Wednesday, September 28, 2005

some more quotes, hopefully not too many repeats.

I was posting a bulletin on myspace and decided to dig up a list of quotes after one of the questions I was responding to asked me to list a few quotes. This should be most of the good ones I had.

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"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Didja' ever have to make up your mind,
Pick up on one and leave the other behind,
It's not often easy, and it's not often kind,
Didja' ever have to make up your mind?
-- Lovin' Spoonful

Formerly,We Suffered From Crimes.
Now,We Suffer From Laws.
--Tacitus

"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished."
-- Goethe

A woman is like your shadow; follow her,
she flies; fly from her, she follows.
-- Chamfort

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, 1759


Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."
The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"
But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us free, if only we dare let go.
Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.
But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to the
rocks, making legends of a Saviour.
-- Richard Bach

"Science is an eternal struggle against our desire to have the universe be ordered in some emotionally satisfying way."
-- Josh Swink

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it...He who receives an idea from me, receives instructions himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should be spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature ... Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property.
-- Thomas Jefferson

I managed to say, "Sorry," and no more. I knew that he disliked me to cry.
This time he said, watching me, "On some occasions it is better
to weep."
I put my head down on the table and sobbed, "If only she could come back; I would be nice."
Francis said, "You gave her great pleasure always."
"Oh, not enough."
"Nobody can give anybody enough."
"Not ever?"
"No, not ever. But one must go on trying."
"And doesn't one ever value people until they are gone?"
"Rarely," said Francis. I went on weeping; I saw how little I had valued him; how little I had valued anything that was mine.
-- Pamela Frankau, "The Duchess and the Smugs"

Neither the Jeffersonians nor their Federalist opponents admitted to being a political party. To them the term party meant the same as faction. It also meant the victory of selfishness and contention over the selfless unanimity they felt a republic needed.
--?

"You see, they [conservatives] love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually undestanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world." - Al Franken

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." —George W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini

"So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution."
- Alexander Hamilton - federalist papers no.1

If you see a blind man, kick him. Why be kinder than God?
- Old Iranian Proverb

The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist.
- George Bernard Shaw

CYNIC n. A blackguard whose faulty vision causes him to see things as they are, not as they ought to be
- Ambrose Bierce

I don't mean to sound cold or cruel or vicious, but I am, so that's the way it comes out
- Bill Hicks

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." --Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C.

"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology."
— Michael Parenti
political scientist

"The United States spends more on arms annually, $275 billion presently, than the rest of the Security Council combined. U.S. arms expenditures are approximately 25 times the gross national product of Iraq. The U.S. has in its stockpiles more nuclear bombs, chemical and biological weapons, more aircraft, rockets and delivery systems in number and sophistication than the rest of the world combined. Included are twenty commissioned Trident II nuclear submarines any one of which could destroy Europe."
— Ramsey Clark
former U.S. Attorney General
Letter to the U.N., November 1998

This is not about the left wing or the right wing. It's about how to stop these wing-nuts from turning the world into a military playground for the Fortune 500. It's not about ideology. It's about human decency and common sense.
-- .John Perry Barlow

"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy . . . censorship. When any government...undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked, contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free."
--Robert Anson Heinlein, "If This Goes On-"

"WHY ARE YOU PROTESTING"
"Because ever since I was a baby crawling around the TV set I've been suckered, lied to and propagandized. The kind of psychological abuse I've been subjected to may not be as bad as sexual abuse but, believe me, it leaves lifelong scars nonetheless. I feel empty, soulless, mindfucked....and now it's payback time."
--Adbusters

I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect, has intended us to forgo their use.
-Galileo Galilei

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away".
-- Philip K. Dick

Moreover, "fact" doesn't mean "absolute certainty"; there ain't no such animal in an exciting and complex world. The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are not about the empirical world. [...] In science "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional consent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
- Stephen J. Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory" - Discover, May 1981

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The following quotes are all pretty politically leaning... they are actually part of a 2 sided post, this list followed up by retorts from the other side. I don't feel like posting the other side this time because they're idiots. :-) If you're really curious, look in my archive, I posted them all before.

