Wolves Circling Prey

...Yup.  I sense it happening.  I'm being circled by a pack of wolves who want to access to the pile of cash I've been trusted with.  It's not my personal money.  It's a trust fund that I administer.  Thankfully, there are two signatures required for any withdrawals with mine being one of them.  It's the "other" signer on the account I need to be leery of and with good reason.  I won't go into the history of this man, but everything he does has a personal agenda attached -- for his personal benefit, of course.  He does NOTHING out of the goodness of his heart or the betterment of the people, unlike what he portrays to the public.  Everything he does somehow has a personal benefit for him or his family.  How dare I make such an accusation?  I've known him for almost 30 years.  Watch out, Sonoma County, he'll be running for office soon.  Let's refer to him as Mr. Ego.  Four letter words come to mind when I want to give him a name, but I'll stick to three letters for now.

Anyway, I've been getting emails this week from a man I have never met personally wanting to set up a  meeting for a project initiated from Mr. Ego.  Great.  When I was first briefed on this project by Mr. Ego it was made to sound like something that would be of the betterment of the industry.  After dealing with Mr. Ego for 30 years, I have figured out his mode of operation by now.  I would be a complete idiot if my intuitive antennae did not go up.

Today was the proof in the pudding.  They want to schedule a 'stakeholder' meeting.  WTF????  I'm not going to be a 'stakeholder' or anything else for that matter.  These bureaucratic busy-body paper pushers with too much time on their hands can quit scheming to get their hands on the fund they are eyeing.  The wolves are circling.

I deleted the email.  Too bad my "junk" email filter is set to the TRUTH ONLY setting.  I will not be bullied.

Happy New Year

...we've made it through another cycle of seasons.  There really is no measurement for time.  Man created artificial means to count it because our little undeveloped ape brains just can't grasp the concept of the timelessness and vastness of the universe.

Ahhhhhh.....evolution.  Sometimes it just can't happen fast enough for the masses.  I keep hoping for a quantum leap to save us.  I'm not holding my breath.

My year in review?  Hmmmmmmm.  I had some very private, personal lessons that would do no good to blab on a blog.  Besides, I do have some shred of dignity and don't broadcast and photograph every meal I've ever eaten at a restaurant let alone personal circumstances.  However, we really do need each other to teach us.  Every frustration, anger, love, hate, whatever, is there to teach you something.  And yes, sometimes it's YOU who is the asshole.  And yes, karma WILL bite you in the ass -- eventually -- and maybe not even in this incarnation or on this plane of existence.

Karma (or whatever you want to lablel it) isn't there to punish but rather to teach you.  Are you a good student and paying attention?  Are you getting it?  I see others going through life with such elementary karma lessons that I'm shocked they aren't putting it together.  Don't they see what what life is trying to teach them?  Are they blind to the guides and forces basically screaming in their ears the lesson?  All those voices in your head aren't necessarily a need for a psychiatric lock down in the local loony bin.  The hard part for me is to keep my mouth shut and fly under the radar as blending into general society is a requirement for me.

I could write the Holy Bible in four words:  Don't be a dick.

The problem?  Who's Dick?  It's you.

It's Official - It's On Facebook!

Once somebody proclaims their relationship status on Facebook there's no going back.  Oh yes, those gushing, loving, ga-ga-goo-goo (barf) love posts and pictures for the world to see are more about trying to show ex-lovers/spouses/whatever that they have moved on to someone better/younger/prettier/richer/etc., than it is about their so-called deep love for one another.  They are usually 'public' because during the break-up they have 'unfriended' each other.  Not that Facebook (or anything else over the internet) is actually ever private, but they want each other to see how much better their new relationship is and how easily replaceable they were.  More importantly, demonstrating how desirable they themselves are.  Lame ego-fest. 

Real love needs no juvenile announcements via cheesy social media.  Grow up.  However, revenge is ours when the relationship ends or you no longer post photos of the two of you off on an exotic locale and you get thousands of people private messaging you asking "You changed your relationship status.  Lucy is no longer in the photos.  What happened?"

