Rambling talking about people

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Well, it has been said that all I do is talk about people behind their backs.  For one, so does everyone else.  You say something about someone when they are not present and BAM! you're talking about them behind their backs.  People talk about me behind my back all the time.  Apparently there are stories about me doing things that go around my workplace rather often.  People laugh at me behind my back all the time and I don't whine about it or call them horrible people - but oh, when I use a real life event to write about a topic here, by the gods! what a jerk I am, huh? Pot, Kettle - man up. 

It has also been said that I hate everything country folks like.  Pretty much the only things I hate are Willful Ignorance, Stupidity, Hatefulness, Bigotry, Greed and Fear.  I dislike rudeness and inconsiderate people.  I don't like extremely lazy people either - like those healthy people with nothing in their hands who press the handicap door opener button instead of opening the door themselves, but that is just annoying.  Like people who can't tell the difference between "There" and "Their" or "Know" and "No" and "You're" and "Your" and such. Lots of things are annoying, but not something I hate.  Hating takes effort.

I grew up in the country.  Hinze, Mississippi in Winston County.  We talked about guns during hunting season, not on a daily basis, and mostly about who was going to take which gun to what section of woods.  Nobody I know went on and on and on about guns, reloading shells, powder, gun prices, etc, etc, etc. The only gun I owned was a .22 pistol - the shotguns and rifles were family guns. No country boy I know bought buckets of ammo nor multiple handguns nor had assault rifles nor sniper scopes.  We had guns because they were practical tools, not something to collect and go to ranges to shoot.  We went to the pond to shoot turtles so we'd have more fish.  We went to the field to shoot cans to zero the new scope in.  But we didn't shoot buckets of ammo for nothing - that stuff is expensive and most of the time we didn't waste it.  We didn't leave trash in the woods or throw it out on the side of the road.  We'd go out in the woods camping, maybe run a trot-line for supper.  We knew the people who talked a big talk usually didn't have anything to back the talk up with and the quiet guy was usually the one you didn't want to mess with.  We were not loud, rowdy, drunk rednecks with an arsenal - we were just good ole country boys.  We did more plowing, weeding, slopping, mucking, sowing, fishing and hunting that we did shooting.  When we went to work, we worked and when we were off work is when we socialized.

Maybe in the big city you are supposed to socialize at work and fit in to get ahead?  Well, this country boy just wants to earn a living so I can spend more time in the woods with other people who don't want to just kill everything, people who want to keep the woods wild and clean and not polluted, people who like nature, the earth, gardening and other good ole country stuff.  I like what I do and I am very good at it.

I mostly shoot things with a camera these days, because I can buy what I need to eat and its just me and my wife to feed.  I don't own a gun because I don't have any need of one, I don't have a place to hunt unless I go 'home' - and we have guns there.  I'd like to get a particular gun at some point, but I don't want to talk about it endlessly.  More to the point, I don't want to hear about it constantly.  I work in an IT Department, not a gun store.

Besides, I spend my money on other things.  I'm sure that if I talked about motorcycles every day at work that people who didn't own motorcycles would get tired of hearing about it.  Maybe I could go on and on about blades - Kukri, Chinese Broadswords, Sgian Dubh or maybe Claymores! Maybe Photography Equipment!  Or Doctor Who or Firefly/Serenity or Tombstone or Trinity... Nah, I'm a bit more courteous and professional than that.

Now to the politics! - read this.

 "Being an austerian is one thing, but being completely out of touch with reality is quite another."

And that is one reason I get irritated when I hear people yapping about politics at work - mostly, they are vastly misinformed.

"Democrats who watched Fox, as well as Republicans, came away misled and misinformed."

Lots of American (and otherwise) People (and otherwise) are fed up with the GOP's constant attacks on our prosperity.

Wal-Mart America

So this morning on Facebook, I read a post from a tow-the-line conservative about how Wal-Mart was going to lose customers for not having more check-out clerks working.  You know, they have twenty lanes, but only two or three people working them, so only two or three lanes available for checkout. Unless you want to take personal responsibility and stand in long lines to check yourself out.  The poster was going to leave their buggy and walk out to go shop at a local mom and pop store... oh, wait... Wal-Mart killed most of those... oh well... maybe they will go back at night when there are less people so it would mean shorter lines.  Anyway, there were several people agreeing with the Original Poster's stance.

Seriously? Who are they to question the omniscient wisdom of Corporate America - the Free Market itself!?!

Sure, Wal-Mart mostly hires part time workers so they don't have to pay benefits and the pay is so low that even the full time employees can't really make a living - have you seen the high prices these days? Of course, conservatives don't want these people making more money, that would hurt company profits and somehow make things worse than they are now, right?  More people with more money to spend is bad, right?  A few people having most of the money is better, right?

What about all these people who are unemployed? They could work at Wal-Mart for less money than they get in unemployment right?  Who wouldn't jump at that chance?

If you want to get a look at the GOP and Conservative dreams for the employment market in the United States, look no further than China.  Yeah, the pay is horrible, safety measures are ignored for productivity and suicides are so high that companies put safety nets around their buildings to catch jumpers, but man, are they productive and profitable and that's what really counts, right?  Who needs to worry about paying rent somewhere when there are company dormitories workers can live in - four to a room, bunk beds provided?  The companies even own stores within their complex that carry the employees' every need - shop where you work, how convenient!  The employees never even have to leave the company grounds - and besides, there is such a short window between their shift end and curfew that they couldn't really get very far any way before they would be hunted down... er... found and dragged ba... er.. safely escorted back to the residential area.

So, in the takeover of the United States, you don't have to learn Chinese, you just have to vote Republican.

I lived on a full time Wal-Mart wage for a couple years.  I had a one bedroom apartment in a duplex beside a fire department and my main meal was cheap egg noodles with ranch dressing and a can of tuna.  Sometimes I'd treat myself and mix in peas.  Yeah, Tuna Helper was too expensive. I think I got health insurance, but I couldn't afford it and a doctor visit at the same time.  I would walk to work sometimes to save on gas.  So, yes, I can see people not taking that work.  People want to Earn A Living, not Eek Out An Existence.