Thursday, September 25, 2008

Tall Cool Glass of #3


Let’s just start things off on the right foot this week. I hate cows. Cows are evil. Now, I don’t mean that cows are lurking in the dark places of the world waiting for humans to show their weakness so that they can take over the planet and put us all in feed lots hooked up to nipple sucking machines. What I mean to say is that they are literally a blight on the planet. They eat the majority of our grain, take up huge amounts of space and fresh water, and destroy the environment in the process.

The dairy industry is a major player in the Evil Cow Empire. It has enormous lobbying power and spends millions of dollars every year on advertising and public outreach. By the way, the whole “Got Milk?” campaign seriously creeps me out. Who is the genius that thought this up anyway? A milk mustache is supposed to make me want to consume the product? I'm not too sure about that. Plus, all of the guys in the ads look like they are fresh out of a gay porn audition. Regardless of the homo-erotic undertones dairy products are a $10.2 billion a year industry in the U.S. alone. The lobbyists for the dairy industry are so powerful and influential that they have created their own food group. Forcing the USDA to recommend its consumption every day even though a majority of the world population (especially those of non-European descent) is lactose intolerant after the age of five. That’s right…you heard it here first, the food pyramid is racist! Anyway, where am I going with this? Well, this week as a continuation of my investigations into food politics and safety I thought I would take a long look at milk. To be more specific I want to compare wholesome organic milk with milk of the lowly non-organic variety, which is probably sucked out of cows that wander in off the street to donate milk in exchange for crack money so they don’t have to give blowjobs on the corner.

When most people think of milk they think of childhood. Innocent images of children joyfully dunking Oreos…the white liquid splashing over a bowl of Franken Berry cereal…the sound of it pouring into a tall glass. Milk has come to represent all that is wholesome in the world. White, pure, untainted, nutritious. It does a body good after all. Doesn’t it? Slap the word “Organic” next to it, and the images only get more chaste. However, the prestige of organic milk does not come without complications. It costs around twice as much as non-organic milk, and the organic seal does not mean the cows are grazing on pasture all day or that the milk is local. In fact much of the organic milk that is found on grocery store shelves has been pasteurized at ultra-high temperatures (UHT) so that an unopened carton can last unrefrigerated for up to six months, mostly so it will survive cross country transportation; thus, allowing hippie milk to directly compete with normal milk.

So, exactly what does it take to be considered organic? How is organic milk actually different? Well, it turns out that the USDA has four requirements that milk must satisfy in order for it to be labeled as “Certified Organic.” As you’ll see in a moment these criteria are confusing to say the least.

The first requirement for organic status is that the cows are not to be treated with antibiotics. In large factory farms where the animals are kept in confinement pens for the majority of their lives pissing and shitting on each other’s open sores and wading through their own filth they are injected with a constant course of antibiotics in order to keep them alive long enough to get them to the slaughterhouse and into your Big Mac. In fact 70% of all of the antibiotics that are used in the U.S are used on livestock indiscriminately. This is a real public health issue since some of our antibiotics are becoming useless due in part to this over use in agriculture, but that’s an entirely different issue that we may get into later. With regard to milk production, the milk in non-organic farms is routinely tested for antibiotic content and is not used or distributed until it is shown to be antibiotic-free.

Feed for cows at an organic farm must be pesticide free. The use of pesticides is of major concern in the world today. They are costly, they are toxic (by definition), and they can be found everywhere in the environment. Recent USDA reports show that non-organic milk may contain low levels of certain pesticides, but these are far below established tolerance levels and well below what we are exposed to daily in the environment or consume in other foods.

A third condition mandated by the USDA is that no bovine growth hormone be used to promote milk production. Biweekly injections of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) stimulate dairy cows to produce about 10% to 25% more milk. No rBGH gets into the milk, but one consequence of this procedure is that rBGH-derived milk can contain insulin growth factor (IGF-1) which may be a risk factor for breast and colon cancer in humans. Since it isn’t destroyed during pasteurization, IGF-1 can show up in the milk on your table. However, this only represents a miniscule fraction of the IGF that we produce in our own bodies every day. You’d have to drink about 24 gallons of milk to equal the IGF you make daily in your saliva and digestive tract. As always with these numbers, we have to be careful to compare the amount that our bodies make with the amount that we consume.

