Brainsprain.net » rant

Quest for Compassion

Colleen — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:33:03 +0000

My greatest challenge of late is becoming more tolerant of intolerance. I find it very difficult to deal with groups that rely on exclusion or judgment of others to build themselves up. I want to develop more compassion for people who spend more time trying to limit the choices and actions of others than to really understand their own choices and actions. I also realize that this is a contradiction because I am spending time right now concentrating on the actions of others instead of finding peace in this moment.

Western society encourages fear-based living. Most commercials are formulated “product x” is here to save you from “enemy y”. Even feminine hygiene products are referred to as protection. Protection from what? Embarrassment over our own bodies? Ruining a very expensive pair of designer pants? Why did you spend that much on those pants? Are they really THAT much better or was it a purchase based on fear of being uncool? Recently, I heard a girl say “I feel sorry for people who don’t understand how important this Louis Vuitton handbag is.” I believe that attitude is where my compassion must originate. It must be very frightening to live with that kind of fear. I hope that I can transform myself to become more accepting of the unaccepting. I hope I can find more tolerance for the intolerant. Most of all, I hope to find more love for all creatures and know that we are, none of us, better than the other.

Don’t Use It If You Don’t Get It

Chad — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:55:32 +0000

Read this:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-stocks-tumble-biggest-drop/story.aspx?guid={01F6F134-2ECE-4D6B-8829-18D411D5FD94}&dist=msr_1

Or maybe just this excerpt:

“Everybody is looking for the silver bullet to fix the economy, but there isn’t one,” said Chris Johnson, chief executive of Johnson Investment Research in Cincinnati. “I think what they’re doing here is too little, too late.” Johnson has recently been using options contracts and exchange-traded funds to go short, or bet on a general decline in the stock market.

Okay, I have a REAL problem with this, Chris. Get it right. Silver bullets kill lycanthropes. So, if the economy were rampaging through the village terrorizing innocents, as it did before the tech bubble burst, then this analogy might have been appropriate. In its current lethargic state, however, shooting it with a silver bullet would, presumably, cause it to moan and die. Aren’t we worried that it’s not well as it is?

If you’re searching for an analogy, here’s a better one:

Everyone’s hoping for a crack pipe to pass to the economy to really pep it up and make it feel great and like nothing is wrong, despite all the evidence to the contrary, but the main dealer left Washington in January.

YES, the rules apply to YOU.

Colleen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:32:24 +0000

People who act like the rules do not apply to them make me crazy. There was a man in front of me in line at Walgreen’s and he had a coupon for $1.00 off transferred prescriptions. The coupon said “coupon valid only once per transaction”. The fellow decided that this meant he could ring up all six of his meds separately and get a dollar off each time. What you may not know about Walgreen’s is that they have a “just say yes” policy where the customer is never wrong. ever. So, me and an octogenarian had to wait for 25 minutes while this schmo got his $6.00. The nice old lady was wobbling at one point and I nearly gave the guy the money to go away. Arrrrgh!

My Lovely Expensive Brick

Chad — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:34:25 +0000

I’m actually standing in the Apple store blogging this. I had hoped the network problems were mine, but the iTunes upgrade very carefully wiped my iPhone in preparation for the 2.0 upgrade and now REFUSES TO REACTIVATE. Yeah, that means I’m currently without a phone.

The Apple folks here are like, “Well, yeah! The servers are slammed!”

Thanks. Thanks a lot. That’ll teach me.

Hey, Bush had a rep for being a coke-head…

Chad — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:33:00 +0000

So why can’t this guy be mayor? Bush really lowered the bar for public office, huh?

Bush:26,231 — Congress: 1

Chad — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:01:37 +0000

Congress is finally holding the Bush administration accountable for its warrant-less and unethical (if not outright illegal) wire taps. Congress also shunned Bush’s suggestion that telcom companies should be immune from lawsuits for their complicity in these wiretaps.

Bush said, “The American people understand the stakes in this struggle. They want their children to be safe from terror.”

It’s nice to see that Congress wants our children to be safe from Bush.

Did YOU Vote in the PRIMARIES?!

Chad — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:14:28 +0000

I’m getting an average of a call an hour reminding me to vote. In the primaries. It’s pretty much going to determine whether Hillary or Barrack becomes the Democratic candidate for President. So they’re asking me to choose between two people who have almost no discernible differences in platform when compared with the evil imperial incumbent party. Besides, after the utter sham of the last two presidential elections, I’m wondering if I have any say anyway. I one of very few people outraged when Bush stole the first election, and we see how well that turned out. I’m bitter about our broken electoral process, and doubt our elections would withstand the scrutiny of the auditors we send to other countries to oversee so-called free elections. Nope, I’m sitting this one out. Good luck with that.

