Here's a story that backs up something I've been saying for about 4-5 years now. Back around 12 years ago, I started making some damn good money, only problem was that it stressed me out and made me lazy in a lot of areas. For the last few years, my income got chopped in half, literally. Funny thing, I can't remember a time where I have been this content. Thus, money can't buy happiness. I'd also like to add that it makes you lazy and selfish(maybe not as a whole, but definitely in certain areas).
Enter this guy, Karl Rabeder, who sees things much like I do. He made a million dollar fortune, but it didn't make him happy, so he gave it ALL away. From the article:
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."
Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.
His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
"More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need. I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing."
I triple dog dare all you rich fat bastards to follow this guy's example. After all, it ain't socialism if it's self imposed, think about it.
I am the Complaint Department Manager and I approve this (self imposed)redistribution of wealth.
My handy work on a VERY dirty Stinger Missile. Damn thing hasn't had a bath since Fall...of last year. Dirty, but still faster than the BMW 1 series, BOO-YAH!
I am the Complaint Department Manager and my mom approves this message.
Normally, I would say something like, "Pat Robertson, have you lost your damn mind?!?!". But in this case, I don't find that......appropriate enough. How did I come to this distasteful conclusion? See for yourselves:
This is just ONE of the many reasons I don't go for organized religion. No offense to those who do subscribe in the faith of their choosing, it's just me. So, I'll put this in terms that sack of shit Pat Robertson can understand and relate to:
Just like Falwell, I hope this sack of shit leaves this earth soon so he can go smoke his turd in hell where he belongs. Hey Pat, when you get to hell, tell Falwell I said...."HA, TOLD YA SO, DOUCHEBAG!"
Pat, you sack of shit, you and those like you ought to be beaten within an inch of death, allow you to get better, then get beaten within an inch of death YET again. (To those of you reading this now, No, I will not switch to decaf. Don't bother asking that or anything remotely similar, I'm on a good ranting roll here.) I hope that when your time comes, you get to take that other piece of shit Hagee with you. In the words of Mr. Garrison, "You go to hell! You go to hell and you die!"
I am the Complaint Department Manager and I approve this message calling Pat Robertson a "sack of shit".
EDIT: Jenn, here's a top 10 of some of this shit bag's famous "words of encouragement":
10. "Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court." –Pat Robertson
9. "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." –Pat Robertson
8. "I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you, This is not a message of hate -- this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor." –Pat Robertson, on "gay days" at Disneyworld
7. "(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." –Pat Robertson
6. "I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." –Pat Robertson
5. "I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected him from your city. And don't wonder why he hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for his help because he might not be there." --Pat Robertson, after the city of Dover, Pennsylvania voted to boot the current school board, which instituted an intelligent design policy that led to a federal trial
4. "God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.' ... He was dividing God's land. And I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.' God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'" --Pat Robertson, on why Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke
3. "Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department
2. "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." –Pat Robertson, calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
1. "It may be a blessing in disguise. ... Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other." –Pat Robertson, on the earthquake in Haiti that destroyed the capital and killed tens of thousands of people, Jan. 13, 2010
Bottom line: I have a problem with this bag of shit and those like him and those that follow him. I can't digest what he calls religion, mainly because it isn't REAL religion. He's just a few clicks away from calling a Christian Jihad. If for some reason what he said just had to be said, he has NO call in saying it, none. May he rest in pieces...soon.
That's just it, a simple game of tag. I'm running a bit of an experiment and found this to be a great option. Besides, I deserve to exercise my right of tomfoolery after doing this to the driveway and sidewalk by hand: Notice that everyone else is still packed with snow, it was the last time it snowed a week ago and I did the same thing then. I digress...
The rules are as follows:
1. Tag only by blogroll(If you don't have one, you...are...so...BONED!) 2. NO TAG-BACKS! (Let's be adults about this, shall we?) 3. NO FRICKIN' MEMES!!! If you try to amend this you will automatically be deemed as having cooties...FOR LIFE! 4. Tag only one person, it's that easy. This is straight-up school yard, 3rd grade "Tag, your it!" 5. As the instigator of these shenanigans, I may tag more than one person at any given time.*
I am the Complaint Department Manager and you have been warned!
* void where prohibited, offer not valid in Rhode Island. Some restrictions may still apply, see your carrier for details. Side effect may be hair loss, distemper, nausea, explosive diarrhea, suicidal thoughts and hurt feelings, please see your doctor. Complaint Department Manager not responsible for any harm/ill will/damage inflicted in this game of tag.
Over the last few months, there has been a bit of a recurring theme. Most of it was true, albeit a bit tounge-in-cheek, but true. We've all lost our damn minds and here's how: We have become a people of Lost Temperament.
That is my diagnosis and that became more apparent when I watched "A Christmas Story" for the millionth time the other day. Have we really changed that much as a people? Nay, I say. Our needs haven't changed, just our temperament. We are now a people that are impatient, ill mannered and inattentive. The culprit? TECHNOLOGY!
Think about it. Watch "A Christmas story" or something very similar. Now, think about how nice and uncluttered we were back then. Take the Christmas season as an example. There were no gift cards, no WII/Playstation/Xbox, no cellphones/smartphones, no email/internet, etc... And yet, if you ask me, if given the chance, I'd go back to those times in a heartbeat. Simplicity. 20 years ago, what was on your Christmas list?
The way I see it, technology has made us a people that, if we don't see results now, that is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Rush, rush, rush(remember when that word actually meant something and not some inflamed hemorrhoid's name?). We have Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Blackberry, Droid and Treos. We have the aforementioned game systems, laptops/netbooks, all with high speed internet. When something doesn't download fast enough, you lose your damn mind don't you? Admit it, you do.
But doesn't this mean we are different then we were then? Didn't 9-11 change us? Nah, we had our share of paranoia. Remember some paranoid dipshit named McCarthy? Back then it was Communism(still is to some becktards). Today it's Muslims(actually it's fundamentally radical Islam hijacked by extremists, you know, like Christianity is with John Hagee...even though he hasn't killed anyone...yet).
We are a people(mostly this country) of mass consumption. That isn't new either nor is demand. We are seeing the peak hit and the repercussions of this behavior. Anyone lost yet?
Tell you what, this post is VERY scattered and was intended as such. If I really wanted to put everything I wanted here, it would be too long of a post and I don't dedicate that kind of time to my post posts, I don't have that kind of time or patience(wink, wink).
This post was meant to serve as some food for thought as we reach the end of this year. The main point is that we haven't changed, just our behaviors/temperament. Think about that next time you hear a "new" song on satelitte radio or see a "new" flick in IMAX theaters. Nothing is new, just our behaviors/temperamant...our interpretaions. Look carefully through this post. If you don't see a "book in the works" worth of information here, then you may be a victim of what I just posted on...or an idiot.
I am the Complaint Department Manager and I approve this scattered thoughts post.