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Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a
conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

Standing Tall for America means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but
multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay.

Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then
demand their cooperation and money.

HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but
creationism should be taught in schools.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

You support states rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the 80s is irrelevant.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

'Intelligent design' debate back in court.

'Intelligent design' debate back in court.

I've covered this stuff in the past, but this is an interesting article on CNN that covers a lot of the relevant topics.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Scientific Fact: Men are more intelligent.

Men more intelligent than women, says academic.

Academics in the UK claim their research shows that men are more intelligent than women.

Is this a clever thing to say about women's IQ?

Academic says men are more intelligent than women.

Now before you start flying off the handle, try to at least read the articles and get a basic grasp of what you're talking about.

Generally speaking, Men are on average 5 IQ points higher than women... also, across the board, as IQ's increase, the ratio of men to women grows increasingly disparate. Also, of particular note, is the fact that although women are generally less intelligent, they use their intelligence more efficiently.

Sorry ladies, that's just the facts.

yeah yeah...

I know I'm lagging on updates... I've been busy.

I read the rest of The Ghost Dances, and have some additional comments on that... as well as some thoughts on some other things that Mike (proc) has been talking about and saying about me.

Also, I had a bit of a debate about which was the smarter sex...

I'll get to that stuff later. Errands to run!!

Monday, September 19, 2005

The Ghost Dances.

The Ghost Dances.

This is the link that proc posted in reference to my recent Katrina posts etc.

From the little that I've read so far, I don't really see the relevance, however interesting a read it might be. I'll finish reading it later and give an updated opinion on here.

But for now, it's dinner time. I'll be back later.

bleh.

Well, Mike (proc) has decided to read my blog and say that I'm pretty much talking out of my ass, contradicting myself and missing the point. In general that I'm just wrong.

He also said that I ignored most of what ??? said and only focused on a few points pedantically and that I should use my intellect to actual positively affect changes in my own life and make goals and plans etc.

Now, I'm aware that I was somewhat talking in circles on my Katrina posts, which is the reason I asked him to read them over in the first place... but I don't believe I ignored anything Jon said. And I'm not saying that he wasn't partially right on a few points. I believe I said exactly that in my comments.

*sigh*

Shit just aggravates me.

As for his comments about my Katrina posts... I'm pretty sure he's at least somewhat right, and I plan on doing a little more reading that he suggested about me doing a "Ghost Dance" etc. He also asked how I could hate my government and most of the populace, but still love my country. Another valid question... but he essentially headed off my response by saying that I shouldn't love the country that was founded either.. as that came with it's own shortcomings and we should always only learn from the past and not yearn for it as he said I seemed to be doing. I believe a more correct way of putting it would be that I believe that the founding fathers had some VERY basic and fundamental aspects of this countries foundation CORRECT... almost perfectly so... and that our government since then has eroded those basic cornerstones of this country. I long for those to be restored and not further trampled. I don't think he has a valid argument against some of those most basic points.

I'm sure we could get into a Hobbes & Locke type of discussion about the juxtaposition of personal liberty with the good of the group in a society such as ours. I believe this has valid arguments on both parts... I do NOT however feel that there is a valid argument against the separation of church and state, or of trying to tear down sound scientific studies in favor of religious dogma etc. And using my tax dollars in such ways is also simply wrong... I don't pay my tax dollars to teach superstitious beliefs contrary to scientific facts. I don't pay my tax dollars to support illegal wars and a corrupt government that lies to it's own people and even persecutes them through continued ridiculous legislation that strips away our civil liberties and freedoms under the guise of protecting us from some phantom threat blown far FAR out of proportion and caused in part at it's core by the very actions that the government is trying the symptoms as excuses to perpetuate.

Anyway... I'll do some more reading and try to post something more coherent later. I'm really aggravated now.

*grumble*

Tax dollars should be used in a neutral and secular type way for the benefit of the infrastructure that supports our society as a whole. Not to teach or maintain religious superstitions or even support them in any way beyond what any one else would receive. eg; if we all get some funding simply for being americans, and someone happens to be christian... that's fine. However, if someone is getting funding with my tax dollars simply for being a christian, then no. Don't fund it... don't teach it in public schools outside of a philosophy or religious or cultural studies class... don't pretend that it's remotely scientific in any way... it is simply not a valid option.

