One Drunk Redneck

Bet you didn't even know it.  If you have kids and sent them through the public school system, you accepted welfare from the government. "But I pay school taxes.  It's not like I'm freeloading." Yes you are. In 2009, the average cost per pupil came in at $10,499 per student ( source: Census Bureau ).  If your child started kindergarten at a public school in 2009 and assuming the cost per pupil doesn't increase each year (it does), your child's education over the twelve years of school would come out to about $126,000 dollars.  If you pay $3,000 of taxes every year that goes directly to funding your child's school (for most people, a portion of your property tax goes to funding your local school), it would take you 42 years to pay the government back.  And that's for one child, not two or three or more.  So welcome to the welfare club.  You have relied on the government to collect money from people without kids or who's kids have ...

Let’s face it.   We have, always had, and probably will always have a reactionary government.   Unfortunately, it takes a tragedy like the event in Newton, CT to get our government in gear and solve the problem. In an effort to prevent gun violence, President Obama came up with a plan for universal background checks to decide which Americans can enjoy their Second Amendment rights and which ones can’t.   But why did he stop there? A lot of talk in the past month has also laid blame on violent entertainment such as movies, TV, and games.   If our politicians thought things out a little further, they also could find fault for the increase in gun violence in our song lyrics, news and political pundits, books, social media on the Internet, the Internet itself, and even the evening news, which loves to air the violent tragedies.   All of these outlets form one comprehensive training manual for the unbalanced American to seek retribution for the wrongs societ...

By coincidence, one of our local talk show hosts and a former local talk show host, who now airs on a station in Kentucky, posted on their respective FaceBook pages very similar posts on the same day.   For your reference, the important excerpts of each posts are reprinted below. From Dan Gaffney, host at WXDE (Delaware 105.9), FaceBook page - http://www.facebook.com/DanGaffneyShow : Important follow up: Not about the “sign” flap directly, but about the fallout from it. After attacks on my family by some ill-informed vigilantes and a few other members of the community (who will stay un-named by me for now) I need to post the following.... From Matt Walsh, host at WLAP, an AM news/talk station out of Lexington, KY, FaceBook Page - http://www.facebook.com/mattwalshradio :  Here's an email I received from an anonymous wimp this morning: "Matt, you are bringing two children into a world that is dangerous enough. They don't need their own home to be a death trap....

If you're looking for a job, you're quite aware of all the advice on how to conduct an effective job search, how to write a résumé and cover letter, and how to conduct yourself during an interview.  You can even take courses to learn how to be more effective during an interview or write compelling cover letters and résumés.  And let's not forget the follow-up thank you notes.  Finding a new job has, in itself, become big business.  Is all this etiquette and advice necessary? Unfortunately, yes, but it's time to teach HR departments the proper rules and etiquette for posting a job position, what to ask from applicants, and when to ask for it.  Just because an applicant may be unemployed doesn't mean he has all the time in the world to provide redundant information nor information that isn't needed unless the employer plans on hiring the individual.  Sure, the employer has the upper hand because they have something an applicant wants, but that doesn't mean...

Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt, is on a visit in North Korea.  I'm sure, to his surprise, Google doesn't exist in North Korea even if North Korea does exist in Google.  The communist leader of North Korea figures if he keeps his people dumb, he'll maintain a tight-fisted control over the general populace.  Maybe Mr. Schmidt could teach Mr. Kim Jong Eun how to maintain a tight-fisted control of the general populace and share Google, too.  Of course, our government and business elite haven't written the rules down in a "Control Your Populace for Dummies" book.  The one percent who controls eighty-four percent of the American wealth aren't about to share their secrets.  But if you've been paying attention and know at least a little bit of American history, you can figure out some of the rules.  In case you haven't been paying attention, for the first time in print, here are some of the secrets our government and business elite use to retain con...

We’ve fooled around with podcasting in hopes of being able to broadcast a decent show.   None of us particularly liked our voices.   Of the five of us, four decided Saturday nights were best spent at the local bar that recently opened.   I decided my voice wasn’t all that bad and pursued the idea of podcasting a bit further. Because I’m borderline obsessive compulsive about details, I listened to talk radio for the past month.   I figured I’d listen to the pros and then emulate what they do.   Can’t go wrong with that plan of action. Wrong. I went up and down the FM dial and found three talk stations.   Two were conservative and one was all sports.   Moving up and down the AM dial, I found the same thing plus a couple of Christian talk and one psycho-babble talk station.   By far, Christians and conservatives dominate the radio talk circuit. You know the old saying – those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.   This past month I learned s...

I have long since lost count the number of settlement statements I have received in the last few years.  Just recently, I've received one for a stove a bought from Sears and another one for buying stocks from the company that employed me and another one concerning Bank of America.  My latest one is reprinted below. The settlement offers is the epitome of one of the deadly sins destroying this country.  Greed.  I have yet to collect any money from any of the cases I've unwittingly became a plaintiff to.  Not that I wanted or expected anything.  In fact, I have yet to understand why any of the cases were even brought forward, the one below being no exception. Read the settlement carefully.  First, I am automatically considered a plaintiff, even though I've had no reason to consider a lawsuit, and now I am required to respond, in writing, if I wish to be dismissed from the case.  Failure to dismiss myself means I forfeit all future claims ...

We all know the drill of the far right, conservative Christians.  We've had decades of listening to them in the Republican Party and now we hear them daily in the Tea Party.  When they want to tug at your heart strings, they call for prayers for some poor soul, usually a child or another Christian.  The only time they step out of this mold is to ask for prayers for a generic group of people, usually a community that has suffered a catastrophic natural disaster.  Praying for an individual, however, is almost always a child or, if they've slipped on their martyr shoes, another Christian. Make no bones about it.  There's nothing wrong with expressing one's religious beliefs in public.  If a Christian is moved to pray for someone, by all means, pray and ask others to join in.  What is important for Christians and everyone else is to pay attention to who the self-proclaimed Christians are asking the prayers for.  A true Christian will ...

Our local hero, Matt, has a problem with the concept of diversity.  In his world, diversity means everyone should follow the right way of living and thinking, the right way being that of the White, heterosexual, Christian male.  Everyone who is not White, heterosexual, Christian male should take a seat at the back of the bus and follow the lead of the right-thinkers.  It would serve all those "other people" well to try to learn something from the right-thinkers.  His following quote sums up his, and the conservative Christians', definition of diversity to a tee:  Usually when someone says they want to "achieve diversity" what they really mean is they want to establish an environment where people of all races, nations, and orientations can work together to annihilate independent thought. Then, once this is complete, we will all be diverse in our skin pigmentation but alike in our lack of intellectual depth. Sadly, at the time of this writing, four of his fans...

Ok, cut us a break. We're still getting the nuts and bolts of everything we want to do together. Do you know how hard it is to find nuts and bolts made in America? Give us some time. We'll get it all together. Posted by The Coffee Party