Feeling useless ........... and old.

Yet another job that I didn't get.  After spending two months, four interviews, a lie detector test, and a two background checks, the Texas DPS was at least kind enough to send me the letter that says, "You did well on the tests, but we won't be hiring you."
I have to admit that I'm a bit depressed.  It's been 9 months since I lost my last job and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm not good enough, or I'm too old, or I have nothing more to give.

So far, it's 8 interviews since March, 0 hires.
I guess I'll plug along with substitute teaching, which I enjoy, but would enjoy more if it could lead to a full time teaching job.

What I really wish, is that Obama's crowd would leave the economy alone and stop trying to fix it.  As it is, if we sink into an actual depression, I won't even be able to do what my Grandad did during the Great Depression, because illegal immigrants will take less money to pick strawberries and watermelons in California. (Not to mention that green-nuts are trying to deny California farmers water, just to save a stupid little fish.)

I love being back where I can see my family, but I might have to move away again, in order to find a job.
Sometimes it sucks to be 40.

Teachers should be allowed to carry guns. Honestly

I've spent the last two weeks substituting for the local school district.  I've subbed for every class from 1-12th grade, and after today, I have come to the conclusion that teachers should be allowed to carry guns (Tasers) and use them.

I have never seen a more disrespectful bunch of children than I had today.  Jr/Sr, History.  They would not shut up, sit down, or listen.  They lied, they threw paper and pens, and refused to read the lesson. 

Had I been like this during school, my parents would have killed me. 

Don't get me wrong, I like teaching, it's interesting, but today's parents have failed epically, in teaching their kids respect for authority figures.  Had I been anywhere else today, respect would have been given due to authority and expertise, however, these kids were just interested in not learning.

Maybe it's time to do away with mandatory school, and open it up to people who really want to learn, and when those who don't learn, try to get a job, we should tell them, "No GeD/Diploma, no job."

Honestly.

Best Friends....

Sometimes, I feel as if I'm all adrift in the world.
Some would wonder what would make me feel that way, and I can sum it up one phrase, "Best friends help keep you grounded and raise your spirits when the world comes crashing down."
Or as another phrase put it, "A good friend will bail you out of jail, while your best friend will be in there with you laughing and saying, 'Let's do that again.'"

I lost my best friend six years ago, when he died after surgery.  Don't get me wrong, I have a beautiful wife, and a great family that loves me, and a great group of friends that share my interests, but there is just something about having a best friend that knows what it takes to make you laugh, or gives you words of encouragement, and always listens to what you say.

My best friends was Dana Edward Frame, and I met him when I went to college.  We shared an interest in D&D, and writing, and science fiction movies.  I was there when he got married, he was there when my sister got married, but he missed my wedding, when I got married 3 years ago.  I would have loved to have him there as my best man.

I remember that he was the only person that ever made me mad enough to hit him, and he was the one that told me that I helped him find his lost faith.

I know he's passed beyond the veil, and know he's either looking down, wishing he could be here, or he's sitting at the feet of the master.  Either way, I miss you Dana, and wish you were still here.

As my favorite line from a movie goes, "I always have been, and always will be your friend."

So, those of you who have best friends, treat them like they are gold and keep them close, because once they are gone, they are gone, and they can't be replaced.

Some thoughts for fishermen all over the world.

This article was interesting for several reasons.

1)  Since fish farms have proven to be a money maker (at least in the US, for trout and catfish,) I don't see any reason why European and Asian fishermen can't sell their boats and set up fish farms and grow cod, bluefin, etc and make some money.  I believe this would save the wild fish and let the farmers grow fish that everyone could eat.

2)  I am very concerned about overfishing.  I would have figured that with all the cry about global warming, and species destruction, that the people that make their living from the sea would understand about saving at least some fish alive, and preserving their jobs.  But I guess like the rest of the world, fishermen don't really care, as long as they can make a profit from it. 

3) I'm actually surprised that greenpeace hasn't screamed to high heaven about this, or sunk a few fishing boats.  Maybe they are actually learning how to convince people without killing them. 

4) This just proves that government intervention doesn't work.  The UN and local governments can deny people everything, but somebody will illegally fish.  Surprising eh?


We Might learn how to preserve species of animals and sea life, when we have nothing else to eat.  But somehow I doubt it. 

Is this shameful, or are we saying this is wrong?

