socialism or capitalism

I'm gonna jump right in since this is really just a way to vent my thoughts in a semi private way, so I can move on to think about other things.

Occasionally we're given a glimpse into who this mysterious genius we call our president is. People usually miss it and make excuses for what would otherwise be called crazy talk. Why? Because he makes us feel warm and fuzzy: like we are compassionate humans caring for our fellow, less-fortunate, brothers and sisters, or like our dear mother earth would be doomed without our loving hands tending to her. But by putting these glimpses together over time you get a clear view of the entire pretty picture.

Basically the election is coming down to these two options:
1) A socialist hiding behind a bunch of garbage like "fairness" and "we are in this together" that somehow works on many people (which I find more and more astonishing), who can't run on his record which is a wasteful use of crazy amounts of money, an economy that won't rebound, etc etc etc. He instead distracts people by talking about fake wars being waged on women, why you should hate anyone that makes more money than he deems acceptable, and a theme that every person needs the government to hold their hand through life and make everything fair for everyone.  And by fair, he means replacing the ideal of equal opportunity with a mandate of equal outcome. Weird, I only wish he'd mentioned something about fundamental change last time he ran...

2) A man who has been successful in leading people, creating jobs and wealth and solving a variety of problems in his years of experience in the private and public sectors. I'll let Jack Welsh, who's lived longer and accomplished more things than me, break it down:



It seems odd that this is even a choice for people. The country is hurting and Obama refuses to take responsibility for any of the last 3.5 years. He talks as though he's running for his first term. Also, just like last time, he still loves blaming Bush for everything, talking about how what they inherited was far worse than they imagined. He also drops hints constantly that the Republicans want to go back to the "failed policies of the last 8 years", which I don't know what he's talking about exactly and can't find any evidence of anything in specific, but it just helps scare people into thinking Bush is actually running again. As Obama said himself when he ran the first time, "If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things." Wow, maybe he is a prophet.

The following inspiring and unifying clip is from a recent speech by our President-



What is he talking about? I know it's the same old hate the rich, class envy stuff that plays so well to his base. But does it even make sense? The business owner didn't create his business and success why? Because they had a good teacher in the 3rd grade? Maybe he meant the business owner didn't build the roads and power grid himself. Fine, that's true but a dumb argument as everyone has access to the same things. But then he goes on to say that SOMEONE ELSE built it, as if everyone else in the country paid for the infrastructure the businessman used, but businessmen don't pay so they can't use them without sharing their profits with everyone else. What? Business owners, of course, DO pay taxes. And if they make more money then they pay MORE taxes, so they can say they contributed MORE than many others to build that infrastructure. Many people don't even pay taxes because they don't earn enough, many of them are probably in this crowd cheering for Obama because he is Robin Hood. How do those people that contribute nothing get to be upset about anything? Obama is, I think confused about capitalism, or maybe not. Maybe he just hates it. What other conclusion can one reach? That's why Romney is, to him, the devil. Many people complain about having to vote for the lesser of two evils. At least this time, there's a pretty stark difference between the two and it's not just about who's less evil than the other. I think it's about a lot of pretty big things.

Obama says whatever garbage he needs to to get his fawning fans worked up into a frenzy. Never mind that much of what he says is an outright lie or just doesn't even make sense. He's an organizer: delivering stemwinders to agitated groups of people is his specialty. He talks about a country that's stronger when it works together, yet he has been the most divisive President I can think of- dividing people by race, gender, income, geographic location, religion, etc and getting them to fight against each other. The hypocrisy is glaring.

Below is Charles Krauthammer, who is always great, dissecting Obama's attack on business owners. It is perfect.




Obama can't talk about what he's accomplished over his first four years so he makes up stuff about the person he's running against and distracts people with other things. He (single-handily, according to him) killed Bin Laden, but can't talk too much about war as he's continued much of what he and the left whined about during the Bush years, including Guantanamo. Plus the left hates war, although they're strangely quiet about it these days... He can't talk about his beloved health care law, more than half the country doesn't want it and it was only deemed constitutional by describing it as a tax (something Obama pledged not to do). He can't talk about the stimuli and the money they used to save our economy; as it turns out it didn't do much of anything, lots of money is unaccounted for and lots was given to now failed companies. Oh, and the economy still isn't turning and fear of it worsening hasn't gone away either. Another bad jobs report, another excuse: 'We still aren't where we need to be....but we're headed in the right direction'...how many times can he say the same thing and people still have hope that he knows what he's doing?

I wonder how many people are actually still buying this crap. They say the race is close so far, so I guess quite a few. Lots of people buy crap all the time: occupy wall street, the war on women, Kony 2012, on and on and on. So much is just sensational rubbish to get you fired up by the media or fancy marketing people. Some of it is so subtle you almost can't detect it: what do you think of when someone says Capitalism? (greed, people taking advantage of others to get ahead, etc...) Then what about Socialism? (A unified country where every person has what they need and there's no inequality) Is that about right? Is that based on reality & history OR hyper-sensationalized visions of idealistic/ cynical people with the tools to shape people's thinking?

