Bobby Jindal...

....is a douchebag.

His 'response' to Pres. Obama's speech last night made me a little ill. First of all, it wasn't a response at all because it was just an attack on the stimulus that was obviously prepared before Obama's speech was ever delivered or even read. That means Republicans aren't even listening. How can our President breech the partisan gap when the other side is metaphorically sticking their fingers in their ears and humming while he is trying to speak sense?


Secondly, "Bobby" isn't even his real name, it just plays well in Louisiana. His name is Piyush Jindal, but he couldn't put Piyush on his gubernatorial election signs because it sounds like a terrorist name to elderly white folk (kinda like Barack). Sure people might have thought "Barry" was more accessible, but that would be pandering and Barack Obama is above that.

Republicans are sooo pleased with themselves that they have an Indian-American poster boy. Too bad he's an insincere self-serving prick. I just got a creepy feeling from him, like it was all rehearsed and part of his long-term plan to become President. This is not partisanship talking because I got the same vibe from John Edwards between the last two elections when he was on his well choreographed crusade to help poor people.

The third reason Mr. Jindal is a douche is that he painted funding items such as volcano monitoring and magnetic levitation trains as silly and wastful. FYI-Volcanoes, unlike earthquakes can be predicted, which can save thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Yellowstone is currently in a state of unrest and if it blows it will make our anthropogenic contribution to climate change seem like chump change. Maglev trains have been used successfully for years in European and Asian nations and are a very viable solution to the gridlock between LA and Las Vegas.

So 'Bobby', you can take that folksy smarm and shove it up your ass.

Endangered Children

This is not light reading… sorry.

I heard a very disheartening story on the radio yesterday about child prostitution. Like any rational parent, it made me uncomfortable so I almost switched to some mindless music, but then I thought “this problem exists because people don’t want to hear about it, let alone address the underlying causes.” I forced myself to listen as a young woman recounted her days on the street as a twelve-year-old prostitute. Her mother had abandoned her and she ran away from a group home and found herself in the company of evil, opportunistic people. She was taken in by a pimp and forced to have sex and use drugs. Eventually, she had to endure one of the most inhumane things imaginable when her pimp traded her to a dealer for drugs.

You may be thinking this story takes place in a third-world country, but no…these events took place in the United States, and similar stories of horror are currently being imposed upon the innocent in many countries the world over.

The girl in this true story was saved from probable death when the drug dealer was pulled over by police while she was in the backseat. The police did not initially behave as rescuers and she was jailed as a criminal. Eventually, she spoke to an empathetic counselor who realized she was a victim. She endured the most horrific crimes humans are capable of, and sadly, she is one of the ‘lucky ones’ who made it out.

The part of the story that made me the angriest was that of nearly 50 recently rescued children, only a few had even been reported missing. How could these parents not care about the fate of their child? Some have used the term ‘throw-away children’ to describe these poor souls that have no one to love them. A label that harsh should never be necessary to describe a fellow human being.

This must not be tolerated. The vulnerable must be protected and the criminals must be punished. The parents who irresponsibly have children, then give up on parenting when it proves to be hard are also criminals. There needs to be more education, prosecution, and possibly intervention. I am not suggesting a pro-Big Brother agenda, but I would like to live in a world where becoming a parent by birth took as much effort, responsibility, and dedication as adopting a child. A child is the most precious thing on this Earth and it saddens me that anyone could ever think of discarding them.

Save Saturn!

In 1990 a new car company was launched that claimed to be a “Different Kind of Car Company.” I was skeptical until a friend asked me to accompany her while shopping for a car because she was afraid the salespeople would try to bully her. The salesman who greeted us was the opposite of the stereotype you’d expect. He informed us that he did not work on commission and that Saturn had a no-haggle policy. If you have ever been car shopping you know how stressful it can be to negotiate a price. They incentivize their employees by offering them ownership (stock) in the company, so that it is in their own interest for the company to thrive. A fair sticker price was set and you either chose to pay it or not (as all retail should be in my opinion). He did not try to pull us into a back room to talk about monthly payments or force a test drive on my friend. He was enthusiastic about his product and proceeded to tell us how his company had designed and built the engine, chassis, and body of their cars all from scratch with safety and reliability in mind. He answered all our questions and then smiled and gave us his card and a farewell handshake. My friend thought it over at her leisure with no pressure and eventually bought one a few days later.

I bought a used Saturn sedan several years ago and have been very happy with it. We also bought a Saturn mini-van last year after we realized our wagon wouldn’t accommodate 3 car seats. I emailed the dealer and the manager personally responded and said he didn’t have one, but would try to find one for me, which he did. He went out of his way to track one down at auction and presented me with a vehicle in immaculate condition and charged me $3,000 dollars less than I was expecting to pay based on the Kelly Blue Book.
I talked my mom into buying one several years ago and she recently bought a newer one and is very pleased with the reliability.

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I have always been impressed with Saturn and am saddened that GM is dragging them down with their shortsighted policies. GM will stop making Saturn cars in 2011, so the dealers are scrambling to find another manufacturer to produce their vehicles so they can save the Saturn name. It’s unfortunate that if this American company is to survive it will probably take a foreign manufacturer to step up.
This company truly is "different" so the next time you need a new or used vehicle I urge you to give Saturn a visit. Also, whenever we make purchases these days we should think about buying products that will help keep and create jobs in America.

Bailout gone awry

I was incensed to learn that Wall Street employees were paid out $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. Why in THE hell are the taxpayers funding bonuses to Wall Street bankers?! Average people are being laid off with no job prospects and executives are getting extra $$ for running their businesses into the ground and losing money for their customers.
The New York comptroller stated that it is unclear whether taxpayer money was used for the bonuses, but the paper trail is irrelevant; companies that got bailout money from the U.S. Government because they claimed to be on the verge of collapse gave their executives reward money on top of their grossly overinflated salaries. They should be reprimanded, not rewarded.

The only conceivable reason I can think of for the bonuses is to keep around executives who fully understand how we got into this mess, so they can dig us out. I'm sorry, but that's like beating a dead horse with the poisonous snake that bit him.

The concept of a bonus is to reward a person for doing his or her job well. Guess what, ya didn't do your job well. I hope Pres Obama & Sec Geithner send some heads rolling because it is unacceptable that these people are getting extra while the rest of us get bent over a barrel for their mistakes. I say take the money back. Fine these companies and let them sink or swim on their own.

Fitness Tip of the Week

Get out and play!

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

As I listened to our new President this morning, the words to "God Bless The USA" kept popping into my head. I remember singing that song as part of a children's choir and feeling a warmth in my chest and tears in my eyes. Today that visceral experience was revisited as I absorbed the palpable patriotic pride flowing from millions of my fellow Americans.

If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife
I'd thank my lucky stars to be livin' here today
Cause the flag still stands for freedom
And they can't take that away

And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
And defend her still today.
Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA.

...Lee Greenwood

Fit New Year

Happy New Year to all! It seems like forever since I have been part of the Blogosphere (I am referring of course to the blogging community and not Rod Blagojevich's Lego head).

How is everyone doing with their resolutions? I think it is a great tradition to give up something bad for you to begin the new year. Identify the thing that is most prominently preventing you from reaching your fitness goals and ban it from your life; it could be french fries, beer, sugar-soda, cigarettes, chocolate, white bread, cheesecake, mayonnaise, chicken wings... whatever it is dragging you down, 86 it and you will feel better.
I managed to maintain my weight during the Holidays and now I am back on track with my exercise program.

My stats: 217#, 28%