Build roads, maintain safety nets, provide security, research advancements and improve our school systems etc. Make a happier, healthier, more intelligent population that can in turn better provide for future generations while ensuring our future. Proactive health care, better schooling... hell, there's tons of things it could be used for that I can't think of right now. We pay taxes in order to belong to the GROUP. Those taxes should provide for the GROUP, not for a particular religious belief. And as far as Katrina goes... if they want their state taxes to go for that, then while even that is questionable, it makes a lot more sense than using my federal taxes to rebuild what is essentially a stupid decision and shortcoming on a state level. And the point that really got me steamed here was not so much the government getting involved in the first place, which I also don't agree with, but am much more inclined to overlook... but with the fact that after this ridiculous and avoidable disaster (something rather chronic with our government lately), they want to go back and rebuild the mess and let it happen all over again!

ARGH!!

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK. FUCK!

This stupidity is literally destroying the world and bankrupting our country in the process... our children for generations to come will be suffering the effects of this idiocy... terrorism is expanding at a record pace... international relations have been shredded... and all the government can do is tell more lies, spread more misinformation and further avoid simply telling the truth, getting to the heart of the matter and educating it's people and making the sweeping changes that need to be made that would have avoided 9/11 and the subsequent illegal war etc.

There is a difference between doing what is RIGHT and doing what you think people want. Similar to how there is a difference between scientific fact and religious belief. One might feel nice to some people, but one is fact and is the better route regardless. And whether or not someone chooses not to believe or side with something because they don't like it... doesn't make it not right or not true. And in the case of belief, when someone doesn't want to admit to a course of action based on the FACTS because it doesn't agree with what they want... it's generally cause to take a closer look at that person and what exactly their goals and intentions are.

Religion is shit. The US' help in forming Israel was shit. The fact that the US won't admit today that their backing of Israel and it's part in war crimes against the Palestinian people, and that causing a good part of the unrest that contributes to modern "terrorism"... not to mention the US' actions in the middle east and elsewhere... and the US' stance on proclaiming itself an overtly Christian nation "under god" and "in god we trust" etc...

I long for some of the ideals of the founding fathers, but at the same time I -AM- learning from the past and I want to see the government pull it's fucking head out of it's collective ass and create a sound foundation which respects the basic rights of it's people and stops pandering to religion and superstition and starts using common fucking sense and puts the smack down on this litigious whiny fucking supertitious population of stupid selfish babies.

Get the bible out of court rooms, get the 10 commandments out of there... stop swearing the president in on a bible, stop using "under god" and "in god we trust" in violation of the constitution and basic rights of a vast portion of the American populace. Stop fighting ridiculous illegal wars based on lies and avoiding placing the blame for 9/11 where it actually belongs. Start acting like a responsible leading, unifying, neutral and secular force that works for the betterment and protection of our people along with the world as a whole.

What I hate the most is that time and again I just come back to the fact that most people are selfish ignorant sheep and therefor what is popular is what goes... not what it right or true. The smartest people are always doomed to be drowned out by the majority... doomed to just sit there pulling out their hair, saying to themselves "Can't they fucking see what they're doing to themselves!? Can't they see that they're causing their own problems!?.. that they're screwing themselves, taking away their own rights and freedoms, and making life worse for everyone!?".

I really don't think I'd feel bad if a virus swept the planet and killed off every single human being, and maybe even most primates as well, just to be sure the planet had awhile to heal itself, if it's not already too late.

A response to a comment.

After my last post about my views on our governments response to Hurricane Katrina, in respect to using federal tax money to fund the rebuilding of New Orleans, ???? had made the comment "hahaha, yes i agree with justin here. but come on j, they ARE going to use your tax dollars to fix it. there's not much we can do about that except not work, or do it under the table. . ."

I typed out a response to here, and while having just awoke, I feel it somewhat sums up my frustration recently with matters in general. So I decided that I would include it here on the main page so that it wouldn't be so easily overlooked.