The last requirement for the USDA organic stamp of approval is that the animals must be allowed “access to pasture”. Sound vague at all? Most people would like to think that the cows that they suck their organic milk out of get to run around in a lush green field, playfully sock each other with feather pillows, and have tickle fights in their teddies…sorry I’m getting my fantasies mixed up here. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right, access to pasture. The reality is that access to pasture is like yard time at a federal penitentiary for most dairy cows. Speaking of what cows eat, cows have evolved over millennia to eat grass. They are ruminants, and as such they are healthier when they are fed grass. However, the organic certification does not require that a set percentage of the cow’s feed be grass. A constant diet of grains actually acidifies the cows’ blood and will cause them to die a painful death after a couple of years. Good thing we kill those suckers before that, eh?

Notice a pattern there? The term “organic” refers only to the farming practices of raising the cows, not to the milk itself. The dairy industry is one of the most heavily regulated and tested of all food industries, and the end result is that in this case the organic product is nearly identical to the non-organic alternative.

Not confused enough yet? Well, it turns out that organic farming of cows is actually worse for the environment than conventional farming. On a gallon for gallon basis, producing organic milk requires 36 percent less energy than conventional production methods. Sounds good so far, but organic milk production generates nearly two-thirds more of the pollutants that cause eutrophication in lakes and rivers than conventional production. Organic dairies also use 20 times as much land as conventional dairies and produce 16 percent more greenhouse gases. Not so good. Also, that UHT pasteurization we talked about earlier changes to the nutrients in milk and may have other undesired effects. The normal pasteurization process doesn’t kill all of the bacteria in milk. It knocks out just enough so that you don't get scarlet fever with your milk mustache. UHT, on the other hand, kills everything, and in the process makes the milk unsuitable for cheese production or whipping which is one reason why normal milk producers don’t do it.

OK, so what’s our scorecard look like so far? Well, unfortunately, it looks like the hippie milk has as many strikes against it as it does for it. So it’s a toss up. If you feel like spending twice as much for the same product, then welcome to the free market economy, Sparky. As a general rule of thumb, I am absolutely for the organic farmers since they use fewer pesticides and antibiotics. But here’s the rub: we’re not talking about Mom and Pop dairies here. The number one seller of organic milk is Horizon Organic, which controls 55 percent of the market, and sells $16 million worth of organic milk a month. It is owned by Dean Foods, the nation's largest dairy producer and Emperor of the Evil Cow Empire. Groupe Danone, the French dairy giant, owns Stonyfield Farm which is the number two seller. Large grocers, including Whole Foods Market and Safeway, have their own organic house brands. Are you supporting organic farming or the Evil Empire?

Can somebody explain to me why we’re even drinking milk in the first place? Am I the only person that thinks being breast-fed by cows is sick and wrong? Picture a mother breast-feeding her baby – a beautiful image of maternal bonding and biological wonder. Besides, who doesn't want to suck on a boob every day? Now imagine taking that same baby and latching it onto a scabby, puss-covered, smelly cow tit after you scrape the shit and flies off of it. Now pull the baby off and you go to town. You know you like it. Doesn’t seem so natural does it? Even if the cow gets to graze in the pasture all day it sounds like a bad idea. Effing gross if you ask me.

The National Dairy Council recommends that you have three servings of dairy per day. If your three servings are milk (3 cups), you will get about 400 calories and 15 grams of fat. If we compare that to something else…let’s say soda…3 cups is about 300 calories and no fat. Hmmm. Tasty corn syrup sweetener from a sterile can or bacteria infested tit juice from a forcibly impregnated cow? And don’t give me that line of shit about calcium and vitamin D. According to many studies dairy products aren’t even the best way to get your calcium. Even the USDA recommends better alternatives in their food guide. In fact, studies done at both Harvard and Yale found that people who got most of their calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely ever drank dairy milk. Got Osteoporosis?

Just face it. Milk is a useless and gross product pushed on consumers by a huge corporate industry. If piss is #1 and poo is #2, then certainly milk is #3. Thanks, Witmo, for the blog suggestion, and if anyone else has anything that they would like to hear about, please let me know.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Pick a Number, Any Number

Hello, All. I’ve done another of those enlightening calculations of mine. Those of you lucky enough have witnessed the Famous Cigarette-Butt Revelation, the River-of-Piss Report, and the Great Pocket-Lint Conspiracy of 2001; not to mention my lesser-known but none-the-less groundbreaking mathematical dissertations on life in-general. This time I’ve decided to tackle something that effects most people in popular culture today. What could it be? Is it the total mass of discarded chewing gum produced daily? The average volume of fingernail clippings produced over a human life span? The speed that hair grows in miles per hour? None of those. It’s (drum roll please) the lottery. Aw, come on! You know you spend a crap-load of money hoping to hit it big, so you can sell the house and buy a Haitian man-servant.