Price of Illegal Aliens vs. Price of War

Chad — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:40:52 +0000

I got another of those emails about how much illegal aliens are costing us, the subject line of it was actually, “More Costly Than Iraq.” It’s been a while since I’ve posted a political rant, so…

For my tax dollar, I’d much prefer paying for welfare, food, education and medical attention for people — regardless of citizenship status — than perpetrating an illegal war creating more and more hatred for the United States abroad.

So people saying that war is a great way to spend my money as opposed to blowing it all on food will never have my agreement. War is never the answer. War brings more and more fighting, hatred, and pain. Have you seen gas prices lately? If that were merely supply and demand, oil companies wouldn’t be posting obnoxious profits. We sacrifice American children to kill foreign children over money via oil.
What that article doesn’t comment on is how illegal aliens contribute to our economy. Like the fact that honest, hardworking Americans just don’t show up to do many of the jobs they do. They pay sales tax. They contribute to local economies by spending the paltry sums unscrupulous American business owners get away with paying them — precisely because they are undocumented. You don’t blame mold for growing on bread. You blame the person who left the bread out, right? So we’re going to punish the undocumented aliens for being brave enough to leave their homes, take crappy jobs in circumstances no American would tolerate by throwing them out? Who will mow our lawns? Clean our rooms? Pick our fruit? Americans? Think again.
In short, I’d rather feed them than kill them any day.

It saddens me that so many Americans are so jaded about death and killing that they look for misdirections such as the illegal immigration issue, abortion, gay marriage, and gun control rather than focusing on the fact that we’re facing another quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the Darfur genocide continues, but Darfur doesn’t sit on an oil field, so we decide we’re suddenly not world police.
Politicians keep misdirecting us, and like sheep, Americans follow the bouncing ball.
Like John Lennon said, “War is over. If you want it.”

I WON!

Chad — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:04:03 +0000

That’s right, suckers! I won a weekly email promotion, my e-mail was attached to the winning ticket and I’m getting €870,812.79! All I have to do is contact the lotto authority in Madrid and provide them with my bank account information and they’ll deposit that into my account immediately. This is so awesome, I bet I can quit my day job and buy a sail boat! I wonder how much that is in USD? Hmm… $1,234,567.89!! That’s a lotta money! Oh wait… Wow. That’s a funny coincidence, isn’t it??

Seriously, do people actually fall for that?? (Exchange rate as of 9/28 € » $ was 1.4177)

Breakin’ the Law!

Chad — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:36:38 +0000

After the great steakhouse adventure, it was definitely time to get home. We were exhausted, a bit sunburned, and starting to get very sleepy. I decided I’d be more comfortable driving in my emergency back-up shorts rather than the kilt, so I did that girl trick where you pull on your shorts under your skirt/kilt and then take off the skirt/kilt. Very sexy. Very very glad I did it. We climbed into the car, and started heading home. It was dark and I was tired, so I was being extra careful watching my heavy foot. Very very glad I did it. The cop did a U-Turn out of the blackness by the side of the road, lights flashing. There wasn’t anybody else on the road, so I was pretty sure I knew who he was pulling over. I glanced down at my speedometer. I wasn’t going THAT fast, but I was speeding. I pulled way off the road, and the officer asked me to step out of the car. I carefully got my driver’s license and stepped out to speak to the officer. I’ll spare you the excruciating details of the conversation, but I will tell you that I was nice and polite. He kindly let me off with a warning, but somehow felt that a clichéd lecture would be just the thing to set me straight. Despite the fact that I was going a full nine miles over the speed limit. “This one’s on me,” he said, “But the next one’s on you.” I tried not to roll my eyes. I’d almost rather have a ticket than a lecture. Almost. Other than that, he was very nice, polite, and efficient. I felt he performed his duties with respect and decorum. All in all, a textbook traffic stop. But come on, you know he speeds. The cliché only served to make the man look stupid and condescending when he was otherwise very nice. So, if there are any cops reading this, please take note: If you’re gonna warn us, warn us. We get it at that point. If you can see we don’t, then don’t lecture, just write out the ticket. It’s your job. I understand.