Sometimes You Just Have To Walk Away

My dad and mom taught me many things. One of the most valuable skills was the ability to just walk away.

Sometime people just get too close to a problem, and it eats at them day and night. Untenable or oppressive situations can become like a cancer on one's psyche. Eventually, it hollows you out and you collapse as it gnaws its way through every support you have inside you.

Some folks resort to strong drink, drugs, or other vices to escape the pain inflicted by this process.

Some just decide to go on random shooting sprees just to take the edge off.

I resort to video games.

My dad referred to it as a strategic withdrawal. He always counseled me to step back, marshal my forces, re-examine my options, and set about attacking the issue again.

I don't know how many of you have been following the insanity that is California politics. We just had a "special" election on several ballot measures. All of them can be described as schemes to borrow more money and worry about paying it back later.

The only measure that made any sense was to deny pay increases to the politicos in years when there is a deficit. Personally, I think they should all lose their jobs the day after the budget is due if they fail to pass a balanced budget. How many of you would get fired if you didn't do your job? Just about every one of you. A straight up, one dollar in, one dollar out budget without any of the chicanery these people are known for.

Then it should be illegal for any of these people to run for public office on any level for a period of ten years. Their staffs should lose their jobs as well. In fact, the only people I want to see in those government office buildings year after year are the janitors.

Schwarzenegger threw tantrums on TV threatening the people of California that he would sell California landmarks if we didn't give the screwballs in Sacramento their infusion of cash. Teachers and government workers unions are squealing like stuck pigs because their members are losing jobs left and right. Their media blitzes just pissed me off with their distorted prattling.

Every measure failed except for the one to take money away from the people not performing their duties. Do you expect a raise at your job if you're not doing anything except going out and signing new leases on Cadillacs?



Video Courtesy of CBS13.Com Story from May 12, 2009.

Now some government leaders and liberal media types have the gall to turn around and blame the taxpayer for the out of control spending and the situation that the state is in.

Excuse me?

I've been working since I was seven. I started out mowing lawns and washing cars for people in the neighborhood. When I was fifteen, I got a "real" job and started getting a preview of how I was going to be raped every paycheck to pay for the poor choices of people I don't even know. I have worked now for thirty years, and paid everything that they said I owe (probably more), and they have the temerity to claim that I am responsible for this?

I speak English. In my world the ballot only needs to be printed in ONE version. Not FORTY FOUR. Yes, my mother is a first generation immigrant. She spoke English before she even arrived here. She speaks better English than most of the people you see on TV.

California Money Saver Tip 1: Stop coddling people. If they are interested in participating in our society they will do so. For several hundred years people have come here without being able to speak English. They learned without taxpayer's money being thrown at them. If they can't or don't want to, too bad. How many other governments around the world do you see educating American kids in English, or providing illegal immigrants from America with ballots in English?

Have you seen how overcrowded California prisons are? How many of you have had the opportunity to ride a commuter train during rush hour in Tokyo?

I have.

They make California prisons look like a greenbelt. If you don't like the accommodations, here's an idea, don't break the law.

California Money Saver Tip 2: Stop coddling people. Prisons are not supposed to be four star hotels or a landlocked Sandals Resort. Some people who have worked all their lives, and have never done anything wrong die because they can't afford air conditioning or heat. Some seniors don't have enough to pay for food and medications. Forget cable TV on their budgets. No more conjugal visits. No heating or air conditioning except in the administrative offices. Get rid of the exercise equipment and sports equipment. If the prisoners want to keep fit, sign up for a chain gang. Get rid of the laundry. Give them wash tubs and cake soap.

Have you seen how much power government unions seem to have over the state legislature? They seem to have much more influence than the people paying the bills. People like me who can't even get a response from my so called "representative" when I've written. But, boy am I deluged with expensive advertising in the mail by these same people when election time rolls around. Something tells me that these unions have an undue amount of influence, and perhaps government unions should be banned.

California Money Saver Tip 3: Stop coddling people. Most people who work for the government serve no useful purpose except to consume tax dollars at an alarming rate. In fact, they've formed unions to get more lazy bastards into similar positions at higher rates of pay. The constant expansion of their work force increases the amount of influence and the result can be compared to cancer. Ban government unions. If you don't like it, go get a real job in the real world where you get fired if you perform like the SOBs at the DMV.

How many of you have looked at all the stupid laws on the books, and all the double standards? In my book, its a bad thing to go around killing and maiming people without a very good reason. It doesn't matter to me what color, religion, orientation, or profession you follow. If someone punches, stabs or shoots you, the law should be applied equally without bias. Did you know that if you happen to be black, latino, or a cop, if someone kills you it is somehow worse than if the same person killed the white guy working at the liquor store? WTF is this?

California Money Saver Tip 4: Stop coddling people. So what if your queer, black or a cop? Does that make you special? No. You're just another citizen. Don't like it? Too bad. The laws should apply equally to everyone. No exceptions. Get rid of all the bull***t in the state, county and city codes and law books.

How many of you have been born, and raised here in this country? Quite a few of you. How many have you have visited a foreign country? How many of you have done that illegally? How many of you have visited a foreign country illegally, worked in that country illegally, and are now getting payments from that country's government even though you've now come back home? How many of you received free medical care, housing and food when you were working illegally in that foreign country?

Not one of you. I'm pretty confident that I can say that.

California Money Saver Tip 5: Stop coddling people. If I drive without a license or insurance the state takes my car and prepares a guest room in the closest gray bar hotel. If I'm here illegally, and can't speak English, have no fixed address, and a possibly forged ID, they let me go often in the vehicle that I am operating illegally. (This also goes back to applying the law equally, and make people responsible for learning English.) How do I know this? I've had six vehicles damaged or totaled by illegal immigrants. The last incident, they guy attempted to flee the scene but his car was too damaged. Hit and run anyone? What happened to him?

Zip. Zilch. Nada. BIG FAT GOOSE EGGS BABY! They let him walk away. The vehicle? Expired registration, and no insurance. Did they tow it away? No. They told the illegal through an interpreter that he had to have someone with a license and a temporary operating permit come and drive it home.

If you or I had done that..... These people are responsible for untold millions of dollars in property damage, lost wages, and even permanent injury and death. They skate. Enforce the law.

So anyway, I got ahold of a copy of Fallout 3. I've been playing it since I decided I needed to walk away for a while before I exploded. I guess you could say I went on a virtual shooting spree.

Amazing game. Simply beautiful. Go to the site and look at some of the screen shots of in game play.

The story is that of a person who was born and raised in an underground city in the period following a nuclear war, and what happens when they exit the shelter.

If you have a highspeed connection, view the trailers located here. That is how the game really looked and felt. With surround sound, I heard the expended brass from my minigun bouncing off the steel deck behind me as I waded into combat. I could hear and feel things and people as they ran up behind me.