I’ve chosen to attempt to enlighten myself about the true mathematical probabilities and expectations that are involved with the lotto. It wasn’t easy either. Check out the state lottery’s homepage. See anything about true odds and probabilities of winning a certain prize? It’s not there. That kind of information is kept with the rest of JFK’s brain somewhere in Bethesda. Thankfully, there are people like Susan at the Illinois State Lottery offices who can’t fathom that there are evil geniuses like me out there who can put together a string of lies just long enough to get that information from her over the phone.


Ready? Here we go. I think that, perhaps, the biggest scam perpetrated on humanity of all time (besides Milli Vanilli, of course...oh, and GW being "elected" twice) are those “Scratch and Win” tickets. So, as I usually do, I started out with a couple of basic questions:
1. How much money actually gets paid back to the players?
2. What percentage of tickets will pay out more than $100?
3. How much money would you have to spend to guarantee that you will make more than you loose?


Without bogging you down with all of the numbers that I was able to get from Susan, here’s what I figured out. This is based on an average, $1, Scratch-and-Win game with a max payout of $5000. If about 15 million tickets are sold there will be about 3.8 million total winners, which means that there are 11.2 million LOSERS. Half of the winners will get $1 back. (I figure that really doesn’t count, because you just bring it back for a free ticket and lose eventually anyways, but for argument’s sake I left it in my calculations). This means that about 60% of all of the money that is paid in gets paid out. Only about .002% of all tickets will pay out more than $100. So this leads to the answer to question #3. How many tickets would I have to buy to guarantee winning more than I lose? The answer is: zero. It is not mathematically possible to do so, if you don’t count the change that you manage to dig out of your car seat to scratch off the poisonous film on the ticket.


It gets worse. Lets suppose that there are 60 Grand Prize tickets ($5000). That’s 60 out of 15 million. Odds are about 1:240,000. Now let’s suppose that 50 of those winners go out in the first three million tickets. That means that your new odds are 10 out of 12 million or 1:1.2 million. That’s about the same as getting audited by an IRS agent that has the same birthday as you. On top of it all there is something called the mathematical expectation of benefit. The average winner gets $2.40, and your odds of winning are about 1 in 4. So the expectation of benefit is about $.60. So, you’re paying a dollar to win 60 cents. Knock it off.


The big lottery is worse still. Odds of winning are 1: 135,145,920. So for a 6.5 million dollar jackpot your expectation of winning is $.05. You spend a dollar to get five cents. It’s even worse than that if you want your money in a lump sum. You’ll only get half of that 6.5 million. You spend a dollar to get two and a half cents. Seems silly right? Just as a comparison, your odds of being killed by an animal are 1: 2 million. So maybe you should start giving your money to the squirrels to hedge your bets both ways. Not enough? Well, you are 61 times more likely to be attacked by a flesh-eating virus and 25 times more likely to be executed by the state even if the worst crime you've ever committed is drinking milk straight out of the jug.


Didn’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble, but at the end of the day you’d be better off donating the couple of bucks to a charitable organization. At least then you could write it off of your taxes. Or, if you really want to gamble, just send the money to me, and I’ll bet it for you...honest.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

License and Registration, Please

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Why is it that so many people suck at driving? I mean, I can’t drive three blocks without someone pissing me off. Is it the decision-making? Too much to process for the average T.V. addled brain? Is it that some people just can’t operate heavy machinery? I think it’s that bad drivers are effing morons, but that’s just my opinion. Over 40k people are killed and hundreds of thousands more are injured every year in vehicular accidents. What gives? A vehicle is one of the largest investments that an individual will have in their lifetime, and it’s the single most dangerous activity that most people do every day. Yet people don’t take any time at all learning how to operate or maintain their vehicles properly. They just dump in their cash and wiz away without putting any thought into the consequences of their actions, and the mandatory training to get a license to operate these machines consists of cramming 30 hormone-flooded teens into a room with a fat, middle-aged gym teacher to watch some videos. Somehow this makes sense to someone?

