough money to worry about that, yet the implications scare me. The USA already spends more money per citizen, a higher percentage of its GNP than any other industrialized nation. Yet we are near the bottom of quality of health care. This is shown by the lifespan of our citizens, the infant morality rate and other factors. What we need is a plan like Canada or Europe. Technology will continue to force health care costs higher, but what we do not need is hospitals running tests that are not needed just so they can get paid.

Special Interests: Since I mentioned it above, I will tackle it now. Lobbyists need to be outlawed! They are nothing more than realtors for votes. Lobbyists represent the money that purchases their services, not the people who cannot afford them. Grass roots campaigns is one thing. Yet a corporation is not a person. The people behind the corporation already have their vote and influence. Why should they be able to push even greater power through the corporation?

Guns: How far out of sync can the DNC be? Polls have shown that citizens do not trust government when it comes to guns. So they result to fear mongering. Ever since the 1950s more and more Americans have come to cherish their right to bear arms and do not want the government to prevent them for exercising this right. I personally own an AK-47, Sig 2022, Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun and AR-15. I do not hunt. I wish I had more time to target shoot. I do not fear crime. I own these firearms because I do not trust the DNC to respect my right to bear arms. I do not trust the government to support mandatory registration of firearms to promote responsible gun ownership. If I trusted the government, I would have no problem with guns being registered. Yet the government does not serve the people, it serves special interests.

Drugs: In the past I have done drugs. I quit and become very anti-drug. I grew up in a few rougher areas and I will let you in on a secret. Violence does not follow drugs, it follows the money that can be made off of drugs. People all over this country do things that are harmful to them. We smoke tobacco, we drink alcohol, both are a burden on society. Because of this burden people must pay a sin tax to enjoy their particular vice. So legalize and regulate drugs. You can control the quality of drugs, ensuring that people know what they are getting. You can tax it so these same users will be paying for the burden they place on society. You will take the profit out of illegal drugs and cut down on the violence associated with them. I am talking about real industries that are regulated and under the jurisdiction of the ATF. Not like the smoke shops that are opening up in California and elsewhere. Marlboro Marijuana can be trusted more than someone on a street corner or someone that decides to open a smoke shop where medicinal marijuana is made legal. Pfizer Acid will be have less harmful additives and cause less health risks than acid made by some backroom chemist. Regulations may not be perfect, but it is better than no regulation. Look at this logically. Many children of the sixties are reaching retirement age and they still get high illegally. It is time for DC to catch up with the learning curve and realize society has changed. I will personally still choose to remain drug free, but that is all that it is, a personal choice. It is easier for a teen to get any illegal drug than it is for them to get alcohol (unless their parents do not mind them drinking and supply it). Drug dealers do not ask for ID, they are only worried about getting money. All you have to do is know the right people in any neighborhood and you can get what you want. How ludicrous would it be to outlaw alcohol again? Yet alcohol causes more trouble to American society than any other drug. We truly are making the same mistakes that were made during prohibition. To quote Mark Twain, "history does not repeat, but it rhymes."

Okay, it is late and I am tired. I just had to vent after reading those platforms.

I think I am officially old now :(

2009-12-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

In the past I wrote exclusively about political issues, this time I will try to mix it up a little with light hearted things, much like what I am going to say right now...

Yes I am concerned that I am officially old. I quit smoking more years ago than I can remember and a side effect was I gained 100 lbs before I noticed what was happening. I know that statement is hard to swallow. Yet it is true, as my lungs cleared up, I felt so much better that I never noticed the excess weight I was putting on. I am sure it also had a lot to do with the crap that I was eating at the work cafeteria. I always put off getting myself in shape, I always had an excuse. I was driving tractor trailer and just could not eat right, I was working full time, going to school full time and had no time to workout or even cook. Always great excuses, they convinced me of my inability to change my situation. Well I went to the doctor in October and I was 297 and I freaked! I had hit 300 before, but I was determined to not hit it again. Plus the fact that I had put on almost 30 pounds in the past year made me decide it is time to get serious and make a change.

Well since October of 2009 to today I have changed a lot of how I function. I am learning about foods, trying to eat right, stay away from crap that is just not good for you and today I think I made the ultimate sacrifice. I was looking at cereal, trying to decide what cereal I can eat that does not have high fructose corn syrup in it. I have been getting total, and will grab a bowl when I do not have time for something better. Well today I discovered Grape Nuts, have not opened the package and I am afraid to. Yet the fiber will do me good.

I am also doing almost 100 miles a week on my exercise bike, along with a reasonable deficit of calories on my intake, since mid October I have lost 49 lbs. Once I get down to 230 or 220 I plan to start a serious work out schedule to get myself back into the shape I was in 1998, before my life slowed down and my weight started to go up.

Grape Nuts thing still through me for a loop... time to cook some fish...

think...

2009-12-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Not being rich,
How can I understand a rich world.
Not being happy,
How can I depict a happy world.
Not having any dreams,
How can I possibly sell dreams.
If you lie, you usually get caught.

Welcome to my world

2009-12-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am an educated thug. A junior high school drop out with a BA. An inner city punk, living in the middle of nowhere 25 years later. I have done more than my share of drugs, yet despise them and believe they should be legal. Someone with no faith in any mythical higher power, yet I would pick up my guns to protect someone's ability to practice their faith. I cannot be called a patriot, yet I love where I live. Basically I seem to be a master of contradictions with what I believe. I see myself as a mirror of society and the human race as a whole though. I am not the contradiction, the contradiction is our society as a whole!

I will be drawing attention to all of these things in what I write. I will be very blunt and severe in my judgments. I will most likely not allow responses on most of my writings. I do not care what pseudo intellectuals have to say. I only want to make people think, to contemplate everything they do and say. If we have an honest opinion of all the challenges that face us as a species, then maybe a solution that has a degree of sustainability will be achievable. Yet above all else, I will be calling people out for the bullshit that they believe/preach. Practice what you preach, because being a hypocrite is the unforgivable sin.

Why Suscitate? "To rouse; to excite; to call into life and action."
Why a-nihilism? People do tend to be a bit nihilistic by nature and a-nihilism is a play on words for annihilate, which is a reference to our violent nature as a species. I am no hippie who says all we need is love. I say we could probably progress better as a species if we accepted our violent nature and put limits on it rather than denied it. Also violence (war) has been a part of diplomacy ever since the first city states were formed.

Just to warn you, no issue is too taboo to embrace or attack. You have been warned. If you do not like what I have to say, then start your own blog and make it coherent! If the references you use to support your position are shit, just sit down and shut the fuck up. Because if you do not realize that Wikipedia is not a legitimate source, not only should you not vote, you probably should not breath. One more thing, I know my grammar is shit. Read above, jr high drop out. Obviously I did not get a BA in English.