Island Richards

American Idol Judges, Producer Deny ‘Cruelty’ to Contestants

Goody admits to making racist comments

Controversy Grows Over Anti-Gay Remark

A recent wave of controversial incidents shows the prejudicial side of Hollywood

The links above show just a smattering of the crybaby bawling that is going on in the world. Is everyone in the world so unhappy that they have to scour the internet to find celebrities whose lives are, or should be, worse than theirs?

Who cares if Britney likes to hang out in nightclubs? Does it change any of our lives? No, it doesn’t. You can cry about her lifestyle all you want, but it is HER lifestyle, not yours. When so many kids in our country are dealing with so much more, why are so many people worried about the quality of her children’s lives? Even if they are raised by nannies and Britney only sees them once a month, they will still have more advantages than almost any other kid out there. The reality is that the children of the ultra wealthy have lived that way for generations, and no one ever cared before. Now that we have the internet and “entertainment news” all of a sudden their lifestyles should be picked apart for any sign of weakness.

Do we really need to protect the contestants of American Idol from cruelty? Is it cruel to tell someone who sings like a howling coyote that he or she sings like a howling coyote? When did honesty become cruelty? Simon simply gives these would be stars a taste of what the public and the paparazzi will do to them if they somehow do become famous. If they can’t handle Simon telling them that they look like an idiot in that outfit on American Idol, how are they going to handle it when Joan Rivers tells the world that they look like an idiot in that outfit on the Red Carpet?

That brings me to Gibson, Goody, and Washington, and Richards. Why, when someone can act and entertain, do we give their personal opinions greater weight than anyone else’s? There are a lot people in this world that are bigots, racists, and homophobes. Why does it become an international incident when an actor proves to be one? Does the fact that Michael Richards can’t argue with a black man without using the N word really affect anyone? If you don’t like it, vote with your dollars and don’t go see his shows. Do the people of Britain, the producers of Big Brother, the CEO of Channel 4 and every white person in the world really need to be punished because Jade Goody is tactless idiot? Shetty is painted as a poor victim, (Even though she got paid about $4 million for being there). There are people every day of the week all over the world who experience needless racism and pathetic bullying without getting paid for it. The Big Brother show concept aims to bring out peoples real feelings, and we are all shocked that those feeling really came out, now a nation of almost a billion people are pissed off because of one or two real emotions. Mel Gibson doesn’t like Jews. Holy Shit! What are we going to do now!!! Every religion in the world condemns the members of every other religion to hell. We are all taught that lesson in our own version of Bible study. But when we grow up we are told that now we have to be tolerant and accepting of everyone else’s religion. Heck, if Satan himself were on the subway next to us, we would be expected to show tolerance! Does it really change the world that Mel doesn’t like Jews when he’s drunk? NO, it doesn’t. Isaiah Washington called costar T.R. Knight a “faggot”. I’ve been called a faggot in my life, and it didn’t change my life a bit. If I was gay and someone called me a faggot, would that be any different? I don’t think so. It doesn’t change the world.

It doesn’t change the world. I’ll say it again. It doesn’t change the world.

It reflects the world.

We are so pissed off at our own reflections that we go into a tizzy every time someone reminds us that we aren’t perfect. We want to punish celebrities who show behaviors that happen everyday in real life. The fact is, racism is real. Bigotry is real. Perfection is not. We don’t need to punish someone every time we are reminded of this. We don’t need to cancel a television show every time that it gives us a dose of that imperfect reality. We need to quit being crybabies and get over it.

Wisdom

Global Warming: The Up-Side

I have a new favorite author! Doc shows an insite (and an incite) into the idiot nature of global warming that I have rarely found anywhere else. Peruse his other articles, too. This guy is a winner. And that’s saying something coming from me, cuz I don’t like much of anyone!

Wisdom

What’s Up, Doc?
Global Warming: The Up-Side

Written by Doc Farmer
Tuesday, January 02, 2007

         Okay, let me make something very clear to everybody.  Global Warming, as sold by Al Gore and his merry band of idiots, is bunk.  Pure, unadulterated, male bovine excrement (with all that nasty, ozone-busting, planet-warming methane and CO² intact).  There’s no such valid argument as “consensus science” because that is, in fact, politics!  In addition, science and politics are not just strange bedfellows; they are a crime against nature (literally). 

