YIKES! THE IDIOCY OF DEBT!!!

The Rogue Speaks:

While waiting to be sliced on to remove three out-of-control skin cancers (thank you, Arizona, for all this sunshine!), I glanced through a Reader's Digest that contained an article about wasteful government spending.  Yikes! I just love it when I'm right!  Remember my post about paying down our national debt by cutting out wasteful spending???  Well, I didn't know how wasteful it really was! Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has written a book called Wasteland 2011.  You can read about it here .

I took 11 of the most absurd ones from the Readers Digest to share with you today:

$207 million to study the redundant engine program of the F 35 fighter jet..

"Haven't we already done this???"

$120 million in benefit checks were sent out to DEAD government employees.

Dead, but the benefits just keep coming!!

$113,227 was given to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games for video game preservation.

"No!  I am NOT a game addict!!"

$606,000 given to Columbia University to study online dating.

"God!  These people are IDIOTS!!!"

$492,005 given to Wellesly College to answer the question"Do you trust your Twitter feed?"

"and the purpose if this is...????"

$55,382 given to Va. Commonwealth University toward a study on hookah smoking by Jordanian students.

 What is a hookah, and why do we do it???

$198,195 to UC Riverside to study whether happy or unhappy people spend more time on social media.

Some people have no shame

$592,527 given to primate researchers to study, in part, what feces-throwing among chips reveals about their communications skills

"Hey!  Think fast!!!"

$338,998 for study women's weaving and wool in Iceland in the years AD874-1800

"Baaaa!"

We all know about the $15.3 million Alaska got to build the "Super Bridge to Nowhere."

"Just where are we going?  Oh, nowhere in particular!"

There's one more that I would like to share with you.  Children, prisoners, and others were awarded $1 billion in energy efficient home improvement tax credits.  These credits were given to people who DIDN'T EVEN OWN A HOME!  Furthermore, the IRS doesn't even require proof of home ownership.

"Yes, and thanks to the government, it's energy efficient!!"

Wonder why our national debt is out of control??  Add up just these 11 items.  They add up to more than one billion 344 million plus American dollars.  There are no doubt thousands of other items costing billions of dollars that we could dump from the federal budget if the government just wanted to take the time to seek them out.  We should DEMAND that they do just that!  There is not one government worker who deserves a $300 toilet seat for the restroom, not even the President!!!

I would like to point out that the practice of throwing money away on non-essentials is nothing new in the federal government.  It has been going on for DECADES.  The difference here, is that we have never been so deeply in debt as we are today, and the need for controlling wasteful spending has never been so great.

That's my offering for this week's Alphabe-Thursday.  Next week, I'll be publishing an essay by my BFA, and you don't want to miss it!  See you then!!!

THE NEXT PORN QUEEN????

The Rogue Speaks:

I already had an idea for the 105th Saturday Centus, and Jenny's prompt was just perfect!! It's hard, sometimes, to work with only 100 words plus the prompt, but I think I have been succinct enough to get my point across.  The prompt is in bold type.

THE NEXT PORN QUEEN????



photo from Gossip Extra

photo from The Washington Examiner

“It is our pleasure to have you on the show!”  Nadya Suleman heard that a lot in the beginning.  She had dreams of becoming the next Kate Goslin, as if that was something to be proud of.  I believe her sole purpose for having 14 children was to be a star.  Too bad she was so incredibly stupid, not to mention unattractive.

Now her children, some of whom have health problems, are living in squalor and will soon be without a home.  They are living on welfare!  The taxpayers are footing the bill for her dreams of stardom! Her next stop? The porn industry!

Thanks for reading!  Now go to Jenny's blog and read MORE from the other Centusians!!



XTRA "W"

The Rogue Speaks:

For last week's Alphabe-Thursday, I posted my son Joey's story for Studio 360's Significant Object contest, so I thought that this week I would post my own story about the Significant WOODEN Object.   As you know, neither of us won the objects about which we wrote, but that's o.k.  My own house is packed full with "objects" and I really don't have room for more stuff.  In fact, I really should do some significant throwing out or giving away some of the "collectibles" I have.  Not my cocktail napkins, though!  Rod was complaining recently about the lack of storage in one of the kitchen cabinets, but I told him to "get over it!"

