#Occupytheyoung

One of the most significant yet understated results of Occupy is the generation of young people, especially those in colleges and universities, who refuse to accept things as they are and who understand that it's better to value humanity over profit and greed. They believe that the world is not going to change on its own and that they must take matters into their own hands. This is a generation of creative, energetic, young people who are dreaming big about how to build a more positive future for the human race, and who are beginning to feel empowered.

Even elite schools such as Harvard and Princeton, schools which have educated many of the current industry and political leaders of our corrupt society, and whose student bodies by and large come from privileged backgrounds, are seeing this trend.

10 or 20 years from now many of these young people with high ideals and hopes toward a better future for humanity will be in positions of leadership.

All of you naysayers can deny this all you want. Its happening, whether you like it or not, and its gaining momentum by the day. Once people are enlightened, there is nothing that can stop them.

Occupy Needs No Endgame

Occupy needs no endgame. The establishment wants it to have one so that they might know how to end it. Occupy not having an endgame is frustrating to them. It is a movement of ideas and people power, and that is difficult to understand. Even the media can't really explain it. Someday Occupy will end. We will never know when it does. The people will be empowered and humanity will gradually return to it's natural state. These things will come to pass because we want them. We want to behave amongst ourselves and work together and get along. We won't feel this change. The name "Occupy" will stop being used, and "occupy" will go back to being just another verb.

The next step is to empower the poor. The non-poor needed to know that they must stop blaming the poor for being poor. Occupy has done that. Next it needs to help the poor find things and learn ways that will help them get out of poverty. This will change the world.

2012 Truth Exposed!

Today's Random Sticky Note

This is something that I started on Facebook that's become a fan favorite. It's gonna pop up here every now and then when I have nothing better to post. Think of it as a curious little snapshot from my day job.

Ian Murphy For Congress

He approves this message

Glenn Beck Sucks

Glenn Beck recently suggested that god caused the earthquake in Japan as some form of punishment for some wrongdoing. It concerns me that anyone would have the gall to point fingers at a nation of people and say they deserved some kind of natural disaster. It concerns me even more that someone who wears the title of journalist actually believes in this kind of black magic and feels qualified to speak on behalf of a deity. If there was a god, would Glenn Beck have some kind of direct line to him where he could reasonably comment on who was being judged and whether or not any wrath was appropriate punishment for transgressions?

And Glenn, if there was a god, why did he make you a douchebag?

Its EVOLUTION Baby...

dig this, y'all...

The Answer, Finally

For several years now I've considered myself an atheist. It's the logical end result of my journey through knowledge and research that has led me to a conclusion that should have been obvious to me a long time ago and should be obvious to anyone who gives it enough thought.

The main reason, I think, that I held on for so long, and that every other adult living in modern society still holds on to their belief is fear. Mainly fear of death, but also fear of ostracism, fear of family, fear of the unknown, or fear of many other things both rational and irrational.

For me, after I had accumulated enough knowledge about life, the universe and existence, it no longer seemed necessary or possible to continue to hold onto the concept of an all-powerful being who watches, judges, controls or gets involved in the affairs of humans. I could no longer deny this reality and no longer had the fears and guilt that kept me in The Fold. But I kept searching.

Searching for what?

I couldn't put my finger on it entirely, but I was fascinated by and deeply interested in the evolution/creation debate, morality debates, lectures on science, and many other topics relating to religion, science, history and morality. One might think I would lose interest in the research and discussion once I had reached my conclusion and discharged my beliefs, but I didn't. It became a hobby of mine (and I still enjoy it). But I still felt like there was something missing.

Sometimes I would try and memorize scientific principles or historical facts in the event of a debate with a believer on evolution or some other topic. I'm not a good debater, so I felt like arming myself with talking points was what I needed. But that still didn't come close to scratching the itch.

Soon I realized what I was looking for. It was an answer to a question. I knew that sooner or later I would be confronted on the subject of religion and belief by family members. It's a big fat elephant in the room every time I'm with them. My wife and children and I are a secular family, and I was raised catholic. Someone is going to eventually corner me and ask me point blank if I believe in god. There's many different ways to answer that question, and I needed to find something that stated my position clearly, honestly and was not insulting.

After much thought, I've finally put the answer together. The question can be asked in two ways. Here goes...

Q1: Why don't you believe in god?

Q2: Why are you an atheist?

Ans (for both): There are better explanations for the origins of existence that are more plausible and more beautiful and awe-inspiring than anything that has ever been given by religion or belief in a deity or a supreme being. The concepts of the soul, eternal life, salvation and condemnation are derived from wish-thinking, and are used to comfort people from their fear of death and provide false promises of divine justice for good and evil deeds.

Unfortunately there's no honest answer that can be given that won't make the questioner feel a little stupid or inferior if they are a believer in god. That's a consequence of telling the truth. Sometimes it hurts, but I can't misrepresent myself. In my own defense I left a little wiggle room meant to imply that I believe the questioner to be fully capable of arriving at these conclusions on their own. I guess you can say I have faith in them.