In the interest of public service, I have compiled a list of what I consider to be the worst driving habits for drivers of all shapes and sizes. You will notice that my list has some omissions from what one might classically consider bad driving practice. You won’t see things like passing on the shoulder or drunk driving on the list. I don’t care if you are speeding. I think speed limits are just guidelines anyhow. Drive as fast as you want as long as you are under control and the hood doesn’t fly off of your car. Go ahead and coast through stop signs. I don’t care if you tailgate me either, because I’m probably driving as fast as I can anyway. Besides, I never look in my rear view mirror. Hell, get as close as you want. If you need to take a break, feel free to throw a tow rope over my hitch for all I care. Go ahead and use the cell phone, wash your hair, clip your toenails or whatever else you want to do while you’re driving as long as you can pay attention to thirty things at once. These things didn’t make the list because at least the people doing these things are being aggressive. They’ve got places to be goddamnit! And I don’t give a shit if they crash as long as they only kill themselves, and the fiery wreck doesn’t affect traffic in the direction I’m going. All of the bad habits that did make the list directly affect other people either physically or psychologically on the road, and are the primary reason that I don’t carry a handgun.

So here’s Daniel P. Daniel’s list of the 24 worst driving offenses. “Why not 25”, you ask? Well, why not 27 or 62? Don’t push your sick “everything has to be divisible by five” fetish on me, Weirdass. Anyway, I couldn’t think of another one that was worthy of the list fast enough to make the post. If you can avoid performing any of these maneuvers while driving, then you are doing you part to make the world a happy place, and you are extending my life because I won’t have a frigging aneurysm in my brain trying to figure out what the Hell you are thinking. Enjoy!

