Top Ten Blog Posts Of 2014

Yes, it's that time of year when folks roll out the ol' top ten lists for the year. In the past, I have listed the top ten blog posts according to readership. This year, I've decided to list my favorite top ten for 2014. It is an eclectic array of topics, as usual. Here we go!

#1 - Race Hatred: THE Divisive Issue - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/03/race-hatred-divisive-issue.html

#2 -  9/11 Museum Of Rich Crass Elites & Tastelessness - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/05/911-museum-of-rich-crass-elites.html

#3 - Forget The First Amendment - Jail Climate Change Deniers! - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/03/forget-first-amendment-jail-climate.html

#4 - Multiple Gunmen Yet AGAIN! and AGAIN! - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/05/multiple-gumen-yet-again.html

#5 - It's Not About "Burger Flippers" It's About The Devalued Dollar - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/05/its-not-about-burger-flippers-its-about.html

#6 - A Tale Of Two Transvestites - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-tale-of-two-transvestites.html

#7 - Critical Thinking Is Becoming Passé In The 21st Century - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/06/critical-thinking-is-becoming-passe-in.html

#8 - The Cigarettes Of 'The Maltese Falcon' - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-cigarettes-of-maltese-falcon.html

#9 - Video Of Boy Saving Girl From Sniper Fire In Syria IS FAKE! - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/11/video-of-boy-saving-girl-from-sniper.html

#10 - The Middle East Wars From A To Z - http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-middle-east-wars-from-to-z.html

 

WAKE UP And Realize This Is A Two Party Dictatorship

Nothing brings out the worst in Democratic voters than losing.

Nothing brings out the worst in Republican voters than losing.

And nothing brings out the scrawny, pointy finger of shame of both party's voters than the idea that some people have figured out the United States of America's political system is nothing more than a two party dictatorship and that's why some of those people don't vote. The owners' of these scrawny, pointy fingers don't realize that it is such a dictatorship and hence their 'tsk-tsk' and 'cluck-cluck' at those who do understand speaks volumes; or at least it should.

After an election such as the 2014 mid-terms, the 2000, the 2004 and so on, the spinners make a washing machine seem clunky and slow. Losing is winning!

Of course, since the Republicans won big in last night's mid-term we get wonderful examples of Democrats creating and distributing charming memes such as the one below.

Then, we get, from the so-called party of tolerance and inclusion a cargo ship or two full of the most prejudicial, stereotype and bigoted caricatures as one could imagine. All the while, they conveniently ignore how the Obama administration has continued and expanded upon the draconian path began with the Bush administration about, oh say, 10 minutes after 9/11.

BUT WAIT!

THERE'S MORE!

The Republicans do the exact same thing when they lose, too!

Yet, rarely, and boy do I mean rarely, does anyone pop their head out of the sand and admit that we live in a two party dictatorship. Wall Street and the Military/Industrial complex are the real party and those in national office are beholden to their owners. Some out there do understand this and act accordingly whether by not voting, at least admitting this has been a problem for decades, or actively seeking ways to overcome the dictatorship. But, that last part is difficult considering how entrenched the machine has become. It is easier to be a lemming, nay, a smug lemming, and follow the Limbaughs, the Savages, the Maddows or the Stewarts (who are all corporate shills by the way, get the picture yet?) and parrot their spewed garbage as if it were gospel.

One of the major activities of the two party dictatorship is sowing divisiveness with your favorite political footballs. Abortion! Illegal Immigrants! Racism! Guns! Health Care!

Look around two party adherents, nay, zealots, and tell me when was the last time any of the events listed below happened in the last 40 years.

- Abortion was outlawed
- Government storm troopers came and took away your guns
- You wanted to pick vegetables or fruits
- Government storm troopers came and ripped up your health card
- You must stop speaking English

Well, you get the picture. It hasn't happened because it isn't going to happen. Otherwise, we could no longer be divided. We might become like Toto and pull back the curtain to reveal to the others what is happening with that man. And to update for modern times, or that woman, too.

 

It's Not About "Burger Flippers" It's About The Devalued Dollar

I'm sure many of you have seen the memes (or variations thereof) shown below on social media over the past few months. The one on the top is more than a bit disingenuous because it presupposes that first responders only get minimum wage and that they do not complain. There's a similar one comparing "burger flippers" with United States soldiers which is also disingenuous because it ignores the fact that soldiers are grossly under paid and under benefited as well! The bottom meme is closer to what has actually happened - the decline of buying power by the U.S. dollar and the MSM ignoring inflation, the second great depression and the impact that this had on tens of millions of Americans.

 

 

 

 

Many moons ago when I was working a part-time minimum wage job for $3.10 an hour while in college I was able to afford to share a 2 bedroom apartment, had a savings account and didn't need food stamps. Six months later, I was out of college and bumped up the gravy train to $3.50 an hour and more than 30 hours a week. Then I was paying back my student loan and still had the savings account, paid rent, paid for my food, paid for clothes, et al. My point is that the buying power of the dollar has dramatically decreased over the years and inflation (which they used to report on the nightly news by the way) is going through the roof.

 

I noticed that almost no one was bitching and moaning when McDonald's CEO was given a 4+ times raise last year, but raise the minimum wage and howls are made mostly from the right-wing, economists and filthy rich people. So, with minimum wage workers on food stamps, child welfare, housing welfare etc., you'd rather argue that subsidizing these high-profit, low wage corporations is all right for American taxpayers? A $15 an hour wage would cut food stamps rolls and all the rest. It's that simple. This isn't about pimply faced teenagers or retirees, this is about corporate welfare at the expense of working Americans and the fact that the dollar doesn't buy nearly as much as it use to.

 

If you are still fixated on the "burger flipper" in spite of reading this far, consider this: the average fast food "value meal" costs about $7.50. It would take an employee at said fast food establishment one hour's worth of wages to afford that. Even the self-serving, bigoted car magnate Henry Ford understood he had to pay his employees enough of a wage to afford the cars they built.

 

I Am Not An Animal - I Am A Human Being!

WARNING: Pissed off American ahead!

I'm on food stamps. For over a year. And it's people like the person who wrote that positive shit above, that makes me not only more able to face another day of doing the American hustle, but also be proud to be an American. What's that dear readers? The American hustle? You know, trying to find a job and keeping a roof over my head.

But this American, he compares me, a person on food stamps, to an animal! Isn't that fucking great?

To be poor be poor in the United States of America today is worse than it was in the last decade of the 21st century. I speak from my own experience. I have never been truly homeless, I have only spent a couple days on the streets. But I have lived what most Americans would consider a sub-standard life for the last eight years. But why the flying fuck should that matter because I AM AN ANIMAL!

Without food stamps, I would be forced to, what? Lose my phone? Sleep on the streets? Or go into your fucking pantry like any self respecting ANIMAL would and steal your food, but not before I killed your pet dog, too.

You may see me roaming the streets, breaking into grocery stores to steal all your meat because god knows, AS A HUMAN like an animal, without food stamps I should be able to forage for my berries and leaves and cows, OH MY!

Meanwhile, the Corporations and Banks steal more from your American pocketbook than this ANIMAL ever could! And you know what's truly funny? You gladly open your wallet to those fucks but would like to slam it shut on this ANIMAL!? Then you deserved to be raped, and raped repeatedly by the Corporations and Banks who won't even give you the common courtesy of a reach around. May you and any others that think like you that I am an ANIMAL be set upon and masticated by both Smokey The Bear and Yogi Bear (+ BooBoo) you pious fucks!