The point isn't whether or not they're going to use my tax dollars to do it... the point is that they're stupid and wrong to be doing it, and using my tax dollars to do it is just wrong on top of that. Adding insult to injury in a way.

This post was something like my previous posts about the US Gov using $15,000,000.00 PER DAY of our tax money to support Israel, a move which is one of the very foundations of modern terrorism. I have NO interest in supporting an outright religious country with my tax dollars, a country which was carved out of the middle of Muslim territory... rekindling an ages old hatred of the Christians based on the animosity resultant from the Crusades, and that, along with what we did to the Muslims in Afghanistan during the cold war, and those in Lebanon etc.. our meddling in the middle east, and the deaths and manipulation of thousands of Muslims there... that, coupled with our almost sole backing of Israel, who continues it's pogrom against the Palestinian people... not to mention our governments despicable moves to convert itself into an overtly Christian nation, in direct violation of the Constitution... much less common sense and respect for the people of this country... I mean, the list goes on... and when it comes down to it... our government has been one of the very key movers in CAUSING the problem of global terrorism which has exploded in recent years. They don't hate us for our freedom... they hate us for being a Christian nation which stands with the Judeo-Christian god, backing Israel and other actions against Islam and the Muslim nations of the middle east. Using them for their oil... using them to fight our wars for us and then abandoning them... killing thousands of innocent people in covert operations and such... they hate us for being a country of greedy fat lazy imperialists who think we have the right to run the world and use everyone else like toilet paper, telling them how to live their lives and how to run their countries... they don't hate us for our freedom... because frankly we don't have very much. And anyone who thinks we're "FREE", is fucking blind and stupid. We are not the most free nation on earth... we're not even very close any more. We're a nation of extremely litigious, self-centered fat babies who think that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter, and if we don't get everything we want (and think we somehow deserve), we cry about it and threaten to sue anyone we can... we think we have a RIGHT to all the oil in the middle east... that we have a RIGHT to drive SUV's and Hummers and pollute the environment to the point where Global Warming is now causing the very hurricanes that lead us right back to Hurricane Katrina and the ones that tore through Florida. And as we continue to blindly consume and wage wars based on complete bullshit lies to perpetuate our way of life and it's subsequent destruction of our environment, downfall of the US through bankruptcy of not only the economic kind, but of academia, intellectualism, freedom etc as well. As spy cameras are put up on every street corner, and in every business and essentially every facet of your lives... while your phones are tapped, internet connections monitored, your media censored and filtered... everything about your lives spoon fed and controlled, every action monitored, cataloged and databased.

And in the meantime we have shit like this... Katrina... where a city that was built below sea level and continually sinking, is even considered for being rebuilt, at a cost which could cripple our nations economy, on top of the already staggering costs for a war based on a complete lie which is costing us hundreds of billions already and the lives of not only almost 10,000 allied troops, but of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives, to fight a country which had NOTHING to do with 9/11... NO Weapons of Mass Destruction and which was absolutely NO THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES. So on top of that COMPLETELY WRONG WAR... we have our government doing shit like both seeding the roots of dissent globally, stoking the fires of terrorism through continued imperialistic actions coupled with Judeo-Christian religious overtones, while doing things domestically like trying to stifle sound scientific advancements like the theory of evolution through natural selection, in favor of pseudo-science and simply downright dogmatic religious superstitions etc such as Creation "Science", Intelligent Design etc... and forcing these things which are NOT AT ALL scientific, to be taught along with actual sound Science in classrooms... so we're outputting a generation of children who are being taught that superstitious dogma that in reality is in direct conflict with actual scientific fact, is somehow valid "science"... we're taught that we should continue to get whatever we want and be a nation of god loving consumers who should go on our merry way guzzling gas and destroying the environment and causing the very wars, terrorism and global environmental meltdown which are tearing our entire planet apart as both matters of nature and nations alike.

My tax dollars going to Katrina is just a drop in the bucket of just how far gone things really are. There's a reason I just can't type anymore of this shit sometimes... and it's because it's so disheartening to see just how screwed we really are. Sometimes I just need to close it out for awhile and think about personal things and focus on my own life for awhile. Work on fixing something I actually have control of and not lose faith in life itself because the world around me is going to hell in a hand basket and there's not a damn thing I can do about it because the majority of people are blind sheep whose self-interest and lack of understanding of the world around them will always steer the herd in the direction of destruction.

