Here I sit…no…no wait.  perhaps quoting bathroom grafitti isn’t the best way to start a blog post.  Apologizing for not posting in a month also isn’t the best so I won’t do that either.  I do have something to apologize for but apologizing for that would seem so self serving.  I mean granted I’m definitely the centre of the universe (or at least in close proximity) but I don’t want to seem like a blow hard.

IN THE NEWS:

some Nigerian dude tried to down a plane.  This really isn’t interesting to me and so I really don’t have a lot to say about it.  What’s more interesting to me is the reaction of others and the response by nations which have done so much to attempt an increase in the effectiveness of their security at the expense of our rights.  It was the passengers and airline staff that caught this guy near the end of the flight, not the government which has done so much to intercept crazy idiots like this.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on a terror watch list and from what I understand, it had been reported to the American authorities that he had been “radicalized” before the incident on Northwest Airlines flight 253.  everything was there and available for a paranoid nation to pounce on some one who likely had every intention of killing a bunch of people.  Oddly enough, in a post 9/11 world with hypersensitive and bloated law enforcement agencies running around in every corner of the country, not a single American saw fit to track this guy down and stop him from flying.

I think a part of this is linked in great part to an incredibly unjustified and unmanageable domestic security policy on the part of the United States.  It’s almost a schizophrenic kind of policy really.  in an attempt to make the nation free, people have to give up some general freedoms and bow to the wishes of the state who knows how best we must manage our security.  I dunno…I could make some hay of this one but three paragraphs is enough.  i guess I just don’t think this hypersensitive security stuff works and this is perhaps proof positive of that.

MUH TWUCK!:

My purple beast (No, not that one) and the trailer is being subjected to it’s biannual inspection.  Oddly enough, it seems it will only cost a few thousand dollars.  I was expecting it to a be a tad bit worse but hey, it’s all good.

I’ve been at home enjoying the holiday season by doing a lot of nothing and trying to figure out how much of something I can eat before it makes me sick.

This coming summer, I have a decision to make.  Should I lease a truck for a few months to add on to a second contract that is seasonal or buy another older truck to run the highway and attempt to find more work for it later on?  All in all, I really just want to figure out what will be the least amount of headache.

APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT?!

Earlier on (about two posts back) I posted that I would be funding a $5,000 KIVA lending account to help stimulate economic activity in third world nations.  unfortunately, I will not be able to live up to the commitment and I feel especially bad about that since some one by the name of Gary was inspired to find his own account due to my posting.

I got caught up in my own glee and was just ecstatic about being able to help people in a far off land in such a practical and ethical manner.  I kind of threw other considerations to the wind such as insurance premiums, cost of equipment repairs, unexpected work stoppages and so on.  As a result, I am only going to be able to fund a $1,000 account in the new year but I sincerely hope that over this coming year, I’ll be able to add to that amount in a very significant manner.

So, I do apologize to anyone who read my post regarding a $5,000 commitment to fund a KIVA lending account.  I can only live up to 20% of that obligation and I do honestly feel terrible about that.

UGANDA:

I’ve been hearing a lot about Uganda recently and have been horrified about the content of what I’ve heard.  If you haven’t heard recently, the Ugandan parliament is set to pass a bill that would include the death penalty for homosexuals “convicted” of certain homosexual acts.

Now, this has managed to stir up a lot of angry discussion and I’ve very glad to see religious groups, conservative groups, and others give it a wholesale kind of condemnation.  Sweden is even threatening to remove foreign aid should the bill pass.  Though no one has been convicted of homosexual acts in Uganda, (Anti-homosexual laws are already on the books) this kind of law would make it entirely possible for hate filled people driven by fear and ignorance to take the lives of people for absolutely no good reason what so ever.

what is perhaps most disturbing is that religious groups inside Uganda are pushing the bill like it’s in danger of going out of style…which it already has one would hope.  Showing how dangerous religious ignorance can be, there are even Christian leaders in the nation who fervently believe that Uganda should cut diplomatic relations with other countries that want Uganda to accept homosexuals as regular citizens like every one else.  In other words, if the world isn’t as backward thinking as yourself, ignore it and cut down the number of dissenting voices you will hear.  Ignorance knons no enemy like diverse opinion and intellectual exploration.

Only the most horrid, wicked and vile people could talk of loving homosexuals and propose their potential death at the same time as Ugandan Member of Parliament David Behati does.  He is a rotten human being who has both accepted the responsibility of leadership among his people and cast aside any semblance of responsible intelligent thinking.  He and his ilk are frankly a disgrace.

ARROW TRUCKING (Tulsa, OK):

I realize that this will not affect many people but it hits close to home for those in my chosen field of work.

Imagine working for a company and being given no hint that you’re about to be laid off.  Imagine being hundreds of miles away from home and finding out quite suddenly that you are laid off.  imagine that you find out not via a short meeting, a phone call or even a text message.  Imagine finding out when you make your own phone call to ask why your fuel card doesn’t work as you stand next to a fuel pump with a near empty fuel tank.  No one’s on the other end, just a short recorded message telling you to turn in your truck to get a bus ticket to get back home.

This is how hundreds of drivers found out that their employer, Arrow Trucking out of Tulsa Oklahoma, had laid them off.  It’s a terribly cruel manner of telling people that their jobs are no longer there.

Larger companies that operate on paper thin profit margins can experience huge upsets when the price of fuel changes by only a few cents.  for drivers, this puts them at risk of losing their jobs at any minute should they be working for a company that is unable to absorb increased costs of business in a very competitive field.  That being said, poor management is often the reason for larger firms not being able to absorb said costs.

I’m quite sad to hear of the fate suffered by Arrow Trucking drivers.  I sincerely hope that many of them aren’t caught in an employment gap because of this.  As for Doug Peilsticker, the former owner of the now defunct company, I hope that he is properly called out for letting his company go to shambles after the reputable stewardship it was privileged to under his late father Jim.

On the plus side, I did hear of a number of companies seeking out the laid off drivers as priority hires and others seeking out Arrow Trucking drivers at truck stops offering up sandwiches or even assistance getting home.

MORE MARIJUANAPHOBIC MORONS:

Recently, a study was published that suggested that cannabis use in adolescents may have irreversible long term negative affects.  Linking cannabis use to schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, the authors concluded that cannabis use possibly disrupts the development of the serotonin and norepinephrine systems in growing young folk.

The trick?  They weren’t studying THC or cannabanoids present in cannabis.  They tested the effects of a chemical called WIN55,212-2.  If you’re wondering what it is, it’s something that causes the body to react in ways that are similar to how one would react if one ingested a similar cannabnoid found in cannabis but to a much more notable degree.  It is structured entirely differently than any cannabanoid found in cannabis and comparing it to THC is kind of like comparing apples to oranges concluding that since both are fruits, they must be the same.

I’m awfully tired of this horrid and desperate want within the scientific community to find facts that support an agenda.  Whether it be about drugs or creation science, I really am becoming resentful of scientists who claim to be ethical while engaging in study that is plainly deceptive and often driven by an agenda.

Could people just get over weed already?  Please?

So there it is…about a month worth of blogging or so.  there’s more but my fingers are bleeding.  G’night!