Why am I so bitter?  Because M changed her relationship status gushing on about her soul-mate lover!  The free-loader-drug-addict gave her a DIAMOND for Christmas (even though she's Jewish).  Of course he has money living in HER paid off house he moved into.  I would have lots of extra money, too, if I could live somewhere rent free.  What pushed me over the top was his response to her Facebook relationship status change.  GAG!!!!!!!!!!  M has never been a social media type of person.  This is all about showing her ex-husband she has somebody better while he is still painfully unattached.  This is about her rubbing it in as to how her ex-husband is a big a loser as he can't keep any of the women he's dated and now she's with Prince Charming.  The irony is that she doesn't have somebody better.  She just has not figured that out yet.

I already blogged my dislike for M's new man earlier.  I have kept my mouth shut.  I know a wedding is on the horizon.  Now I know why people cry at weddings.  They are not always tears of joy.

Post Christmas Exhale

Can you hear my lungs empty with a heavy exhale?  It's pretty loud.  For as much as all the chaos Christmas brings there is a certain bittersweet meloncholy vibe when the house empties out despite their constant eating and other assorted mess making when everybody is home plus their other assorted friends.

My son left this afternoon.  I don't know when I will see him next.  He is being deployed overseas and as every mother would do, cried uncontrollably when he drove away out of sight.  He did leave me with some departing military humor.  He refers to Kuwait as 'Satan's Asshole.'  See, my son is not your typical shoot-em-up-kill-em-all-blow-them-up-with-nukes kind of a kid.  His mode is more of historical and cultural understanding and asks WHY the middle east wants all of us westerners dead.  He manages to add doses of humor as well.  There are layers and layers history that go into that one.  It's a 6 hour conversation at the least.  The real problem with the world is that not everybody has a sense of humor.

My daughter is scheduled to leave January 9th for college 3 hours away.  Believe me, that is a big deal for her.  She has always been glued to my side.  It's only been within the last year or so that she has forged her independence.  She has opportunities to attend college on the east coast and elsewhere but the only place she would ever consider is Hawaii.  She was not ready for that when the offer was there.  Hawaii sounds so glamorous, but the poverty and drugs are their ugly other side they don't show the tourists.  Plus, the realization of being on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and home being a 5 hour plane ride away makes mom toooooooo far away should the flu strike.....and it does.  Three hours via auto is perfect.  No plane ride required should something happen where she needs mom, but far enough away where popping home to do laundry and raid my fridge for food will not happen.

My boy has wanderlust and my girl is a cling peach.  Go figure.

Anyway, I guess after having a housefull for the past week or so has left me a sense that people LOVE to come over here....and stay.....and stay.  I'm chuckling as I type this.  I had a houseful Christmas Eve and super-houseful Christmas Day.  Nobody wanted to leave.  I had to give some not-so-sublte cues that it was time for guests to go home.  Even those went unheeded..  Repeat cues.  Not sure what draws people here but I suppose good food is always a plus.  I had every race, color, and creed here Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  What a motley crew.

During a short and much needed break in the chaos Christmas Day I called my family back in Minnesota.  My mother answered the phone.  There was pretty much silence in the back ground.  I asked how their Christmas was going.  The only ones there were my sister, mom, dad, and my grand-niece.  It was at that moment I realized how disconnected my family was.  Everybody was off doing their own thing.  In contrast I had a hodge-podge of family and friends hanging about.

Anyway, I'm all over the board tonight.  I'm allowed.  it's my blog and I'm not forcing anybody to read this.  I'm just relaxing and venting.

All Gone

The 14 pounds of pork that I cooked in my 100+ year old cast iron skillet disappeared.  I did not even get a slice of bacon.  I'm serious.  It was standing room only for breakfast again this year with a couple newbies. 

It's been non-stop this week.  I'm not a church kind of person but i did attend a service where the lights were dimmed and all had a candle.  When the solo vocalist started with O Holy Night the tears began to fall and I could not stop myself.  There was something so beautiful about the congregation holding the candles..... I can't explain it. 