When I saw the Headline: Florida High School Team defends 83-0 win, I had to sit down and think about this for a minute.

Why is it so wrong for one team to beat the other team by this big of a margin?

Was it shameful? Was it wrong?

After giving it some thought, I'm saying no. There was nothing shameful in winning like this. All it means is one team wanted it more than the other team did. That's all.

If parents and coaches don't want to see this kind of loss, they can show up to games and make their kids practice, practice, practice. If they do want to see this, then hey, it's cool. Don't show up, don't cheer on your kid, don't support the team.

If coaches don't want to see scores like this, they should push players harder and make them work out. If they have that drive, they'll want it. If they don't, they won't.

I think a big part of our problem here, is the liberal mindset that states, "We are all winners, nobody is a loser." To that, I have to say, "Bullshit."

In real life, in business life, in relationships, there are winners and losers; from the corporations that get more contracts, to to people who have more friends, and make more money, to guys with knock out girlfriends, or girls that won't pay attention to nerds. That is life. There are winners and losers in life. After all, we don't engange in war to end up tied. We fight to win. We make fun of the losers, and that's okay.

So, don't let it get to you, and tell the liberals to go munch weeds.

Tulia Homecoming 2009

Last night, (Friday September 04, 2009,) I went to the Homecoming Football game in Tulia, Texas, my hometown. As I watched the game, I was at first disappointed, then angered, then resigned to what was happening.
In a 62-0 slaughter, they were soundly defeated by the New Deal Lions, a 1-A school. Tulia is a 2-A district. The football players looked like scrawny little beans, and for both halves, they never even got close to their end of the field. It was like watching a hunter shooting a caged duck.
At Half-time, the band took the field, and I was shocked when I realized that there were only 45 band members on the field. I was further dimayed at the new uniforms, which turned out to be a marching jacket over a black jumper bottom. I shudder to think about what idiot designed that uniform. The Flag corp wasn't much better, with just levis and sickening green t-shirts.

As I watched, I couldn't help but remember what Tulia High School was like a mere 22 years earlier. We were an undefeated 4-3A school. Our football team won 3/4 to all of the games of the season and often went to regionals and state. The Might Hornet Band was 300 strong, and it took 9 Yellow School buses, 1 TNMO charter bus, and an instrument wagon to take the band to multiple sweepstakes, regionals, and district events where we defeated schools bigger than we were. Our flag corp wore long grey skirts, white shirts, red felt hats, and carried maroon and grey flags, which moved in perfect synchronicity. Our drum corp was always 20 strong, our brass 100 and the woodwinds 200 strong.

And now, back to the present, with a 45-50 person band, that we could barely hear on the marching field, or in the bleachers. As they say, I felt like this was "The night, the music died."

The sole redeeming grace was that at least the 7 cheerleaders cheered, when they weren't standing around talking to each other, sometimes even during the cheers. (So much for school spirit.)

One of the cheerleaders/band members is the daughter of a friend of mine, and when afterwards, I asked her if she were going to the Homecoming dance, she said they didn't have homecoming dances anymore. She asked me if I had had dances, and I said yes. It's true, we always had a homecoming dance, a spring dance, and junior/senior prom.

I felt so sorry for her when she looked down at the ground and said that our high school now, in her words, "Sucked."

I can't blame her for saying that, since I felt that way during my time in high school, and have found every excuse to not return for class reunions. I remember being so glad to leave town, and promised myself that I would never return.

Now 22 years later, I look back and know why Tulia has had a declining population. It's because the town council, in it's wisdom, decided that they would never upgrade the infrastructure, or give anyone a reason to want to come back. They continue to tax businesses and homes (often more than neccessary,) and they refused to let WTAMU, Texas Tech, and Wayland University build campuses in town. Tulia has become a dying town, and unless something changes, it will dry up and blow away in the harsh Texas summer, and lay fallow under a deep Texas Winter.

Don't get me wrong, I have tried to go back to Tulia. Once, after I got my degree, I went back and tried to get a job at the hospital, and was turned down. Every time I went looking for a new job, I'd faithfully send a resume to that same hospital, only to get turned down.
With support like that, it's no wonder that Tulia's future leaves and never comes back.

I foresee a day, (22 years from now,) when I'll go back to Tulia for homecoming and see 10 band members, a 6 man football team, and rows and rows of dead neighborhoods.