For my "X" post this week, I offer you an XTRA "W" in the form of this story:

THE INVENTOR

The late summer heat was oppressive, but Granddad’s basement workshop was cool and dry.  Dust motes floated in the sunlight from the tiny windows, and the air was filled with the aroma of old wood shavings and lubricating oil.  A single, unadorned light bulb hung from a cord above the ancient workbench against one wall.

It was at that massive workbench that Granddad had created his inventions, many of which now stood against the other three walls.   Around ten years ago, Grandma had made me drag an overstuffed arm chair, faded and worn from some forty plus years of service, down the steps and into the basement.

“He needs a place to rest when his back gets tired,” she told me, and her eyes were warm and filled with love for the man who had been her soul mate for almost seventy three years.

Granddad sat in the old arm chair while I brought out items for him to identify.  The keepers were put in one corner of the basement for “the children” to pick what they wanted to keep as a memento.  The rest I tossed into barrels for the trash men to take away on Friday morning.

“Now that little invention was for your dad,” he said, as I brought out what appeared to be a step stool on wheels, with a long handle attached.  “He was small for his age, you know.  I made that so he could roll it around the house and step up to reach things he needed.  You know, like a drinking glass out of the kitchen cabinet.  He loved that old thing until the wheels went out from under him one day and he split his head open on that old secretary in the parlor.”

One by one, the unusual items, created out of his imagination, were sorted and placed in their designated piles.  There was one last object, a small wooden thing, made in three pieces and put together with two bolts.  I turned it over and over in my hands, but the usefulness of this piece eluded me.

“What’s this, Granddad?”

“Oh, that!!  Now that has a story, let me tell you!  It’s my best invention ever!  I sold a lot of those back in the day.  Yessir, I surely did!”

He took the piece from me and stroked it lovingly, like an adult might stroke a cherished toy from childhood.  I knew that feeling.  I still had all my lead soldiers that he had made for me by pouring molten lead into the tiny molds, then polishing and painting them.  If one got broken, or lost, he would simply make another.

“What does it do, Granddad?” I asked.

He leaned forward and began to study the piece, turning it this way and that.  After a while, he leaned back and rested his head on the headrest of the arm chair.  His eyes told me that he was somewhere in the long ago past.

“What does it do?” I asked again.

After a few seconds, he looked at me, and I could see tears welling up in his eyes.

“I don’t remember,” he said.

Yeah, whatever!

The Rogue Speaks:

Jenny is on her way to Texas next week, so she wanted to give us a Texas prompt.  We have a limit of 100 words, plus the 5 word prompt.  Please visit Jenny's blog to read the Glen Campbell connection.  This prompt is not very inspiring for me, but here is my offering:

There's a yellow rose in Texas.  Yeah, whatever.    But Glen Campbell?  No way!  He broke up the marriage of an old acquaintance of mine from MANY years ago in Atlanta--Mac Davis.


Over the years, many roses have lost their wonderful scent.  It's hard these days to find a fragrant rose, but my favorite is Sterling Silver.

Honey Perfume is a florabunda rose that is also very fragrant!

I added the Gertrude Jekyll English rose here because not only is it fragrant, but we are heading back to Jekyll Island in June for a family vacation!!

I added the fragrant Just Joey rose for obvious reasons.

That's my Saturday Centus. Boring?  Yeah, whatever!

WRITE, RIGHT?

The Rogue Speaks:

I can hear it now!  All those bloggers whispering under their breath, "Thank God! She's off her political and religious rants!"  I thought I would give you all a break and highlight my son Joey's writing for a change.  I read about a writing contest on Studio 360's website and decided to participate.  The subject was called "Significant Objects," and the contest contained photos of three, rather strange, objects found in thrift stores.  Two were of particular interest to me.  One was a hand-made wooden thing whose purpose was definitely lost to me.  I chose that one to write about.  Another was a strange-looking handmade doll.  I told my son about the contest, and he chose to write about that doll.  Neither of us won the contest, whose prize was the object about which our stories were written.  Nevertheless, it was a fun writing exercise, and just perfect for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday assignment this week--the letter "W."  If you haven't seen Joey's blog, go here.