  1. Misuse of the merge lane. It’s called a MERGE lane, Jaggoff! Millions of dollars were spent on creating a mile-long lane so that you could increase your speed to match the speed of the oncoming traffic and merge easily into traffic. It’s not there for you to pull into and park while looking confused and spinning your head around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Step on the gas, and quit getting pissed that I’m honking. I’m not going away. You’re blocking the lane.
  2. Turn signals that aren’t signaling anything. Are you deaf? I can hear the thing ticking, and I’m three cars back. Turn the damn thing off. When I feel a sense of civic duty, I’ll turn mine on as well in order to attempt to show Mrs. Oblivious that she’s forgotten her signal. I usually just end up getting more pissed off because it turns out she’s blind as well.
  3. Driving slowly in the passing lane. The sign says “Slower Traffic Keep Right.” Notice the word slower. They say, “I’m not driving slow.” No you’re driving slower…just like your reading comprehension, apparently. This is why widening the roads will never work. For every lane created, it just takes one of these stubborn simpletons to kill billions of dollars of highway improvements.
  4. People who don’t know where the hell they are going. I think people should have to file a flight plan before they can start their cars. I’m convinced that 50% of cars in traffic are just arseholes that don’t know how to get to the nearest big box store. “Is this the street? It’s a right here…NO! It’s left!” Jesus! Do us all a favor and drive into the nearest lake…if you can find it.
  5. People who turn at about .0000001 miles per hour. Are you transporting the Mona Lisa? Come on! Grandma’s head isn’t going to fall off if you take a curve at normal speed. Move it!
  6. People that drive well below the speed limit. You see them every day. They drive so slow they can’t even keep going in a straight line. It looks like they are playing Pong in between the lines. Hey, sober up, Hippie. And if you aren’t stoned then pull over and take a nap.
  7. Confusion in a parking lot. What makes people’s brains shut off in a parking lot? Hey, folks, whenever you are in your vehicle normal traffic rules still apply. It’s a strange concept, I know.
  8. Putting on the turn signal as you turn. The idea of a turn signal is that you indicate your intentions before you turn. If you have to hold the signal lever up to keep it on, then you’ve turned it on too late, Jackass. Why waste the effort?
  9. Shitty parking. I don’t know how you managed to get out of your car, but normal people can’t squeeze through three inches of open door. Center it up, Man. If you don’t then quit bitching when your door gets caved in as I make an honest attempt to enter my vehicle. And you asses that take up more than one spot are really just asking for it. I like firing heat-seeking shopping carts at these cars a dozen at a time…especially Hummers.
  10. Driving in the mountains. Alright, this one can be a topic all on its own. Here is Daniel P. Daniel’s two-step program that might help you out if you notice 50 or so cars backing up behind you in the mountains. First, pull over to the side of the road and let the good drivers trapped behind you pass at a normal rate of speed. Second, kill yourself. That should pretty much clear it up.
  11. Dicking around at the light. Hey, a stop light is not the time to pluck your eyebrows, change your clothes, finish a term paper, search for change in the back seat, or beat your kids. If the light turns green while you’re paying the hobo to wash your windshield, you’re going to get such a honking…
  12. Right turning into a two lane in front of me when I have the right of way to turn left. I have a green arrow, Hogan-Smoker! If I was still in college I would have had no problem at all t-boning your ass into the curb. ‘Course my car only cost $250 back then.
  13. Roundabout confusion. How is this even a problem? Yield to traffic to your left, just like the sign says. The sign doesn’t say, “Park here, act confused and crash into traffic in the circle.” Maybe I’m just reading it wrong.
  14. Passing for no reason. I understand that you’re in a hurry to get home so that you don’t miss “One Life to Live,” but, in case you haven’t noticed, there are about a brazillion cars ahead of us. Passing me isn’t going to save you any time at all. If you are really in a hurry then quit being such a wuss and start driving on the median or the breakdown lane, Coward.
  15. People that drive all the way to the merge point in a construction zone. I’m not sure who is the bigger offender in this situation. Is it the people that wiz by and try to merge in at the last possible second? Or is it the cork-soakers that let them merge in? Probably, they should both be euthanized.
  16. Gapers. There should be no such thing as a “Gapers’ Delay.” I don’t mind that you want to see some genuine carnage, but quit fekking up traffic. Pull over, get out of your car, grab a stick and start poking around at the guts on the road. Maybe take some pictures, make an oil painting or have a barbeque at the accident scene. Whatever passes for entertainment, but get the f*ck out of the way, Gaper!
  17. People that freak out in weather. “Wait a minute, Blanche…You’re not gonna believe me when I tell you this, but...something…is falling…out of the sky! Slam on the brakes NOW! Try swerving! That didn’t work?!? We’re doomed!” Again, this can be cleared up if you follow my advice for mountain drivers in #10 above.
  18. People who swing out into the other lane to make a turn. I’m not sure how big you think your car is, but if you have that much of a problem judging sizes then I feel sorry for your spouse.
  19. People that don’t know how to drive around bicyclists. Either they are afraid to pass them or they swing out in the other lane to avoid them. What is going on, people?!? There is plenty of room to share the road, and if there isn’t then just run them down. I’m pretty sure it’s legal in most states.
  20. Four-way stop fools. Here’s my favorite silent conversation that occurs at stop signs millions of times a day: “Go ahead.” “No, you go.” “It’s your turn.” “You go.” “You.” “You.” “No, you.” “I insist.” “Fine I’ll go.” “Wait! I’m going now.” HOLY HELL! Let’s get our crap in a pile here! Quit being a sycophant and just go when it’s your turn, arsehole.
  21. People that don’t understand who a honk is directed at. If you are three cars back at a light and you hear a honk coming from behind you, it’s a safe bet that the honk wasn’t directed at you unless you are picking your nose or your car is on fire. So quit waving your hands and looking in the rear-view mirror. Instead, you should pass the honk along to the next guy in front of you until the moron at the light wakes the eff up.
  22. Left turn lollygaggers. These are the people that signal properly then fail to get over into the turn lane. Is there a reason they can’t get their whole vehicle into the turn lane? If they can’t see the lines then I have serious doubts about their ability to navigate a left turn. It’s everything I can do to stop from cramming their bumper into the passenger seat.
  23. People that slow down when they see a road-side digital speedometer. Are you surprised by your speed? Here’s a tip: there is a small, portable speedometer embedded in your dashboard. I know it’s weird. Check it out.
  24. Siren confusion. O.K. You’re supposed to pull to the side of the road when you hear a siren. You are not supposed to slam on your breaks in the left hand lane and freeze up like a retard at a spelling bee. Do you think the fire truck is going to be able to drive over the top of your car? Try thinking critically for once. Well, unless you’re a police officer, then I understand that you have that handicap.
And that’s it. Now get out there, soldiers, secure in the knowledge that you are either fekking up everyone’s life or that you are the king of the road. And if you hear a horn coming from behind you, have a look in your mirror. It might just be me...