Can that future be prevented? Yes, all they have to do is let a younger generation take the reigns of power and modernize the town, lower the taxes, and bring in new business.

Will it ever happen? Doubtful.

Sending a message to Glies581d

Astronomers announced that they think they've found an extra-solar planet, that might be earth like, and it's only 20.3 light years away in the constellation of Libra.
They are asking the people of earth to write messages to send from the radio dish in canberra Australia.
There are so many things to say to whatever beings might inhabit this planet. However, each message can only be 160 words long.

I so badly wanted to put down:

Greetings my fellow travelers in this comsos that the great creator has placed us in, and hope your journey thus far has been peaceful. Peace is a prize that is beyond measure. On our world, we have have more land than we can possibly use, and have the ability to feed everyone here, but due to corruption by people in power, we destroy the very land that can sustain us. We have the potential to be such a giving people, yet we are selfish. We have the technology to travel to other planets in our solarsystem, but the governments keep that power to themselves. We have water in abundance, yet people die of thirst, and we have the means to grow more than enough food to feed everyone here, yet we let people starve to death. We would dearly love to shake hands with our fellow earth people, yet we can not agree on the basics of human rights, such a life, liberty, and property. We still have people who fight to the death (or blow up innocent people) over words spoken and written 1500+ years ago. We have governments that imprison people for speaking their minds, and we have people, who in their quest for power, kill anyone that gets in their way.
If peace is what you are looking for, give us a hundred years or so. Maybe by then we'll be at peace with ourselves, or we'll all be dead, and you can have our world.

Instead, what I wrote was:
Peace is a price we all seek. Our world has an abundance of natural resources, still we fight instead of working together. We wish you peace, and long life.

I quess that in 160 words, I couldn't put down what I really wanted to say. Maybe I should have said, "Stay the heck away from earth. If you show up, our government will shoot you, stuff you, and stick you in area 51."

Competition: The staple of American life

Take a look at the following lines from an Associated Press clipping:

President Barack Obama's weekend concession on a health care "government option" drew complaints from liberals and scarce interest from Republicans and other critics on Monday, a fresh sign of the daunting challenge in finding middle ground in an increasingly partisan political struggle.

The White House insisted there had been no shift in position, adding the president still favors a federal option for the sale of health insurance. "The bottom line is this: Nothing has changed," said a memo containing suggested answers for administration allies to use if asked about the issue.

But some supporters of health care overhaul sounded less than reassured.

"You really can't do health reform" without allowing the government to compete with private insurers, said Howard Dean, a former Democratic Party chairman. "Let's not say we're doing health reform without a public option," he added in a slap at the administration's latest move.

Now, let's take a minute to talk about something. Competition is the very life's blood of a free market economy. Unfortunately, the Government, as it's run by the Congress and White House has never believed in competition. The Government, being the government, has the ability to print money, raise interest rates, and effectively undercut any competition to get what it wants. Consider, for instance, Medicare, Medicaide, and Social Security.

Each program was originally to do something different than what it does now.

Social Security was never intended to be a retirement system. It was intended to be an insurance policy so that a widowed woman wouldn't starve to death after her husband died. Under the free market economy, that's called a life insurance policy, and people pay money to get coverage so that families are covered. Along comes the government and suddenly, it's not a life insurance policy, it's a retirement plan, funded by taxpayers, instead of the individual. 401(k)'s and pension funds give you more to live on, and don't draw in nearly as much as taxes do. However, with a retirement account, you only have what you put in, or wisely invested. Thanks to the government, now you don't have to pay in, everyone else pays in for you.

Medicare/Medicaide is just government funded Health Insurance, funded by money taken from the working middle class and given to people who either can't or won't go to work. Now, I don't mind taking care of people who are disabled and can't work. But, I draw the line at paying perfectly healthy people who don't want to work. Nor do I begrudge giving a really poor person some assistance to pay for a trip to the doctor, however, most people on medicare/medicaide, don't go visit the doctors, they run to the ER, where they can't be turned away.

On the average, a properly run HMO/PPO, health savings account can take care of any trip to the doctor or alternative medical specialist. Unfortunately, even here, the government won't compete. What they will do, because they've done it before, is undercut the price of their competitors policies, and they'll be able to do it with our money. What they have done up until now, is underpay for treatment. Where they used to pay 100%, now they pay about 45-50% of the bill. That is not competition, that's a monopoly, and that's what the congress and white house really want. They want to run it all.