WRITE, RIGHT?

SIGNIFICANT OBJECT

(doll, $5 thrift store find)
by
JOEY MAU

This is my papa. His name is Abdyl Kreyziu. He was born in Yugoslavia many years ago. This place does not exist anymore. He grew up in a place called Kosovo. This place was not a safe place for my papa. There was much hate for him. Now he lives in my room, watching over me to make sure I am safe.

 I see you smile, laugh, think, ‘That is a doll, an ugly homemade doll. Why does she show us this? Where is Peter’s snapping turtle again, or Emma’s colorful hermit crabs?’ This is no doll. This is my papa. See how he wears my papa’s shirt, the cuffs trimmed just the way Papa would wear them. See the bright sash of his favorite football club? The woolen socks Grandmamma knit for him. See the wink he wore so often, a trickster who loved to laugh? See his hair, his poor hair that would not stay upon his head? ‘If I cannot have a head of hair,’ he’d say, ‘I’ll make the hair that stays memorable.’ Like a cartoon, he wore his hair, sticking up. My papa.

“Mama says that our soul lives on. In the places we live, in the people we meet, in the clothes we wear, in the objects we touch our soul lives. We live. You see a girl with garbage, a frightening doll made from a dead man’s clothes. But to me, this is Papa. Not a memory or a doll. My papa. Alive. He was trying to make for us a better place, a safer life. We are here, I am here because of my papa. This is my show and tell.”

Blerta walked back to her seat and stowed her papa in her bag. As she watched Carlie discuss the Coach purse her mother purchased for her in New York, she did not notice the thieving hands of Adam Feld who pocketed her papa, only to toss it out the bus window two hours later.

Shawna Adams, jogging home, saw Blerta’s papa lying prone on the sidewalk. “Weird,” she remarked as she picked it up.

The idol of the Albanian patriarch was with her as she and her boyfriend joined the throng at the 4th Street Swap Meet.

 “What are you going to do with that thing,” he asked.

“Watch,” she said as she removed a He-Man action figure from a table of retro toys, pulled off the $5 price tag, and replaced it with the priceless protector of a 10-year-old girl whose father had been killed fleeing his home. “Think they’ll notice?”

ROOM WITH A VIEW

The Rogue Speaks:

It's Saturday already??  It feels like I just finished my Alphabe-Thursday "V" post.  If you haven't read it, go here.

Jenny Matlock, the birthday girl, has given us one tough Saturday Centus this week.  The prompt is in bold type.  After writing my Thursday post, I thought I'd be through with rants for a while, but Jenny's words just begged me to continue.  O.k., that's not entirely true.  I received a comment on my AT post from a Viet Nam vet who writes a blog called The Trumpet Summons.  How he found my blog, I may never know, but I appreciated his words.

Who knows what the Rogue Artist will write about next week?  Maybe it will be about art, or maybe my golf game, which has seriously suffered in the last few months that I have not been able to play.  Since we are celebrating the letter "W" next Thursday, maybe I will write about Willy Wonka, because I do love chocolate, or maybe I will write my entire post using the Wingding font, and leave you wondering just what on earth I am saying.

In any case,  here is my offering for this Saturday:

ROOM WITH A VIEW

“Wow!  This is MY room?”

“Yessir.  It’s for all the time you spent, living on foreign soil, dodging bullets and bombs.  It’s for your having lived on the streets when you returned and had no job.  It’s for the anguish you suffered when you were forsaken by a country you vowed to protect.

“How much will this cost?  I have no money.”

“It’s free.  We’re not for profit.  For comfort… for what you did for us.  A group of wealthy people have finally realized that all that money cannot by happiness, and they are working to provide for our veterans.”

The rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water that you hear may be a little different from the one on the published album.  It happens to be the demo for the original song.