        There are just over six billion humans on this planet, and there is no way in heaven or earth that human activities can materially affect a biosphere of several billion cubic miles of atmosphere.

        All we hear from the Goreophiles (Goreites?  Goreinians?  Gore-ing {see also: Bore-ing} People?) is that there will be nothing but catastrophe and calamity and other bad things that start with “c.”  Great floods that will raise the level of the seas, cities underwater, dustbowl conditions (oh, by the bye, did George W. Bush cause the dustbowl in the 1930s?  Just checking.) and all manner of other awful things will befall us because rep/con/tairs drive SUVs and fly coach.  Oddly enough, when lib/dem/soc/commies drive in limos and fly private jets, this has no negative impact on the world.

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Anyone who works in a convenience store with prepay for gasoline knows that every customer thinks they are special and shouldn’t have to prepay for their gas. Some think their status as a “life long” customer makes them too important to have to put up with prepay. Others will tell you how much money they are worth. Some will tell you their religious inclinations. Still, others will tell you how good a friend they are to your mother. The only consistency is that each and every one of these people will drive off without paying for gas. What’s worse is that unwary clerks, not wanting to fight with them, will turn on the pumps without making them pay first and let them do it!

This week, a customer in my store decided to make my life difficult while I was making a new brew of coffee, and lectured me about why he shouldn’t have to prepay. “Do you see those red letters on that white truck out there? Do you know what those letters spell? Those letters spell HALLIBURTON! Do you know that Halliburton is one of the largest companies in the world? I think they can afford to pay for the gas I put in their truck,” he grumbled, sucking on the wad of Longhorn Long Cut Natural rotting away at his cheek.

“Come here, I want to show you something,” I told him, leading him back to the sales counter. “These are drive offs from people who somehow convinced my clerks that they were honest, just like you,” I told him, pulling the most recent slip from the wall where it hung above the cash register.

“Yeah, so what?”

“Do you see those letters on the top of this slip? Do you know what those letters spell?”

He read slowly, his face turning red as his argument fell to pieces in his balding head.

“Yep. HALLIBURTON. Now, are you going to give me your credit card so I can turn on your pump?”

“Fucking assholes,” he whispered, shaking his head as he handed me his credit card and turned to stomp back out to his truck. “Someone always has to screw it up for everyone else!”

My sentiments exactly.
Wisdom

As a convenience store owner, but also an everyday person who would find himself a victim of the same natural disaster, I believe I would close my business doors long enough to assess my own family’s needs before I chose to provide the essential supplies, which I own, to other people.

The other issue relevant to the post is that the business owners finances are seldom taken into consideration in the event of a natural disaster in the discussions of price gouging. A business that may typically depend on the profits garnered from 30 tanks of fuel and 4 turns of its dry inventory during a month may be forced during a disaster to make do with only 3 tanks of fuel and one turn of dry inventory to pay all of its monthly bills. By selling all of its inventory at its original price, and not being able to restock and resell, the business guarantees its financial ruin.

Is it price gouging to plan for that lost revenue and raise your prices enough to make up for it?

Wisdom

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Problem with law-breakers….

…may be knowing if you are breaking the law!I have a piece coming out on price-gouging law in NC. Sent the URL around to a few people for comments….(will post it here when embargo ends) A friend from high school writes:

Another argument to explore would be that of the convenience store owner that has plenty of ice but refuses to sell it until he determines the maximum price the government will allow him to sell it for. Ah to have a libertarian convenience store owner that would shut down in a crisis and request the attorney general to come over and determine and price his inventory for him. Would it be illegal to refuse to sell your inventory in a crisis?

One of my assignments took me to Guam where we had a few typhoons, one of which had 180 mph winds. The island was smacked very hard, we lost power island-wide for nine days (and up to 40 in some areas), and the main fuel storage tanks on the island caught fire consuming all available gas that was not already in gas station tanks. Many people had back up generators at home, myself included, but it was interesting to see al the dynamics of the situation in action.

posted by Mungowitz @ 9:09 AM