This year has presented me with lessons of forgiveness and acceptance.  Never has that lesson been more apparent than the last couple of months. 

Peace out and Merry Christmas. 

I'll be back to my bitchy self later next week. 

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!  I spend last night and a good portion of the morning prepping food for tonight and tomorrow.  I have prepped 6 pounds of Sonoma 4H pork, 8 pounds of Sonoma 4H bacon, and as I type I have a 10 pound Sonoma 4H ham in the oven.  The cast iron skillet I used for both the bacon and the sausage is well over 100 years old.  It survived the pioneer prairie trip west and has been used over countless open fires and wood burning stoves.  I wish it could talk.  It kind of does.  This skillet is so well seasoned that it's much superior to any teflon surface.  The surface is like a smooth ice skating rink that has just had a pass by the Zamboni machine.

Here she be in her "I just cooked 14 pounds of pork" and need to rest look:

Now, completely switching gears I've been practicing my 'watch me whip/nae nae' dance moves for awhile now.  If you want to see your kids and their friends do a full face palm with head shake, try dancing to this.  It will get you an OMG, MAAAAAAAAWWWWM!!!!  REALLY?  However, I'm NOT the mom who refuses to dance.  LOL

You should see me Whip and NaeNae.  Yeah, I'm not bad for over 40. 

Island of Misfit Toys

We are the island of misfit toys.  Apparantly there are a lot of misfits out there wanting to go somewhere Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  They are coming here.  Plus, I am an incredible cook.    Christmas Eve I serve Sonoma County ham that was purchased at the 4H auction to contribute to some little hick's college fund.  Yeah, I overpaid for a hog but that's not the point.  It's about supporting our diminishing agricultural roots and it is the BEST pork you will ever taste.  The jury is out as to whether Bud's Meats or Willowside is the best butcher as both places do quality work.  Butchering meat, if done correctly, is an incredibly underappreciated art form.  Once you eat local, farm raised meat that has been carefully tended to you will never go back.  I'm sure the vegan band of the Bored Moms on Prozac along with the Hairy Armpit Club will try to stop this long-time Sonoma County custom preaching animal cruelty and health effects but they can just all move back to Marin or SF or wherever else they came from.

Christmas morning for breakfast it's the Danish specialty aebbleskivvers (sp?).  You need a special cast iron skillet to make them and again, it's an art form that takes years to perfect.  I'm teaching my own children how to make them and as of last year their end product looks like deflated footballs.  When done correctly they are perfectly round and hollow on the inside to be filled with fruit preserves.  Get out of the way, kids, and let me show you how it's done.

It's standing room only for breakfast on Christmas morning.

Thud

I have a new name for my cat.  I now call him Thud.  He is more like a dog than a cat and so much for his cat-like reflexes?  HA!!  He's about as graceful as a hippo.

Thud and I have a routine.  When he hears my feet hit the floor in the morning he hops over the gate with a loud, ungraceful THUD.  He wants his kitty treats.  After that he wants lovenz and then to go outside to greet his ever growing fan club.

The Mouth Sisters

Have you ever watched the movie Christmas Vacation?  I swear they filmed my family and made a comedy out of it.  Some of the characters and scenarios hit so close to home it's scary.  We only laugh at the sad truth.

Merry Christmas...the shitter was full.

Which brings me to the Mouth Sisters.  I have two sisters-in-law that between the two of them rival air raid sirens whenever they open their mouths.  One has a stupid mouth and the other has a big mouth.  Hence, my individual names for them....Stupid Mouth and Big Mouth.

It's unbelievable what falls out of Stupid Mouth after she has a glass of wine.  You would think she would learn after several decades on this planet.  It's almost like she delights in getting hurtful, jabbing digs in on you. If she can say something about you personally to hurt you or embarrass you in front of others it gives her great pleasure.  It's sick.

The other sister, Big Mouth, just can't keep it shut.  Remember the doll Chatty Kathy?  That's her!!!  She NEVER shuts UP.  Plus, she is LOUD.  You can't trust her with anything confidential.  I found that out years ago.  She delights in family gossip and spreading it around embellishing it 1,000 fold along the way.