Friday, September 5, 2008

RNC

Last week we talked about the Democratic National Convention in Denver. So, to be fair, let’s talk about the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul this week. Honestly, this is actually the first time that I’ve really paid attention to anything that the republicans have had to say since the Bush dynasty started to fuck up the world. However, probably due to my morbid sense of curiosity, I sat down and listened to the RNC speakers this time around.


The entire mood of this convention was different from the convention last week. The DNC seemed to be filled with hope and actual suggestions about how the candidates might affect change in the nation. The RNC seemed (to me, at least) to be condescending and a complete affirmation that the party isn’t going to move us in a direction that changes anything at all. There were two main recurring themes throughout every speech that was made. Oil and fear. The speakers were often laughing, joking, and pointing to the back-slappers in the crowd. They constantly pressed the domestic oil drilling button, to which the crowd eagerly chanted, “Drill, Baby, drill!” That’s not very thinly veiled is it? Geeze, I wonder if they are really looking out for the middle class and the poor like they say they are? They repeatedly mentioned that we are in danger from our oil dependence on nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela…but there was no mention about Canada…I wonder why? Oh, yeah, the Canadians aren’t brown people, so we can’t bomb them without feeling bad about ourselves. Terrorism was repeatedly brought up as the #1 threat to our way of life. It’s an obvious scare tactic that the republicans used to win the last election. All it really does is prop up a false and faceless boogeyman that has his hand in the pocket of the American economy. It propagates a war machine and makes the fat cats fatter. Like James Madison said 200 years ago, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” Oddly enough, there was no mention about the economy at all in any of the speeches. There were more than a billion references (slight exaggeration) that bashed and mocked the dems, most of which were false and half truths, but no real mention about the economy or what can be done to fix it. It was almost like it’s a dirty little secret that they expect us to forget. Well at least the war on the middle class is going well.


The highlight of the convention was that we, as a nation, were introduced to the new republican V.P. candidate. The first female candidate in history, Sarah Palin, turn’s out to be quite a spitfire. Take a look at her pic (it's probably a fake, but who cares, really). The first ever Veep Milf? A song comes to mind. What is it? Hmmm, oh it’s...AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! In her speech, she laid out a barrage of dismissive attacks on Barack Obama while loading up on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the attacks and the praise stretched the truth. I guess that’s to be expected in a political convention. I’m sure she will do a fine job as V.P. (whatever it is that they actually do). However, the presidential candidate, John McCain, looks...well…he looks bad. It always seems like he just wandered out of the retirement center looking for his slippers. I half-expect him to fall asleep with his mouth open in the middle of a speech. Frankly, I’m not sure he’s going to make it another four years, and I doubt that Palin is ready for the big show after McCain assumes room temperature. Also, there is one thing that bothers me about McCain that people seem to think is taboo to bring up. Everyone acknowledges that he has served this country honorably, and they are quick to tout the fact that he was shot down, tortured, and imprisoned in a POW camp. And? Somehow this qualifies him to be the president of the U.S.? The office of the presidency isn’t a trophy that someone gets for their merit-of-service. Besides, the last time I checked the Vietnam “conflict” wasn’t a popular effort, and, like Iraq, one that certainly doesn’t go in our “win” column. The fact that he voted with GW 90% of the time as a senator is grounds for telling him, “You voted with who?!? How often?!? Thanks, but no thanks, Bud.” He should be kicking back at the Cabo Wabo Retirement Center with his wife, sipping Mai Tais, celebrating a long life of service, playing with his grandkids, helping to build war memorials and giving occasional speeches at college campuses. The republicans shouldn’t be propping him up in front of the world in order to continue more of the same BS that’s gotten us where we are today. I don’t know; it just seems disrespectful. Am I the only one that sees it this way?


So, overall I was not impressed with the convention. Sure, the candidates accepted their party’s nominations, but no real ideas about how they are going to change anything were offered. The entire theme of the convention was “Country First” which to me means that they want us to sacrifice everything for this abstract idea of the American dream without actually giving us (middle class and poor) anything tangible like jobs, healthcare, retirement, equal pay, etc. I could be wrong, but it just seems like McMore of the McSame.