Misanthropy.

*shakes head sadly*


Now I'm sure many of these points can be further broken down and clarified etc... or debated ad infinitum... but the points generally stand. When you really take a step back, these are the major issues. These are the very causes of our environmental troubles and our political woes. The very downfall of our nation, which is ever increasingly becoming more overtly religious and more concerned about placating the people than in doing what is best for people and maintaining actual freedom and liberty and separation of church and state. Our government is going in the very opposite direction of where it should be going!

I seriously wouldn't have a problem if someone like our founding fathers wanted to overthrow our current government. Get rid of the religious bullshit, get rid of the SEVERE infringement on our personal freedom and liberties that our government continues to advance every day. Put us back to a point where we really are FREE as our founding fathers fought and died to let us be... where we really have the choice to live by ourselves, for ourselves... where we really have the choice of freedom of religious belief or disbelief... where being a patriot really does mean to love your country and question your government, and be always vigilant and ready to overthrow it and shed blood if necessary to maintain that freedom and liberty.

This nation is but a pale shadow of what it once was... a diseased and bloated corpse of the great nation it was founded as. I hate our government and I hate the majority of our people... and it kills me because I do love my country. It kills me that people just can't see the problems... that even as obvious as some are, people just turn a blind eye to the solutions because of the implications. So we blindly march away from freedom and liberty and peace and all things good... to march towards ignorance, obedience, superstition, pollution, consumerism... downfall, decay, decline... a lack of privacy, knowledge, advancement, freedom... every idea patented, every gene patented... every step or breath you take almost a risk of being sued for patent infringement... for stealing someone else's "Intellectual Property".

Sunday, September 18, 2005

a little political thought I had.

Well, relatively speaking, considering the general bent of my whining lately.

Anyway... I was thinking about Hurricane Katrina and the whole Louisiana thing... and how they're determined to rebuild it.

ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED?

Even IF you could rebuild the whole damn thing, which is going to cost over $200,000,000,000.00 to do... IT'S JUST GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. You're building a fucking city BELOW SEA LEVEL... and not only that, but it's STILL SINKING EVEN LOWER. So even if you could find a way to re-elevate the land level, it would just sink down again anyway... and the rate is being accelerated by the depletion of ground water and fossil fuels on top of the natural rate.

Now the kicker is that they want to use MY (and your) tax money to do this.

Um.... no? I'm sorry... it's a shame that the city got wiped out. If you want to rebuild it... THEN YOU FUCKING DO IT YOU STUPID POOR FUCKS. Don't expect me to foot the fucking bill for a bunch of stupid poor fucks 1,000+ miles away who chose to live in a spot where their destruction was simply a matter of time.

I have a huge problem with people expecting a federal bailout of any sort when they KNOWINGLY choose to live in high risk areas such as flood plains below sea level, or in the flow path of an active volcano etc...

Sorry, you choose to live there because of the view or because it's cheap (FOR A FUCKING REASON), then you willingly take the fucking risk of getting FUCKED and it's NOT MY PROBLEM. I don't want a fucking cent of my money going to help your dumb asses out.

As far as I'm concerned, if they couldn't build the fucking levees themselves, then that's their problem. Boo-hoo. Here's a fucking tissue. Have fun cleaning up the bodies suckers. You'd think you'd learn a lesson from this... but as we can see, even while the bodies are still bloating in the deadly floodwaters, the stupid fuckers are planning on building again.

It's times like this that I see, yet again, just how fucking stupid people are... just how fucking broken our government really is... and just how fucking much people are incapable of holding themselves accountable for their own fucking choices and actions.

In an odd way it reminds me of Atheism (or even Satanism to an extent) vs. Christianity.

Atheism = I fucked up. It was my choice. I'm accountable for my actions. I'll fix it.

Christianity = Someone else made me fuck up, and someone else will fix it for me.

Leave it to me to throw in a jab at stupid religious people in the process of bitching about Federal taxation to support the rebuilding of New Orleans etc.