Posts Tagged ‘pet peeves’

It’s not an “investment” its “spending”

Posted: November 18, 2010 by datechguy in economy, opinion/news
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Investment

1. In finance, the purchase of a financial product or other item of value with an expectation of favorable future returns. In general terms, investment means the use money in the hope of making more money.

2. In business, the purchase by a producer of a physical good, such as durable equipment or inventory, in the hope of improving future business.

investing:

to put (money) to use, by purchase or expenditure, in something offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.

spending

to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.): resisting the temptation to spend one’s money.

deficit spending

The amount by which a government, company, or individual’s spending exceeds its income over a particular period of time. also called deficit or called budget deficit.

I have had very little time to listen to Morning Joe lately as the Radio Show premiere is under 55 hours away and as the latest member of the 99 week club I have to be off selling ads or my mortgage will not get paid.

Today I had some time after dropping my son off at school and I had the displeasure of listening to John Kerry’s rant this morning.

In addition to boasting about the democrats win in Massachusetts (with a little help from their friends) John Kerry talked about how people have been decided by the republicans about taxes.

He repeatedly talked about government “investments” but then mentioned corporate “spending” on lobbyists to stop good things like carbon and energy taxes.

This is the height of liberal speak. So lets bluntly say aloud what needs to be said:

Government doesn’t produce anything. Every Dollar that Government has is collected in taxes or fees or fines from either the public or businesses. The only exception I can think of are leases of government (read the people’s) property.

Government doesn’t invest it SPENDS. It may spend on useful things , the Military, food inspections, the National Weather Service, but these are not investments it is spending.

Business however when it spends it does so for a return. That is a true investment. Even the use of lobbyists to effect a law is an actual investment with the expectation of a return.

I have one simple rule. If an official refers to spending as an investment, that tells me that they can’t justify it without wordplay.

Have some guts! If you think your spending is good and worthwhile and justifiable then call it what it is and defend it, but don’t’ insult my intelligence by calling it an “investment”.

The value of a reminder

Posted: November 7, 2010 by datechguy in catholic, personal
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For reasons I won’t go into I’ve been feeling low for quite a while.

Oh I’ve managed to have fun and enjoy people’s company but for quite a few weeks I’ve been kinda down and some issues that have come up lately haven’t helped.

I put up a post and wrote a review but was still angry.and I was determined to stay put Sunday or no Sunday. I could get away with it too, the wife was gone for the day, one son was at work and the other was so deep into his gaming he would never notice. I had missed confession anyways so I wasn’t able to receive so what was the difference; or so I rationalized to myself.

I had tweet deck up in the background and happened to look at my screen when suddenly a tweet came up from Father Z. I don’t remember what the tweet was but I could see his icon and the priest’s robes and it reminded me of my duty. I kept thinking to myself trying to stay angry but the image of Fr. Z in his robes holding the host wouldn’t go away. Finally 5 minutes before the start of mass, I pulled myself out of bed, dressed quickly and dashed to church sitting in the side room alone just in time to make the start of mass.

Ironically it was a commemorative mass for the Venerini Sisters. It was the mass that marked the end of their US centennial. As I sat in the el section of the church during communion (I abstained having missed confession) and watched the line of people going up to receive it occurred to me that if that tweet had been from any of the sisters in attendance I would have still been in bed. Other than my 7th grade teacher who I recognized I couldn’t tell the nuns from the little old ladies that prayed in the church as not a single one of them remained in the habit.

The sisters have done a lot of good work and do so in many countries but I couldn’t get the irony out of my head. It reminded me of a story from my youth at St. Anthony’s. My mom was coming to pick me up when one of the sisters was crossing the street. She was fairly young, not in a habit and wearing a very short skirt when a guy in a convertible came by noticed the sister and pulled over and said something to her. I couldn’t hear what he said but she got VERY angry.

As my mom pulled up, Sister still angry commented to my mother how shocked she was at what that guy had said. This was a mistake. My mother isn’t one to volunteer an opinion but if you ask her she will tell you exactly what she thinks without holding back. She had seen what happened and didn’t miss a beat.

What are you angry about? How can you expect to get the respect of a nun if you are unwilling to dress like one?

I think my mother shocked sister more than the guy in the convertible did.

When a nun in a habit enters a room everyone notices it speaks a universal message of service to Christ.

When an old lady, no matter how devout enters the room, it does not.

“In my era, equality is a given, so we can hit anyone!”

Posted: October 26, 2010 by datechguy in oddities, politics
Tags: , , ,

One of my pet peeves is politics is the idea that you can’t be tough on a woman in a debate or candidate forum. I’ve seen questions and commentary for years where people go after men for being too tough on a woman during a debate, in an attack ad etc etc etc.

This just drives me nuts. If a person is competing for a political position, they are competing for a position, not as a “man” or a “woman” but as a citizen. I expect any candidate running for public office to be able to take it. This isn’t beanbag, a public office is a public trust and nobody is going to hold your hand when the going gets rough.

You can either serve in the office or not, you can either take the heat or you can not and if you can’t then do something else.

(BTW the quote above is from an issue of the Justice League from the 80’s. There was a character called Booster Gold who was from the future. During one of the fights of heroes vs villains, a female villain is cornered by Booster Gold, strikes a very feminine pose and asks: “You wouldn’t hit a woman would you?” He says, well you see… the next panel is the word BAM and the third panel is him giving that explanation in the title to the now floored villain who groggily answers: “Thanks for explaining that to me.”)

Cathoics being Catholic the Horror!

Posted: October 19, 2010 by datechguy in abortion, catholic, culture
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The only thing that annoys the media more than Catholics being Catholic, is when the leaders of the Catholic church demand that political figures who call themselves Catholic live up to the name:

Arbp. Burke said that the culture today pushes a “cafeteria Catholicism,” whereby some Catholics pick and choose “what part of the deposit of faith to believe and practice.” As a result, “there has developed in places a false notion that the Christian or any person of faith, in order to be a true citizen of his nation, must bracket his faith life from his public life.”

“We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage,” said the archbishop. “It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner.”

Expect the media to be outraged and democrats to try to use this against republicans, under the theory of course that a believing Catholic by definition is not qualified for public office.

Any reporter who asks a pol to comment on this should be instantly asked this question: “Do you believe that a believing Catholic who follows the tenets of the Church should be disqualified from public office in the United States?”

As for the bishop, as far as I’m concerned this is what you call Pope material!

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