I can't wait for the week between Christmas and New Year.  All of this family and social stuff is really wearing on me.  I have not even seen the peak of it yet with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Home for the Holidays

It's happening.  Everybody is home for the holidays.  I now have the post-high school age group meandering back to Sonoma County.  My house is *still* a homeless and animal shelter.

I had a huge lesson in forgiveness the other night.  One of my 'adopted' daughters betrayed me and my daughter.  This was after having her live with us for three years.  I was hurt beyond belief.  How could somebody you took in as your own turn around and treat you like dirt and stab you in the back?

Believe it or not, this girl showed up on my doorstep the other night like a lost cat.  She is attending college on the east coast and is home for the holidays.  She does not want to be at home with her biological mother.

I could not bring myself to slam the door in her face -- believe me, she would have deserved it.  She came in and the tears and hugs began.  For the next three hours all I heard was her gratitude for what we did for her growing up.  She said that we were the only real home she ever knew.

Forgiveness.  It's not just a bumper sticker slogan.  Try it.

Health Care Fraud

I attended a conference on employee pension and health benefits.  One of the classes was on health care fraud.  The United States pays double the amount for health care for half the benefits elsewhere in the world. No, we do not lead the world on taking care of our citizens.  There's money to be made in exploiting people's sickness and pools of insurance funds with little oversight.  One of the biggest abusers is the pharmaceutical industry.  Yawn.  We already knew that.

Everybody seems to think that fraud happens in blighted areas where doctors with a shack and shingle outside their run-down office complete with cracked windows and cracked concrete and obtain the working poor as clients to milk workers' compensation, SDI, MediCal, etc., for whatever its worth for both themselves and their patients.

Nope.  Guess again.

Most fraud happens in your yuppie neighborhoods from doctors who look and act like Marcus Welby (I guess I'm dating myself).  What???  Did I just blow your socks off????

When they are caught most of the time it never hits the press.  It would be like announcing that Santa Claus is fake to a room full of pre-schoolers.  They are usually outstanding members of the community and serve on serve on various committees and acclaimed medical boards.  No reporter wants to take the bullet on that one.  The doctors who fraud the system justify their actions by stating that "everybody else does it" and that "how else am I supposed to pay off my med school student debt?"

I can't make this stuff up.

Learning to Love Assholes

Yin and Yang.  Good and Evil.  Nice People and Asshole People.

One cannot exist without the other.  Each contains part of the other.

I suppose asshole people are necessary.  It truly does take all kinds.  How else are we to learn life lessons and notch ourselves up on karma ladder?

Peace out.....even if you're an asshole.

Merry (bleep) Christmas

Christmas is GREAT....for hyper active extroverts.  For cat-like introverts like myself it's torture.  Like most cats I want to socialize in my own way on my own time.  I'm fickle.  Most of the time I will just give you a piercing glare from across the room flicking my tail and daring you to come over and pet me.  When that happens I will hiss at you and run into an empty room to avoid you.  You annoy me.

Russians are Creeping on Me

Hey, Russians....  I see you creeping on me.  You think you're all stealth and covert.  You are about as graceful as a bull in a china cabinet.  Yeah.  I said it.  China.

Real Estate Bubble: Part Deux

Remember when the real estate bubble burst in 2008?  Everybody was soooooo angry at the banks for their greed and taking advantage of people.  The government came in and wagged their finger with a stern tisk-tisk and that was about it.  The industry tightened things for a while with new assessments to determine if prospective buyers could repay their mortgages, but soon after banking went back to business as usual.

In January of 2014 banking regulators changed the more stringent rules after the real estate lobby and some consumer groups claimed that millions of Americans would not be able to qualify for housing loans.

Did you know that?  My guess is no.

It finally makes sense.  I could not figure how housing values could escalate so quickly after sharp depreciation.  Did median income levels rise?  No.  Was the county adding jobs that could justify the leap in values?  No.  Again, I smell something rotten in Denmark.  What's driving this illusion that the economy has changed for the better?