I feel like I'm good at seeing through it or at least holding out longer than my peers before jumping into or out of something. It's frustrating to see garbage fed to us and many people eating it up without thinking it through. Then, when what they ate up is later found to be a joke or a failure, it silently just goes away... no admission of being wrong or deceived or anything, it just goes away...quickly because everyone is already jumping onto the next bandwagon.

yay for unions!

Been hearing about the stuff in Wisconsin with unions. Their buddy representatives running away and hiding so they don't have to vote on sensitive issues affecting them. That's great government.

Then I heard this video on the evil Glenn Beck's show. Glenn is such a liar, and this kid has clearly been well educated in college and molded correctly. I mean come on, listen to what each person is saying and you'll come to that conclusion.


i don't know where to begin talking about what a joke this guy is. i feel sad that he's forced to live under such a terrible regime like the Noodle company. Whiny, entitled, clueless- scary how common that is now.

Here's an article from today's paper. On a day when the island is nailed with a big storm and a bunch of people are without power, the electrical company union workers go through with their strike and leave them hanging. On the radio they talked about what bad PR this is for the unions, but that really doesn't matter in a state so completely brainwashed into voting democrat. Elections show about 70- 80% the vote is democrat and democrat politicians here are voted in over and over from the time they're around 20 until they're 100.

The whole idea that the company or government you work for is the enemy and trying to destroy you so you need a union to protect you is very odd and unhealthy to me. Just a strange way to start a career or job. Why don't they just work elsewhere? But all businesses are evil! How sad, paranoid and cynical.

My own experience? I went to the capital a year or so ago to listen to arguments for and against the rail here. The American Institute of Architects Honolulu opposed what was being discussed and had a panel there to present their case. I thought it'd be interesting as I had learned about rail and community development etc in school and also had opinions. There were many people there with signs opposing and many people for what was being presented. (not whether the rail should exist or not, but what type of rail construction basically).

The unions were there in full force to oppose the AIA's position and suggestions. They had been given signs and had been told what to say. They were full of rage and couldn't be talked to. They had a chance to ask questions of the architects and planners research and presentation but wouldn't listen to their answers. It was as if they all had ear plugs. They had been so fully brainwashed that they couldn't see any other point of view.

They complained about a rail design requiring more out of state union labor and specialized labor: the AIA recommendations would use more local and less specialized labor, but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the rail being delayed and work for them being delayed: the AIA plan would allow for a quicker start time for the project. but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the need to get it finished sooner to alleviate traffic congestion quicker:
the AIA plan would finish the rail much sooner. but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the overall cost of the rail being more: the AIA plan would bring down the cost by millions. but the unions didn't care.

They didn't care about anything that was presented that day. The unions had been told: "Go to the capital and protest the AIA panel. Anyone who opposes the Mayor's current rail design and plan is the enemy. Don't listen to anyone that disagrees."
And they knew the Mayor is democrat and the Governor (the one who thought it was important enough to hold this at the capital and invited the absent Mayor) was a republican. They left angrier than ever because this alternate plan threatened the one the Mayor and their union bosses had agreed on, when if they had come with an open mind they could have learned something.

It was interesting to see everything in action. Some union people even went to class warfare and said that the President of the AIA Honolulu doesn't understand anything because he's basically 'a rich haole from the rich Kahala area' and they are poor 'working people' from the other side of the island.

Us against them. 'Working' people vs 'wealthy' people (who apparently don't work?). So unhealthy and vital for unions to succeed. Sad and strange.

To sum up, maybe some unions are good, I don't know. Many are out of control and full of corrupt bosses and brainwashed followers. When I see our President and the state of Hawaii is in bed with them it is frustrating.

presidential update

heard this today and thought it was sweet.

'if you drive a car, i'll tax main street... if you try to sit, i will tax your seat. if you get too cold, i will tax the heat. if you take a walk, i will tax your feet." so great.

remember how no one making less than $250,000 a year wouldn't have an increase of taxes? right.

really, can you believe anything that comes out of his mouth?

he was right though, it isn't politics as usual. It's far, far worse.

Let's make a list of current events:

1- oil spill. day 80 something now. how's that going? forget cleaning up, let's bash oil companies, stop drilling altogether and put more people out of work (and lie about recommendations regarding a moratorium). Push cap and trade and environmental responsibility (while the environment there is being completely ruined). bravo. never let a crisis go to waste.

2- new black panther voter intimidation. After they were found guilty, the DOJ drops the case against them. Look it up on youtube, it's right there and it's crazy. But there is a new policy: no case where white people are victims and black people are the ones committing the crime against them will be taken seriously.
- remember the 'beer summit' after Obama said the white policeman acted stupidly when in the same sentence he acknowledged not having the facts. hooray for a post racial America, united under the Chosen One.

