The Tragedy Is Nationwide

The "tragedy in Tuscon", as it has come to be called, it just a small part of a much larger tragedy; a tragedy that engulfs our nation and our society. On a regular basis, people are gunned down in cities around the country. We rarely hear about this. Why? Because the victims are "insignificant"? They are perhaps poor, drug addicts and/or dealers, gang members, etc. Yet they are someone's mother or father, or even someone's child. They are human beings, just like you and I. They may not have the "status" that some of the victims in the Tuscon shootings have, but they are still human beings, and the needless murder of any human being is a tragedy.

There will now be calls for stricter gun control laws. I reject these arguments. First of all, there are are already many illegally obtained guns out there that will still be out there once new laws are in place. The new laws would do nothing about this. Second, criminals do not obey laws. If they wish to obtain a gun and cannot do so legally, they will do so illegally, by stealing or some other means. Just look at the drug laws; they do not prevent people who really want drugs from getting them. Just look at prohibition. People could still get alcohol if they wanted it. Gun control laws will not solve the problem.

There is a culture of hate and violence in our society. We are too easily offended or angered by the words and actions of others, then too often resort to violence as an answer. We want vengeance for some wrong that has been done to us, whether the offender intended to hurt us or not. Until we all realize that everyone out there is a human being just like us, with the same basic needs and rights, the problem will continue.

Miscarriage of Justice

In this morning's paper there were two stories virtually side-by side. One was about a homeless man who had spent 13 years in jail after trying to steal food from a church kitchen. Thirteen years for that!? Really!? Could they have not cut this man a break? He was probably just hungry! The other was about a man charged with DUI for the 7th time! This man was not in jail and he had a valid driver's license! Now tell me, which one of these people should have spent 13 years in jail? Which one obviously has the money to afford a better lawyer? Our justice system is so screwed up....just like our political system.

So Sayeth The Shack

Time For Leaves to Leave

Autumn leaves are kind of like winter snow....pretty at first, but after they've been around too long they get ugly and dirty and it's just time for them to go away.

So Sayeth The Shack

Here We Go Again!

We're heading for summer and the price of gas is on the way up. Where I live it has gone up 5-10 cents per gallon EVERY DAY for the past week or so. Who to blame? The oil companies? Well, Exxon seems to make record profits every year no matter how high or low the price of gas is so I think they are less to blame than some others. Who are those others? The rich, greedy commodity traders. They are the ones who push up the prices of necessities so they can get a bigger return on their investment dollar while breaking the budgets of the common people who cannot afford to pay more for basic things like food and energy. Have we learned nothing over the past two years? Despite what some "experts" might say, I think that $4-plus/gallon gasoline had a big hand in causing the current economic crisis. The experts might say that it was the mortgage situation but I say that a lot fewer people would have defaulted on their mortgages if they didn't have to pay over $4/gallon for gas just to get to work. And I firmly believe that another steep rise in the price of gas will quell any attempt at an economic recovery anytime soon.

Greed, mixed with a little stupidity, played a big part in the current recession. I am talking mostly about the people who are investing in and manipulating the prices of basic things such as food and energy in order to pad their wallets. In fact I think that such trading should be banned. Necessities such as food and energy should not be traded for profit. The common people simply cannot afford higher prices on food and energy just so the rich people can get richer.

So Sayeth The Shack

Feeling Unstimulated

So they government has given billions of dollars to the banks to "stimulate the economy" and rescue the banks from "failure". And what are the banks doing with this money? They're turning around and screwing their customers!!

I recently received a notice from a bank with which I have a card account. I have never missed a payment or been late, but the notice said they were raising my interest rate about 8 percent! I had the option of "accepting"the change or cancelling my card and paying off the balance at the old rate and terms. So I called and asked them why the increase since I had done nothing to merit this increase. They said it was because of "economic conditions". In other words I was being punished for the actions of other people, since I had nothing to do with the current recession. So I cancelled my card. If that's what they're going to do, screw them! I hope they do fail! I encourage everyone else in this situation to do the same thing so the banks will get the message!

So Sayeth The Shack

Keep Government Out of Sports

The government has been known to overstep its bounds now and than and right here we have a classic case. They want to step in and legislate a college football bowl and playoff system. Now admittedly, the current system is imperfect, but it is no business of the government. Things have really gone too far in this country when the government gets involved with things like this. They need to stick to the business of running the country and sports has nothing to do with that.

So Sayeth The Shack

Trickle-Down Taxation

I read a post on a message board recently that got me thinking. One person said "we don't have to worry about our taxes going up; that will only happen to productive, hard-working Americans making $250,000 or more." The other person said "my employer makes that much; there goes my raise."

Previously I had been all for the idea of increasing taxes on better-off individuals and companies while keeping taxes low on the rest of us. But this little exchange got me to think. If the company I work for has to pay more taxes, they will have less money to pay their workers or to invest in capital improvement. So really a tax increases on businesses and well-off individuals can really also end up being a tax increase on the rest of us, without the rest of us realizing it. So we end up paying one way or the other.

Of course there is no guarantee that if our employers get to keep the money, they will use it to increase our compensation or to better our working conditions.

So Sayeth The Shack

These People Should Work for PENNDOT

Now they'll expect everyone to fix their own roads!!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/09/hawaii.volunteers.repair/index.html?eref=rss_topstories


So Sayeth The Shack