Friday, February 15, 2013
Rich get rich and poor get poorer and somehow thats good?
Is just me or is the debate around tax cuts for the wealthy and increasing minimum wage getting a little crazy? Somehow many conservative politicians are trying to convince us that if wealthy people get even wealthier it will be good for the economy. At the same time they are trying to keep minimum wage as low as possible with the argument that if poor people get wealthier it will be bad for the economy.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
We can't change everything but that shouldn't get in the way of changing what we can,
Of all the possible outcomes in any situation only a few are probable and only one will actually happen.
Sometimes the outcome cannot be controlled like when a meteor falls on your head.
Sometimes the outcome can only be partially controlled like when two great teams meet in a championship.
Sometimes the outcome can be controlled by us to a very great exent like just about everything else that doesn't fall into one of the previous categories.
So don't spend time and energy on things you can't do anything about and don't let anything stop you from taking care of the things you can.
Sometimes the outcome cannot be controlled like when a meteor falls on your head.
Sometimes the outcome can only be partially controlled like when two great teams meet in a championship.
Sometimes the outcome can be controlled by us to a very great exent like just about everything else that doesn't fall into one of the previous categories.
So don't spend time and energy on things you can't do anything about and don't let anything stop you from taking care of the things you can.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
We need to redefine mental-illness. Violent crimes are not normal behaviour of healthy people.
I have a hard time believing that "people without any mental-health problems at all" committ so much violent crime. More a question of redefining mental-health.
According to the National Journal "Researchers estimate that if mental illness could be eliminated as a factor in violent crime, the overall rate would be reduced by only 4 percent. That means 96 percent of violent crimes—defined by the FBI as murders, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults—are committed by people without any mental-health problems at all. Solutions that focus on reducing crimes by the mentally ill will make only a small dent in the nation’s rate of gun-related murders, ranging from mass killings to shootings that claim a single victim."
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/why-improving-mental-health-would-do-little-to-end-gun-violence-20130124?mrefid=skybox
According to the National Journal "Researchers estimate that if mental illness could be eliminated as a factor in violent crime, the overall rate would be reduced by only 4 percent. That means 96 percent of violent crimes—defined by the FBI as murders, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults—are committed by people without any mental-health problems at all. Solutions that focus on reducing crimes by the mentally ill will make only a small dent in the nation’s rate of gun-related murders, ranging from mass killings to shootings that claim a single victim."
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/why-improving-mental-health-would-do-little-to-end-gun-violence-20130124?mrefid=skybox
Friday, January 25, 2013
My "unvitation" to the White House.
This is an
interesting approach to inviting people to your party. First you invite
everyone you really want to come to your party. Then you make a list of all the
people you don't want to come and send them an "unvitation". I received
this lovely invitation to the Presidents inauguration in the mail. It was
printed on beautiful paper and looked very official. Then, just in case I had any illusion about
actually being on the President’s guest list it said "This is a commemorative
invitation, not an actual invitation". Thus I have invented a new word
"the unvitation". :)
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Jesus might say "What the hell where you thinking?"
Imagine if
there really were a heaven and we all had to stand and be judged when we
died. I can just imagine many people who
call themselves Christians standing before Jesus as he says:
“What the
hell where you thinking?”
“ I asked
you to turn the other cheek even to the point of sacrificing your own life, not
to shoot all intruders with your M16”.
“I asked
you to care for the sick and feed the hungry, not to sell your care and food to
those who can pay and give the finger to everyone else”.
“I taught
unconditional love, not hatred and bigotry”.
“I even
asked you to love your enemies, not to use force to impose your lifestyle on everyone who is
different from you.”
“What
really irks me is not that you behave so badly.
Human beings have been doing horrible things to each other since the
beginning of time. What really pisses me
off is that you have done all this evil in my name!”
Thursday, January 17, 2013
From victim to champion
I met someone the other day who told me about her work situation. This woman is in a management position in a company and is part of the companies management team. She told me that she was not happy with her situation because she didn't feel appreciated. She felt that her superiors and colleagues only criticized her work and didn't appreciate her talent. She continued on for some time telling me in some detail about the incompetence of her superiors. Listening to her I could not help but think that their may well be two sides to this story but I was not in a position to investigate the other side. When she was finished describing the situation I asked her what she intended to do about it? She then looked at me rather confused and said "I can't do anything about it!". They are the ones who are all messed up. I explained that it may well be that she was in a company full of incompetent under-achievers but if that was so they were not likely to have the knowledge or initiative to improve the situation, at least not without help. So again the question was what she was goind to do about this situation.