Everybody in the California Bay Area thinks that God Google and his disciples Yahoo and Oracle are going to pave the streets with gold and create Utopia for all.

Not.

Unless you live in the Google compound where working 24/7 eating, sleeping, breathing, and constant monitoring you're screwed.  The few monied kaBillionaires have presented this false expectation that anybody who can write code can write their own tech success story.  Everybody is a Steve Jobs wannabe and even fewer attain that status.   Nobody can afford to live on the wages the tech gods pay which is surprisingly lower than everybody thinks.  Technology and the associated jobs no longer need to be centralized in one geographical area.  Remember that.

Which gets me back to the housing and tech bubble that is about to burst again.

My CA Best Friend's Boyfriend

I have a couple of things to rant about today.  I'm struggling about which subject to go off on -- myths about home buying or meeting my CA best-friend's boyfriend last night and NOT LIKING HIM.  Hmmmmmmm decisions, decisions.  I think I'll go off on not liking M's boyfriend being I've been on a somewhat what-the (insert profanity) is-wrong-with-our-country trend.  I just got the inevitable text message from my CA Bestie asking, "Well??????????  What do you think of him?"

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She can do so much better.  Really.  My first impression was that he reminded me of my creepy uncle who molested me when I was a preteen.  His sweating and constant sniffling and fiddling with his nose is so tell tale of a cocaine addict.  He mumbled when he talked and made no sense at all.

My first and immediate thought was WTF does she see in him?  M went through a nasty divorce that took 5 years from start to finish.  Why does she want to hook up with a guy who is worse than the man she divorced?  She swore she would never again end up with an addict prone, abusive, temperamental guy (cough, cough, her father).

Those early subconscious psychological patterns we receive from our parents and their behavior are ingrained in us and tough to overcome.  I'm not going to get all preachy because I have my subconscious issues as well.  Everybody does.

However, M has dated other guys that I have met and thought they were a HELL of a lot better than the one she is with now.  At least they did not remind me of my creepy uncle and they were not sweating profusely whilst constantly fidgeting, rubbing their nose and disappearing for short stints. At least the other guys could hold a conversation with me and were coherent.  There was one boyfriend she had I thought would be a good match for her.  She broke up with him.  Why?  Because he was too boring.  I think she freaked because he told her once that his biggest fear what that she would not be able to handle the depth of love that he had for her.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  Now THAT is sweet.  I could also hold a conversation with this guy.  He was also they type of guy you could call at 2:00 in the morning if your car was broken down and he would show up to help.  He had a steady job and a stable life.  All of that dependability and stability is contradictory to what M was raised with.  M's relationship pattern had already been established.

I guess M needs to be with a train wreck of a guy.  He's already moved into her house.  She's in love and tells me she has met her soul mate.  She is goo-goo over him.  I see disaster on the horizon.  See why I'm procrastinating answering her text asking "what do you think of him?"

This guy does NOT pass the BFF test which is integral to keeping with the sacred Girl Code.  I just don't know how to convey that and if I even should convey anything at all.  Struggling.

Schwartznegger and Brown

Ohhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh stand back y'all.  Former California Governor Arnold Schwartznegger and present political adversary Governor Jerry Brown both now "agree" that global warming is a real threat.  Wow.  Political opposites now see eye-to-eye....or should I say popularity-poll-to-popularity-poll.  Win win.  Votes votes.  Cameras and photo ops to cameras and photo ops.

Yea.  Two-time California Governor Moon-Beam Brown has always been known for his alternative views.  At least he does not flip--flop on his hippie views.  I respect him for that.  In contrast, Arnold Schwartznegger made fun of a political candidate on her views of global warming when it was not yet main stream and cool to do so.  I remember reading a quote from Arnold how he would like to drive his fleet of gas-guzzling hummers through the diminishing ozone layer this candidate was trying to advocate for and save.  He was blantantly making fun of her concern for the environment.  What an asshole.