That's it for this Saturday.  Please come back on Thursday to read my "W" post.  Hmmmm...Maybe I'll write about Worms!  Nah!  That's too political!!

V is for Vexed

The Rogue Speaks:

 I am vexed that there are some people who will simply ignore this post altogether.  Why? Not because I think that my words are any more vital than those of others, but  because the people  who think that I am a crank do not live in the real world.  Their minds have been filled with misinformation, and they are not willing to even consider the other side of the coin.  It seems that it is much easier to just stick to the "old way" of thinking about life.   Life as our ancestors knew it has changed, however.  The world population 2000 years ago has been estimated at 231 million.  In 2012 there are 6.8 billion people on earth, and that number grows by 83 million a year.  We can no longer depend on the basic skills of tending sheep or goats, or planting fruits and vegetables for our sustenance in our lives.  In America, there are small groups of people who still spin their own yarn and make all their own clothes, and grow all their own food. I have the utmost respect for these people, even though their way of life has been compromised considerably in the last century, and they have had to adjust accordingly.

 The life and many of the rules  that were preached in biblical times are very impractical to maintain in today's world.  "Be fruitful and multiply" is very vexing to me, because 99% of the people in this country cannot realistically care for the needs of an exceptionally large family unless they figure out a way to screw with the system.  Sounds bad, doesn't it!  But don't kid yourselves.  It happens.  The people who speak out the loudest in most cases are the people who happen to get paid in real money every week.  Frequently, they are the women whose husbands make good salaries, and provide them with health insurance, and cars to drive their children to school and extra curricular activities, and money to spend at the department stores for school clothes.  These people wouldn't have a clue about tending sheep or goats, or spinning wool into cloth.  What's more, they don't even WANT to!    If they did, they would be living their lives the way people in biblical times did.  No car, no electricity, no running water, no cell phone--just obeying the wishes of their husbands, and following the biblical teachings of old,  and having lots and lots of children whether they could care for them or not.

Still, there are people who are bound and determined to maintain, at least on the outside,  that biblical way of thinking at all costs.  There are women in America who actually believe that the husband of the family is the superior being, and that what he commands is that which is best for the family.  These women have been brainwashed over the centuries into believing that it is their Godly duty to obey the wishes of their husbands.

So, if Jesus were to come to earth this very day, what do you think he would say about all the advances that have occurred in the last 2000 years?  God created us, and he gave us these miraculous brains that we have used to help mankind over the centuries.  Do you think that Jesus would want us to go back 2000 years and live on sheep, goats, grains, and a few vegetables, and forget about all the scientific discoveries that God has allowed us to make?  Do you really think that he would expect women to give birth to so many children that some get lost in the shuffle, and don't get the attention and love that they deserve?

So here is a challenge to all those women  out there who think that the biblical life of 2000 years ago should be followed without question  today.  Do it.   Give up your hobbies, your part-time jobs, your lunches with friends.  Send your children into the fields to tend the sheep or goats.  Spin your own wool into yarn.  Live without electricity, gas heat, a cell phone, or a car.  That's the way things were back then when those laws that you are so eager to follow were handed down.  Have as many children as you possibly can.  Oh, and if they get sick? Forget about taking them to the pediatrician for antibiotics.  No one had them back in the time when people were told to "be fruitful and multiply."  Never refuse your husband anything he desires, and confirm that he is the supreme ruler of the household.  He's been hearing just how superior men are to women since the day he was born.  He may be an arrogant half-wit, or a benevolent dictator,  but by God, he's right!!

You can't have it both ways.  You can't just pick and choose that which  you want to follow and that which you do not.  I am seriously vexed by your way of thinking.  If you have actually  STUDIED the words of Jesus, you might be surprised to learn that he might be vexed as well.

Love one another.  Embrace  those in need.  Judge not, lest ye be judged.   Share your wealth with those less fortunate.  Read Luke 18: 18-25.  Now read it again.

That's all for this week.  Please check out the other offerings for Alphabe-Thursday.  You'll find them on Jenny's blog.