In Your Head

Conservatives continue to frame talking points out of, well, nothing. 

I was in a quick weird conversation where I have family members all yelling that forty some percent of the U.S. populace doesn't pay taxes. Okay, and?

And nothing. Nothing at all. I think it's one of those things that you just shout out, and that's it. Is it supposed to be a bad thing? Is there a breakdown of those who don't pay? Are you saying revenue could be raised by taxing the unknown?

Why the fuck can't conservatives say something that means something. Why do they yell inanities and then shut up when someone questions meaning?

So there I am, surrounded by conservatives, looking up this crap for the lazy bastards. Walking purveyors of nonsensical points. I know that labeling a thought as meaningless is a logical fallacy, there is meaning in words, but I can't figure it out. If I press the issue with questions, usually the final response is a loud, "I don't know."

I don't know? Then why are you talking? If you don't know, please shut the fuck up and stop confusing everyone. 

A quick glance shows that the majority of those who pay no taxes are those who make less than twenty thousand a year. When I make this comment, I get deaf ears and blank looks. That's why conversing with minds lacking the will to follow a thought through is so frustrating.

So I say, "then you think we should tax the poor?" What response do I get? A loud, "I don't know! 

Then why are you speaking? Fucking crazy land.

If I give percentages of income levels and those in the income groups that pay no taxes, do they have a response. No!

How can you speak if you have not put any effort into explaining your thought? How can you converse with someone who doesn't understand what they are saying, that only parrot what they hear?

I think every problem conservatives have with everything they hate is all in their big empty heads. They only look at the surface of a thought, no time or inclination to actually delve into it. Oh no, just scream and yell you're hatred bigots, it's all you have, and just so you know, that sucks.


Also posted on "Atheist Universe."

Jose Can You See: Class Warfare IV

As another fourth of July is celebrated in the United States, we should remember that we are the immigrants. Immigrants that took what they wanted, however they could get their hands on it. 


Population estimates range from a little over 2 million to eight million indigenous people living in the United States when the European illegal immigrants first started to colonize. Bringing disease and war, they took this country from its original inhabitants.


I remember in school reading about how the first European settlers "discovered" the land we live in. It never sank in when I was a young man that names like the state where I was mostly raised, (Illinois), wasn't much of a European derived word. The rivers and mountains and land already had names, the names that were given by those who inhabited the land before our arrival. 


Illegal immigration are buzzwords that we hear almost daily, though it is hardly ever mentioned that the Europeans that live here, each and every one, were at one time illegal immigrants.


For a glaring example of religious defective mentality; think, "manifest destiny." 


Now we have an influx of hispanic people, most looking to find work, safety and hoping their children are able to prosper. The american dream baby.


But so many white bastards I know hate the thought of immigration. And they hate it in an incomprehensible manner. People adorning the bumpers of their cars with bumper stickers proclaiming that we should, "protect our borders," yet, their children are marrying said immigrants. My bleached ass family has hispanic blood running through the veins of grandchildren, yet still hate immigration. It's as though they pretend that everyone in the family is still a pristine nordic pallor, amazing.


To get away from personal remarks, anyone who can generate a bit of brain juice can figure out that it is the plutocracy running the country that keeps immigration in its current state. Wealth loves cheap labor, and why allow immigrants to become citizens when that means that they would then enjoy the rights of american workers?


To take that a step farther, I think it is exactly the reason that conservatives are after workers rights. If they destroy the unions, get rid of minimum wage laws, get rid of child protection laws; they can then justify immigration reform. It will give them workers  that are used to working for pennies and destroy any attempts to maintain a living wage for the populace. 


Class warfare continues.

Spitting on Your Grave

April 1st I decided to give a vegan diet a try. Many claims are made by those who follow the diet, so thought I'd experiment on myself and see how much of the diet is hype and how much is real. I have stayed vegetarian for most of the last decade, so didn't think it would be much of a problem to get rid of eggs and dairy, the last vestiges of my omnivore diet. 

I was wrong.

Apparently I was eating enough eggs and cheese to satisfy the craving for meat. In fact, I was eating so much dairy that I started to gain weight while being vegetarian. This after losing weight when I first started ignoring meat. Though I felt better, and was eating more of what nutritionists advise, I still managed to knock down enough slabs of dairy that I was reversing the trend.

So this is the first claim that I thought would be easy to prove. Followers of a vegan diet consistently weigh what they should. Though there may be an exception, the generally held thought is that a vegan diet will control your weight. After one month of abstaining from animal products, (as much as one can), I can say that I lost 8 pounds. Not bad considering April sucked in Michigan, rain, cold and then more rain. Not out as often as I normally would be, hoping May will be a better month; I need some exercise.

Big ugly guy is getting a little trimmer. 

It has been fairly easy to stick to the plan, even with those who would derail my goals. During the first week of the diet, I was invited over to a friends house for dinner. The couple served these giant steaks, (bastards were as big as the plate), with large smiles. Bitches were testing me, I know it. Big steak eating grins, incisors polished to a deathly glow; messing with the man. I ate my polenta and greens amicably while envisioning smacking those smiles off their faces; sorry, it's how I think.

Then this last week the woman and I were invited to sub for a couple in a monthly euchre tournament. Of course they started off with a nice dinner, a dinner that included not one damn thing that I would eat. Bowls of nuts were laying around, so I snacked on that and drank my wine. The hostess comes over and tells me how hard it is for the body to digest nuts. I agree amiably, but am thinking, how's that carrion doing for you? Really? You're telling me nuts are hard to digest while your stuffing your mouth with, as best I can tell, horribly cooked meat? The wife still eats meat when we go out, she confirmed my thoughts, the main part of the meal, which was beef and noodles, was not very good. 

Nothing pisses me off more than not cooking meat correctly. Torture the poor guy for a few years and then kill him so someone can burn the fuck out of it and throw it in the garbage. Great.

I keep telling myself that it's okay though. Accidents can happen, and certain events can change people, but I have a plan. Eat as healthily as possible. Simple as that. Science agrees, it is not too hard to do, and barring an uncertain future I should live a fairly long and healthy life.

At least long enough to spit on their graves.