Now it seems that the tables have turned and even Arnold has been shamed to recognize the realities of our abuse of the earth.  If he wants to remain in the spotlight and regain just a shred of public favor (no, we have not fogotton about his fucking and procreating with his Mexican houseslave woman while his wife was defending his honor) he needs to acknowledge the damage to the environment he contributed to with his shameless reproduction of more humans and driving Hummers.

Sorry, Arnold, nobody respects you.  I won't respect you in the morning, either.

Choices and Consequences

I'm a huge fan of the psychological theories of B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov.  Freud?  I think he was a misogynistic narcissist obsessed with his mother and his penis.

I could type on and on about the different psychological theories and what makes people tick.  Here's the truth:  NOBODY KNOWS FOR CERTAIN.  The human brain is too complex to try to figure out why people do what they do.  Granted, we have made strides in understanding chemical imbalances in the brain and how to deal with it.  Still,  discussion of the different psychological theories always segues into nature vs. nurture and the lot.

People have devoted their entire lives into trying to understand the human brain and related behavior.  Frustrating.  It's always open to argument.  However, B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov dumbed it down for practical use for the masses.  We are no different than the dogs he trained.  Wait.  I will say that dogs are better than humans.  My point is that forget the motivation behind why people do what they do.  There is no hard and fast answer; just a bunch of arguable psychobabble.  It's all about choices and consequences.

Choices are easy.  It's the consequences that suck.  See, the problem is that most of us don't like our own choices.  Oh well, that's where the learning comes in -- or should come in.  We should not be  excused from our crappy choices.  We should be rewarded for good choices.  Yup.  Animal training applied to humans for this zoo of a world.  Woof  Woof

Paris Gun Control: Is it Working?

I know.....Americans are dip shits for allowing AK-47's.  Let's dismantle the NRA and make them ILLEGAL!!!!!  Gun Control!!!!!!!!  It's TIME!!!!!!!

Slow down there, non-cowboy.  Think this through.  Tell me, doesn't Paris  have extremely strict gun control laws?  Tell me, how did Daesh terrorists manage to get their hands on them?  Is it true the police are unarmed?

Here in America we tried making alcohol illegal during prohibition.  It didn't work.  We tried the 'war on drugs'.  It's not working.  It's only creating violent drug cartels and a highly profitable black market.  If people really want something they are going to get it one way or the other.  You can't put this genie back into the bottle.

Background checks?  Psychological evaluations?  The pro gun control crowd is crying for more restrictions.  Are you kidding?  Neither background checks nor psychological exams are worth anything.  We are all nuts and half a bubble off.  Who is going to make that judgement call?  All I see is a field day for lawyers creating entire practices for individuals who were so-called discriminated against and denied their second amendment right to own a gun.  Lawyers love this kind of shit.  I pretty much hate lawyers.  I can already hear the Oakland thug crying on television that he was denied a gun cuz he be black and da man want to keep 'im down and hep-liss.  Full riots will ensue.

Hey, getting on TV and crying discrimination works.

The pro gun control crowd is trying to liken owning a gun like getting a drivers licence with the bureaucratic process as a deterrent and safety filter.  I don't see that happening.  We all know that people just drive with revoked drivers licenses anyway or just drive without a license at all.  In fact, we could not enforce our own laws and caved into granting drivers license to illegals.  We also caved into those who violated safety laws and gave an 'amnesty' program for unpaid fines and tickets so they could get their license back.  We even go so far to stop impounding cars at roadblocks when the driver is under the influence or not licensed because it's 'discriminating' and a 'hardship'.  Bullshit.  All they had to do was whine and cry a little.  More people are likely to die in a car accident than die from a gun shot wound.  I dare anybody to correct me on that simple fact.  

Are our roads any safer?  I don't think so.  I bet you can personally name somebody you know who died in a car accident.  I don't think you can personally name somebody you know from a gun shot wound.

The pro gun control crowd is using Australia as the poster child for gun control.  Australia is the island continent with no other countries within it.  They are self-contained and accessible by only sea and airplane.  The United States shares a border with Canada and Mexico.  We all know that Mexico is the exporter of whatever it is that we can't get in the United States -- including our slave labor and drugs.  Why would guns be any different?