I told her that in most situations in life you only have three real alternatives:
1. Accept your environment as it is.
2. Change your environment.
3. Change environments.
If she was willing to accept things as they are then she should also accept that she is a part of the problem and that "bitching and complaining" wasn't going to help much.
If she was willing to try and improve things then bitching and complaining was ok since it helped her to understand and define the problem or problems as long as she didn't just get stuck there. I have always said that "bitching and complaining" is a necessary phase in the creative process but it is a dangerous phase because if you get stuck there it can become destructive to you and your enviroment.
If she was not willing to accept things as they are and did not feel willing or capable to change things for the better then she should move on to another job that suited her better.
We so often find ourselves in the role of the victim and in fairness sometimes we are victimized by other people or life events. But when that happens we still have the power to steer our fate. We control the situation through our choice of thoughts and deeds.You are the champion of your fate!
I told her that in most situations in life you only have three real alternatives:
1. Accept your environment as it is.
2. Change your environment.
3. Change environments.
If she was willing to accept things as they are then she should also accept that she is a part of the problem and that "bitching and complaining" wasn't going to help much.
If she was willing to try and improve things then bitching and complaining was ok since it helped her to understand and define the problem or problems as long as she didn't just get stuck there. I have always said that "bitching and complaining" is a necessary phase in the creative process but it is a dangerous phase because if you get stuck there it can become destructive to you and your enviroment.
If she was not willing to accept things as they are and did not feel willing or capable to change things for the better then she should move on to another job that suited her better.
We so often find ourselves in the role of the victim and in fairness sometimes we are victimized by other people or life events. But when that happens we still have the power to steer our fate. We control the situation through our choice of thoughts and deeds.You are the champion of your fate!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Can guns really protect you from harm?
If we look
at the source of violence that occurs in our society we can see that a
significant portion of this violence is between criminals. So the best thing we could do to protect
ourselves is to not become a criminal and try not to associate with
criminals.
That being
said bad guys do enter people’s homes and threaten, injure and/or kill them. Wouldn’t my chances of survival or of
protecting my family increase greatly if I had a gun? To answer that question we need to think
through the likely scenarios. Generally
these attackers do not give warning. So in
order to protect myself I would need to have my weapon easily accessible, never
more than arms reach away and always loaded.
I would also need to be very skilled with my weapon and trained to keep
a level head in highly stressful situations so I don’t accidently shoot the guy
from FedEx or the neighbor kid. If in order to avoid accidents I kept my weapon
locked up in a gun safe I would probably not have time to get it out and
protect myself in the event of a real attack.
Most people
who are not themselves criminals and who are victims of violence are not
attacked by strangers. The vast majority
of us who are or have ever been victims of violence were attacked by people we
know, more often than not by someone in our own family. The most likely threat of violence for
children comes from their fathers and mothers not from strangers carrying guns
into the schools. The chances that a child will be beaten, sexually abused or
even killed by a family member are much higher than by a total stranger. The risk for women of being beaten, raped or
killed by someone close to them are significantly higher than the risk of
becoming the victim of a total stranger. Sometimes moms, dads, husbands, wives
and lovers flip out and when they do I hope for everyone’s sake that they don’t
have an assault rifle in the closet. I
do not believe any of us want to have a pistol in our bathrobe just in case our
spouse might want to kill us.
If you are
not a criminal and you don’t abuse your wife and children then why not have a
gun at home just in case? I could
suggest about 16,000 reasons. That is
the approximate number of accidental shootings in the USA every year. If you are not shot by someone close to you
on purpose you are still at greater risk of being shot by accident than of
being shot by a stranger.
I am not
against guns. I enjoy hunting. I even
understand if some people enjoy recreational shooting. I am against guns as a form of protection. I
am against people carrying guns on their hips at the grocery store or sleeping
with a gun on their nightstands. I am
also against civilians owning assault rifles with clips holding 30 rounds.
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