Five Good Reasons to Support Andrew Yang

So if you’ve followed me for awhile, you know that I have a fairly casual interest in politics, and I enjoy discussing them from a number of angles. I have not, however, really concerned myself with presidential primaries, certainly not this early in the race. Is it even far enough along to call it a race? I mean 650 presidential candidates are already campaigning on the democratic side, so I guess the race has already begun… At any rate it feels way too early to be worried about this. and yet, here I am.

The reason I’m here is because several weeks back, I stumbled upon an excerpt of this interview with some random upstart who said he was running for president. You don’t need to watch the whole interview, but if you do… well, I’ll just say that I couldn’t put it down… I listened to several other interviews since, and I’ve got to say, the more I listen, the more I’m convinced that this guy is worth getting to know at the very least. In fact, I’m so convinced that he is, at the very least, a candidate worth your very serious considerations, here are five reasons to support Andrew Yang.

A Bizarre Thought: Taxes are Okay

Let’s get a few things out of the way before we get started:

1. Government overreach is bad
2. A government that grows too big, over taxes, or puts too much burden on the people rather than protecting their rights, is a problem

Now that we have those out of the way, let me get to the subject of this post. I think the title is absurd. It should be a given that taxes are okay. But more and more I see people who talk about how taxes are theft, or how the government shouldn’t be allowed to steal our money. I have a problem with that idea. And I feel I need to explain why. 

The 2016 Election Challenge I Really Hope You’ll Take!

So this questionnaire crossed my news feed today. And what with the presidential elections being soooooo close, I thought I’d see which candidate seemed most appropriate for me. I was really surprised to see who my candidate was. the last person I thought I would agree with most would be old Bernie Sanders!

Yup! I know, that’s exactly what you thought!

Politics, Family, and Complete Confusion

I’ve done a great job of not posting political things in places where I might offend or upset friends or family (I have this wonderful blog to thank for that). Occasionally I might comment on someone else’s post, but I try to keep my opinions to myself (because when has a Facebook discussion about politics or social issues ever yielded a positive result).

Why It’s Getting Hard to Maintain Faith In People

I like most people I meet. I instantly trust most people I meet. And I genuinely assume the best of most people I meet. So on the rare occasion when people let me down, it’s pretty disappointing. But I’ve always thought people were worthy of my high expectations, and honestly, I think most of my friends and family have done better than my expectations, which is probably why I give people so much credit.

But lately, in the wake of a new scandal, people have really let me down. not just letting me down a bit, but letting me down a freakin’ lot. And I really find myself frustrated. So frustrated that I have to stray from my usual lighthearted posts and rant about it. 

The Solution to the Student Athlete “Problem”

So I tuned into ESPN Radio the other day in my car, and I could immediately tell we’re getting to the boring part of the sports year (I.E. when Baseball is the only thing on) because the show host was talking about those poor student athletes who are being horribly mistreated by the NCAA who forces them to work endless hours on a game they love, and only gives them free food, housing, clothes, equipment, and education. What nerve that NCAA has.

These NCAA jerks… I could just slap them… that is… if I wasn’t watching their product for six hours every Saturday in the Fall…

Now I get it. I really do. The NCAA and the universities make millions of dollars off student athletes every year; The argument that the athletes are getting free top quality education is a bit of a farce, since most don’t graduate and pretty much all spend way much time on the field/court than they do in the classroom. I can see how some would call that exploitation. I can also see how it’s unfair that other students can make money how they see fit, while student athletes are doubly hampered by the regulations of the “amateur” athlete. So it’s a complicated convoluted issue to be sure.

Time to Stop Talking About Understanding and Compassion, and Actually Practice Some.

So I’ve been on the fence about whether I should write about the tragedy in California from a couple weeks back. I usually try and stay out of these conversations, but some interactions I had caused many opinionated people got me thinking way too much about it not to write something.

I couldn’t figure out what this post should be though. Should it be about gun control? no… Plenty of people write about that… Mental health issues… misogyny? Well… Plenty of interesting stuff has been written. But I think there is a deeper (and possibly a simpler issue that should be discussed.) We continue to have incidents like these through our country and everyone’s actions seem to repeat like a broken record. Every time we have a new shooting it’s like everyone pulls out their cue cards and repeats the same rehearsed dialogue they’ve had since the last shooting. And then we go through the same process again. Nothing ever changes. When the next tragedy happens, we’ll pull out our cue cards and repeat the same cycle of finger-pointing, accusing, mourning, and ultimately doing nothing to actually help anyone feel better or prevent further incidents from occurring. But maybe the way we can change is simpler than gun control itself. Maybe if we learned to show and feel genuine compassion for the people hurt and killed, and true compassion for everyone else, it might help us find a solution that would be more universal than just gun control, or just mental health, or anything like that.

This is kinda where I’m going with this. but I think there’s more to it than this.

The Catchy Blog’s 5 Step Process to Winning an Acadamy Award for Best Picture

So I finally got around to watching last year’s Academy Award winning flick “12 Years a Slave.” It was a pretty good movie, and a very moving (and depressing) true story. But I just can’t help it. At the end, I found myself saying the same thing about it as I do about most films that win the Academy’s most coveted award. I found myself saying, “Yeah. That was pretty good.” But as usual, I could think of 3 or 4 movies from the past year I enjoyed more for various reasons. This trend frequently gives me pause, and begs the question, “what does it take to win best picture.” So after careful thought, I’ve come up with 5 tried and true steps to get your Best Picture award. Let’s get on with it!

These 5 Steps come with a money-back guarantee!!!!

Christianity is on the Decline? Blame the “ChrEaster” Crowd.

It seems like some Christian folks can’t stop talking about how Christianity is losing its foothold in the U.S. (different articles give you different numbers, but for whatever reason, it’s on something of a decline) They’re quick to blame various culprits for the issues: Maybe it’s Sciences fault, some say. Or atheists. (They sure are an unsavory bunch) Or maybe they blame other religions (I hear Muslims make great scapegoats in the 21st century) or homosexuals (what with they’re secret plans to destroy families, then take over the world, and make everyone dress more appropriately) while still others blame democrats (because God is a republican after all, and will only support a nation with a free market economy and no welfare checks). Yes there seem to be endless ways to blame others for our problems. You can’t attribute the decline in self proclaimed Christians to any one thing, but I’m going to place a significant portion of the blame on one group. And their right inside the doors of the Christian churches… Well… sort of…

I’m not for the whole guilt the worshiper thing. but seriously. Church has got a point. When you can only give 2 hours a year? That’s some kind of lazy….

I Stand Corrected About That Sterling Scandal

It’s time for me to admit I’m wrong. Down right wrong. That’s right, it can be done, contrary to what television pundits and my “About” page will tell you. I jumped on the Donald Sterling bashers bandwagon, but I said “to boycott not the answer!” I was coming from the idea that there was no way you could force him out based on a boycott, since he is the sole owner of the Clippers franchise. But boy, was I wrong. Turns out you can ban an owner from his own franchise! And Sterling’s fresh lifetime ban comes at the heels of fans and advertisers bolting, among other things! So here’s me, saying hey! That last post was foolishness, and I was totally foolish and shortsighted…