And no, non-cowboy, I'm not anti-gun control.  I just want people to think every angle through.  There is no easy sound byte solution to this.

Paris Climate Talks: Lots of Hot Air

I think the most environmentally effective way for those convening in Paris for climate crisis would have been by hot air balloon.  Too bad all the hot air being released in Paris by politicians could not be captured and contained for such a cause.

Wait.  I'm not all sour over the world governments getting together to discuss destroying ourselves and what to do about it.  Big picture wise I'm glad it's happening.  No country is immune.  One planet.

I know....., (thinks Johnny Politician), .......let's throw BILLIONS of dollars into "clean energy."  Yup.  That will do it.  Solar, wind (there's that word again -- wind), water, etc.  "Clean energy" is such a catchy phrase.  It's certainly a feather on the cap in regards to political standing in the polls.  It makes me look goooooooooood to the public.

Let's take this 'clean energy' one step beyond.  Unless you are growing Teslas and charging stations on your urban roof top garden, do tell, just how are these things manufactured?  Precisely what resources are being used to manufacture green?  Even if burning fossil fuels is obliterated from the face of the earth, what's the real net effect of creating 'clean energy' on the environment when it's all said and done?  Manufacturing plants are still required.  It's just that the strategy of hiding this process in China is no longer working.   I have yet to see a manufacturing plant that was 'organically' grown on a farm using all 'organic' products.

We are just on the cusp of figuring out that we can't have our cake and eat it, too.  We can't have the convenience of a post-industrial revolution world without harming the environment.  I don't care what anybody says except for Russell.  Sorry, but the Native Americans saw this coming a long, long time ago and warned us.  However, I will save my rant for tribe gambling casinos for another time.

Daesh Bags in San Bernardino

Daesh always....and I mean ALWAYS....takes credit for terrorist attaches whether they had anything to do with them directly or not.  Making you afraid of them only gives them power.  You are feeding right into their game plan and feeding their warped egos.  Stop it.

Violence, guns, and blood gets headlines.  The media vultures are just as much to blame in perpetuating the hype.  Please remember the media's ONLY survival is viewers and readers.  With so much competing for our attention these days it's harder and harder to get anybody to click or watch "read more" for your coveted attention span which is smaller than a gnat's ass and diminishing by the hour.  Your interest will be quickly diverted from the latest tragedy to what color dress Kim Kardashian wore.

Just a question to those who changed their Facebook profile picture to the French flag right after the terrorist attacks....at what point do you take that down?  What prompted your decision to change your profile picture back to normal?  Facebook fad?  Slacktivism?  You clicked 'temporarily change my profile picture' and let Facebook decide the length of showing your concern for you?

The United States has already moved on from Paris to San Bernardino.  God only knows why....as San Bernardino is located in one of Dante's nine circles of hell.  Any of you ever been there?

Anyway, I'm getting off track.  America has already dropped focus of Paris and Belgium to San Bernardino and the tired argument of gun control.  While everybody gets on their self-righteous soap box in either support or condemnation, just remember that more people die in car accidents, from cancer, and from heart disease every day.  Where's the outrage against THAT?

Oh wait...that would require research, statistical, and analytical skills.  Also, it would require more than spewing emotional rhetoric by politicians in an election year.

San Bernadino Mass Shooting

Could it be that I'm just desensitized at this point?  Oh look, another headline of yet another (yawn) psycho with an assault rifle mowing down innocent people minding their own business and eating.  What?  Workplace violence?  Terrorism?  Both motives are being investigated as I type this.

Based on our pattern of mass shootings, it looks like work and school are the most dangerous places to be in America these days.

Are you connecting psychological the dots yet?

Daesh: A little too soon

Come on, Daesh.  Again, you could have had the world cheering and gained international support if you would have strategically used your brains and not caved into irrational, adolescent mood rages.  World leaders are gathering in Paris.  If you would have carefully selected your targets instead of spraying innocent diners with bullets you could have advanced your agenda.  Some American leaders and international ones DESERVE a bullet.

Daesh, you blew it.  Literally.