I won't stop educating myself since as I stated earlier, I enjoy it. It's become a passion for me. My quest for knowledge is insatiable even in my 40's, but now I can do it for the sheer pleasure of learning, and not feel like I have a big problem to solve.

Guns Don't Kill People, Assholes Do

Al Franken Was Right

Rush Limbaugh IS a Big Fat Idiot!!!

Unfortunately, 15+ million people disagree. Woe is us.

Here Comes Sarah Right Down Sarah Palin Lane

Who is really singing in the video? Sometimes I feel that a politician's constituency is more worrisome then the politician. Not true in this case. All of you poor saps who think that the Tea Party is coming to save the day are getting hosed.

1000 Pairs of Eyeballs and Rolling

In celebration of my video for Matthew Green finally topping 1000 views I'm gonna get myself nice and buzzed tonight on some very hoppy and locally crafted Oat Soda (it's Friday, after all).

I know what you're thinking: you get loaded every Friday night, and besides, 1000 views isn't really anything worth celebrating, since Justin Bieber Lights A Fart, The Pissing Cat and Old Guy Crashing His Bike and Smashing His Balls each got like 20,000,000 views. But I'm happy for Matt and proud of my work with him.

Besides, art videos are not exactly hot movers on YouTube, and his painting and accompanying video series is light-years beyond the run-of-the-mill, Bob Ross style farmscape paintings that you generally see there.

Judge for yourselves, if you are in fact who you say you are...

Muddy Little Secrets #2

Matthew Green recently finished the second painting in his Muddy Little Secrets series for his project, Five Miles From Times Square. Someone's going to have to teach him how to properly photograph his work.

The Religions Right Must Be Stopped

This is almost too surreal to watch. I've seen some audacious things come out of the Religious Right but this video takes the cake.

The video begins by introducing the environmental movement as one of the greatest deceptions of our day. Funny how the most notorious brainwashers can accuse anyone of deception.

They have the nerve to make the following statements:

"Environmentalists have a long history of believing and promoting exaggerations and myths."

"Exaggeration, myths and outright lies are commonplace in the environmental movement."

The Chief Myth Makers are accusing science of promoting myths and lies? How do people like this live with themselves? What is it like to teach fairy tales to children and intentionally and deceitfully drive them away from facts and the truth? I have to know what that is like.

Scaring little children? You mean telling them to believe in stories and imaginary friends or else suffer by being tortured forever?

The war on the poor? Who will suffer the most when our environmentally unsound culture finally catches up to us? The Poor. The Religious Right needs the poor to justify their existence through charity under false pretenses.

Its time to step up the efforts and educate the young. My mission in life is now to stop this bullshit and eradicate religion by teaching my own children to dismiss religious mythmakers and liars and steer them towards reason and science. They will in turn pass that down on to their own offspring and we'll propagate religion out of existence.

I vowed to never lie to my children which is why we are a completely secular family. This is war, and our primary weapon used against our enemy will be information. The religious can only run from the truth for so long.

King Missile

I couldn't agree more. I can only imagine how much better my life would be today if the Son Of Man was playing on the Giants punt coverage team yesterday afternoon.

I've Always Hated HP Printers

This is why I buy Canon Printers, but then again I have never utilized their tech support. The best part of the video clip is the voice at the very end...

We Call It Football

OK, I'm getting tired of the whole "we-call-it-Football", "its-not-Football-its-Handegg-proper-Football-is-played-with-the-feet" controversy.

Here's the dilly: Amongst ourselves, we call it "Football" and the foot game "Soccer." When we're around others from elsewhere we'll call our game "American Football" so you won't get it mixed up with what you call "Football." OK?

Fair enough.

I don't know why a game with more resemblance to Rugby was allowed to use the name "Football" without considerable ridicule but that's the name the inventors gave it. They should have called it "American Rugby" but they didn't.

"Soccer" and "Football" can be used to describe the same thing just as "toilet" and "shitter" can be used to describe the same thing in different regions. Here's another example: picture a sandwich that's on a 12'' long roll with meats and cheeses, lettuce, tomato, onions, oil and vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. In New York City they call it a "Sub." in Philadelphia its a "Hoagie." Same sandwich, different regions, different names.

Conversely there can be two different things with the same name. I don't feel like thinking up any examples. Use your imagination.

Unlike most Americans I have no problem using the "Football / American Football" differentiation because it helps avoid confusion. Just don't give me that shit about American Football being a sissy game because its a goddamn dangerous game.

Ask any wide receiver how safe it is leaping into the air to make a catch, and before he regains control of his body some psychopath like Asante Samuels barrels into him with full force leading with his helmet and he falls to the ground like a broken limp dick with stars circling his head and church bells ringing in his ears.

Google "Joe Thiesman Broken Leg Video." and report back. I once watched while a player with a broken neck had to be given CPR on the field.

This is not to take anything away from Soccer (Football) where players are unprotected running up and down the field (pitch) and collide with full force where any number of injuries can occur. My wife's cousin is a fantastic Soccer (Football) player and has had several concussions.