3- Immigration and Arizona. The vast majority of humans understand a border is necessary and without that border being secure it is pointless. Obama would rather get votes from clueless and far, far left people and ignore the American people and go ahead and sue Arizona. Sue it for a basically harmless law that mimics the federal law. Imagine being stopped by a cop for doing something wrong (like speeding or shooting someone) and he asks for your license! WOW, that IS like Nazi Germany. Give me a break and cry me a river people. When asked about whether law suits would be considered against sanctuary cities that openly defy immigration law, they couldn't answer. One more double standard in my book of evidence. And chalk up another one on the 'Obama on opposite side of America' board.
Perhaps they should drop the lawsuit and get to work on fixing the problem.

4- Economy. Get ready for the double dip is what i'm hearing more and more. My hours at work just got cut. Obama continues to give speeches about how awful the country would be if they hadn't run up the debt and wasted money on stimuli. Oh, and don't forget how messed up everything was from EVIL BUSH. That's not getting old at all. Like his 'created or saved' garbage that can't be measured, we are just supposed to take his word for it that he's all knowing and taking great care of us. I prefer to look at reality. He has no clue what he's doing. He and all his socialist textbook reading academic friends are still going for the big government take over with redistribution of wealth and trickle up economics to fix the country. The rest of us have history and reality to look at and understand they're only making things worse.

5- NASA- isn't involved in space anymore, but Islamic relations. Making them feel good about contributions they made to science and math hundreds of years ago... google it. it's happening.

I'm getting tired and don't want to waste more time on this.
The point is Obama is exactly what I thought. That is why i didn't vote for him. Let's hope he doesn't fundamentally change anything beyond repair and will kindly disappear when his lone term is finished. Maybe go get a massage with his buddy Al Gore. Then, hopefully the country will be woken up enough and have their eyes open next time and will elect an actual leader to be president.

a nice entry

from a house in an old issue of dwell. http://www.dwell.com/articles/opdahl-remastered.html

bathroom sign

in a house = awesome?

coexist bumper sticker

Driving with Shandra yesterday I noticed on a car one of the most annoying bumper stickers. It's one that I've seen occasionally, as we live in a place that appeals to hippie types and has several colleges/ a university nearby. But this one struck me as particularly annoying:



The Obama logo had been slipped in there...
but I guess it only makes sense- Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Obama.

I wanted to roll down my window and ask the guy driving that car what planet he's from, and also that he should go back...before I punch his face. How can human beings be expected to 'coexist' with people like that?

Obama hasn't transformed the world into the garden of Eden like he promised and his followers voted with hopeful tears in their eyes for.

- He's not 'open and transparent' at all
- He's not bipartisan at all
- He has a clear dislike for capitalism and other basic principles that make this country what it is.
- He hasn't made the country less hated or more safe by being 'like-able' or incessantly apologizing
- The country is even more racial than before
- Unemployment is still high- he continues to blame Bush- and wants to make every new job be a government one.
- He ignores things that need help and focuses on his predetermined agenda items like health care and global warming. He then ignores data (or the fact that data may be fake) and the American public that disagrees with his own views and proceeds.
- To sum up, I don't understand what people are still in love with him about.

Here in Hawaii I see lots of people wearing clothes by local companies with Obama's face or name on it because he's 'local'. Some of it is pretty sweet. Good designs- because 'cool' artists like Obama. Cool people wear Obama. "Malama Obama" or "Obama Ohana" etc. What are all the props for? Nothing that I can tell. He just exists, and thus is deserving? He truly is an American Idol President, and like most trends and celebrities I think he's annoying. Can't wait till he's out of style. Until then I just wish people would look at the man and what he's doing and talk and think about him accordingly. He's not a God or Religion(not for normal humans, at least). He has done nothing to prove otherwise. Please be realistic. Don't tell me to 'Coexist' Obama style.

I heard this quote a while ago, it's Obama describing himself from one (of two) books he wrote about himself.
"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views..."

Obama the blank screen. Doesn't that sound like a great philosopher or prophet? Someone that stands for ideals and truths and is a shining example for others? Someone willing to take persecution for his beliefs? Don't think so. Sounds like the guy I saw running for president. A guy who stands for nothing (that he'll be open and honest about) but speaks well of vague and positive things that make you feel good. A guy that instead let's others believe what they wish about him and make him into whatever they want him to be- which he'll then use to gain favor and get ahead. It's not rocket science. but then I may be wrong, I didn't go to Punahou and Harvard.

all that from a bumper sticker?

kitchen cabinetry

I saw this kitchen renovation on AT and liked what i saw. If plywood is involved, more than likely I'll be on board. I'm not afraid to say I like materials many people cringe at or think sound cheap: concrete, concrete block, plywood, corrugated metal, it's all very good. I like this kitchen's clean lines, colors (or lack of) and simplicity. I'll file this under my nice interiors section.