I love the way Soccer (Football) players have to be forced to leave the game when there's blood pouring from their heads. That's tough. That's dedication. That's fucking sports (sport). It's the mark of a champion and I freakin' love it.

Both are great games, both have unique characteristics, both are equally dangerous to the players, complete with concussions and broken bones. We all have to concede that point.

Any American who claims that Soccer (Football) isn't a sport, or is a sissy game is an ignroant douchebag. It's a fantastic game, thrilling to watch and has plenty of injuries to satisfy one's blood lust. Just because you never played it or don't understand it doesn't mean that it sucks. If you don't like it, fine, but on behalf of 99% of the sports fans in the world, maybe you should broaden your horizons a little.

And occasionally in Football (American Football) the ball is kicked.

Football.

Go Giants.

Muddy Little Secrets #2 In Progress

In progress, the latest in the series by painter Matthew Green, Five Miles From Times Square

Fw: Fw: Fw: The most incredibly important thing ever! Share with everyone you know!

Think of all of the things you can learn from the emails that your grandfathers or great aunts send you. What a crazy world we live in, eh? That Nancy Pelosi, she's such a witch! Funny how the mainstream media never reports on this stuff. Especially because 99.9% of it is total bunk. But not for certain folks who continue to spread and recycle the same messages for years.

I still maintain that there is a think tank for this stuff somewhere in an underground bunker 1,000 miles below Dick Cheney's house. It just HAS to be. Who makes all of this stuff up?

I've been actively using email at various jobs since the mid-90's and have found similar characteristics in email forwards that have remained consistent from about 1997 until present day:

1) almost all of them fail to produce a single element of truth. The sources for verification are readily available on the "internets," yet the sender almost never avails him or herself of these resources. Some of them are even brazen enough to list a source that if you actually take the time to visit it, will show how the claims in the email are wrong. I guess they assume if the link is there it will APPEAR to have been verified by someone along the way, and therefore is true.

2) the sender is always over the age of 50

3) the sender is from the conservative side of the political spectrum. I find this attribute to be the most interesting and revealing.

3) there has been one, repeat ONE email forward that I received with a political angle that was a liberal point of view. Since 1997 I have been receiving email forwards from various elders and ALL BUT ONE has been politically biased against the left. ONE. It was about IQ's of recent US Presidents and it tried to show that George W. Bush was stupid and Bill Clinton and Al Gore were geniuses. It was bogus.

I have tried and tried and tried to educate these people. I have occasionally debunked the claims by showing them from actual sources (not just Snopes.com) how the subject of the email is untrue and I have chastised them for passing along lies and falsehoods without verifying the claims for themselves. They continue to pass them along anyway. I give up.

I will begin occasionally posting them to vent my frustration to my imaginary audience. Here's text from a recent example. Its fucking funny as shit, or scary, depending on what you glean from it:

Fw: Military Pay



CINDY WILLIAMS was appointed by Obama as an Assistant Director for NATIONAL SECURITY in the Congressional Budget Office.....
Military Pay 



This is an Airman's response to Cindy Williams' editorial piece in the Washington Times about MILITARY PAY, it should be printed in all newspapers across America . 



Ms. Cindy William  wrote a piece for the Washington Times denouncing the pay raise(s) coming service members' way this year citing that she stated a 13% wageincrease was more than they deserve. 



A young airman from Hill AFB responds to her article below. He ought to get a bonus for this. 




"Ms  Williams:
I  just had the pleasure of reading your column, "Our GI's earn enough" and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I'm wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and my bank account. Checking my latest earnings statement I see that I make $1,117.80 before taxes per month. After taxes, I take home $874.20.  When I run that through the calculator, I come up with  an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40 after. 



I work in the Air Force Network Control Center where I am part of the team responsible for a 5,000 host computer network. I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systems equipment. A quick check under jobs for "Network Technicians" in the Washington , D.C. area reveals a position in my career field, requiring  three years’ experience in my job. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year. No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum............ I'm sure you can draw the obvious conclusions. 



Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in her armed forces. 


Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigate congressional and DOD leadership for attempting to get the families in the military's lowest pay brackets off of WIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a group of deploying soldiers headed for AFGHANISTAN ; I leave the choice of service branch up to you. Whatever choice you make though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full "deployment experience."



As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to note the spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone. Obviously they've been squandering the "vast" piles of cash the government has been giving them.  



Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites. And when you're actually over there, sitting in a foxhole, shivering against the cold desert night, and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren't enough people on shift to relieve you for chow, remember this: trade whatever MRE's (meal-ready-to-eat) you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything. This gives some flavor. 



Talk to your loved ones as often as you are permitted; it won't be nearly long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it. You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your open piece. 



But, tomorrow from KABUL , I will defend to the death your right to say it. 



You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment right and every other right you cherish...On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective noses at us, all on  a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can't offer the stability and pay of civilian companies. 



And you, Ms. Williams, have the gall
 to say that we make more than we deserve? 



A1C Michael Bragg,  Hill AFB AFNCC 



IF YOU AGREE, PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN. 


THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!



NEXT WEEK: an email about how Hillary Clinton likes to rape dogs

It Was 30 Years Ago Today