So when does the Tim Tebow love end? Really? Are there really people who think that he is a good QB? Under what definition of good are we talking about? I remember when people said Vince Young was a good Quarterback. I remember when people said Matt Leinart was a good Quarterback. And both of those guys are light years ahead of Tim Tebow. Hell I hate Christian Ponder and he will probably have a better pro career than one Tim Tebow. Will someone please explain to me why ESPN loves him so. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are hands down better QB’s. I remember Jason and I each swearing up and down that Ryan Leaf was going to be a great NFLer and that other guy from Tennessee would just be average. I have learned from my mistakes, I got caught up in the Leaf hype back then. That won’t ever happen again.

Wow, how much do artistic people drive me nuts. Don’t get me wrong, I love art and the people that create art. I love all sorts of music and film. And as my friends will attest to, not necessarily the norm. I do not like pop music, it is mainly dull and unoriginal. Nor do I like most mainstream films with your typical car chase and guy getting the girl at the end. I am not against happy endings, but 99% of them are easily predictable. You have to give me something more than a ho hum happy ending. One of my favorite movies is a movie titled Punch Drunk Love. Shortly after seeing it, I was home for a cousins wedding and my aunt and uncle were telling me about a movie they had gone to see and hated it so much that they had left the theater before it was over. And of course the movie they were talking about was Punch Drunk Love. So my tastes don’t even match my own families tastes.

I personally have not one ounce of artistic ability in my body. My mother on the other hand is very artistic. She is at her core a poet. But I have such issues relating with them. They think with a different side of the brain than I do. I’m not saying my way of thinking is right, just different and in contradiction with theirs. They like to look at the world with a utopian viewpoint. Thinking that things will always work for them if they just believe that it will. Nothing seems to be grounded in reality. To make something happen you need to go make it happen. Hard work and tough choices makes things happen. I am not saying that luck and fortune don’t also play a part, of course they do. But you really have to actively work toward a goal to achieve it. Whatever that goal may be, a college degree, starting your own business or a relationship. Without actions taken to achieve these goals, your odds of achieve them greatly decrease.

Obviously I haven’t been on in a while. I have several reasons why. First, I have been trying to sort out my living situation, which has been a bit stressful, but I believe I have come to a satisfactory solution. And secondly, I have been wondering how to proceed with this blog in the best way for me to achieve my goals.

Basically I want to discuss two main topics with this blog and eventually the book which is my life story and my viewpoint on many common topics from a political standpoint as well as everyday current events we hear about.

Essentially I come at most things from a Libertarian point of view. I am not a Democrat and I am not a Republican. I agree and disagree with some things from both parties. I am at 35 still extremely fascinated at how people will stand on one side of the “aisle” on all topics. How is this possible? I think its due to people conceding their beliefs and just “giving in” if you will.

Let me give you a quick example: Abortion, Capital Punishment and Assisted Suicide. The Democrat is Pro-choice, Anti Cap-Pun and Pro Assis-Sui. The Republican is Anti Abortion, Pro Cap-Pun and Anti Assis-Sui.

Now from a logical standpoint neither side makes any sense. Each party picks and chooses in which case they are ok with death. If someone came up to me and said they were Anti Abortion, Anti Cap-Pun and Anti Assis- Sui, I would respect them and their belief because they clearly are against death in any way and have actually thought about it logically and come to a rational conclusion. But the Dems and Reps, just go along with an idea they have believed probably their entire life without truly exploring it logically.

Just for the record I am Pro Choice, Pro Cap-Pun and Pro Assis- Sui. Peoples individual choices are their own, and none of my business until that person affects me.

Another thing I want to get into deeper soon is religion. I belong to no organized religion of any kind. I believe organized religion is a socially acceptable cult. If I state my belief that is in anyway contrary to the Church’s stated position, then I am ex communicated. Yeah that sounds like a loving and accepting community. Oh wait, nope.

So I have been listening to Adam Carolla a lot lately and I had forgotten how much I agree with him and his viewpoints. He has a great podcast you can download from iTunes. Beware, he uses adult language. My recent favorite one was with Harland Willams where he goes off about waterboarding and Germany.

Adam is an atheist. I don’t believe I am an atheist, though I do agree with their viewpoints often. I was for most of my life an agnostic, which for the unenlightened is not the same thing. One of my problems with organized atheists though is the “Freethinker” movement. It sounds great and like something I would agree with, but the more I have read and learned about it, it is just as exclusionary as any organized religion despite their claim of free thinking. I practice genuine free thinking. My beliefs are mine and no one else’s. And I am sure I do not agree about everything with any one other person on earth. Therefore I am unique and enjoy that uniqueness. Now I am sure I have many similar beliefs to others, but I don’t need to sit in a room or building with other people to validate my own belief or existence.

Well I am going to give this style of writing a try for a little bit and see how it works. Please let me know what you think. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter for more frequent updates of what is going on in my little world. The link is under the links tab on the right side of the page.

JW

So my post today is about “Honesty in Business”. We teach our children to be truthful. I would like to give you a quick example of a scenario I had in the workplace. This is my one and only recollection in 13 years as a working professional where being honest resulted in a positive experience, despite consistently taking responsibility in any situation where I may have made mistakes or errors while my coworkers remained silent.

I once worked for a gentleman named Phil McGraw, which most of you may know simply as Dr. Phil. I was working on the road in Boston setting up a computer system for a trial that was to begin the following day, and in the process of setting up this system, I failed to check one of its components the night before. As a result, the next morning this particular component did not work properly. When asked what was wrong, I owned up and took responsibility for not checking it the day prior, even though I could have lied and claimed there were no previous issues. I admitted my oversight, which I find to be a rare trait in today’s business world. My immediate supervisor was notorious for covering his ass in similar situations. He would have just lied.

Now the reason I remember this scenario so well, despite it happening over 10 years ago, is because later I learned that Phil respected me for telling him the truth and admitting my mistake. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t used to hearing someone accepting the blame or just because he is a smart man. I don’t know which or care to know why. This is just my nature and it is the only example I have of not “getting in trouble” if you will.

So why was there only one good result in 13 years? It is because we go to work and lie to our supervisors on a regular basis so we don’t get in trouble, and this is expected? But yet these same people will go home from work and teach their 7 seven year old son or 10 year old daughter about right and wrong and about being honest. We punish our children for lying to us, and then we lie in the business world.

Am I the only one that sees the problem with this?

I will be adding a real post shortly, but in the mean time I have something to keep you busy. I literally just found this about 5 minutes ago and I am already having trouble staying away from it. I have never tried crack, but my guess is this is more addictive than that. I am warning you, if you have an addictive personality, maybe you should just avoid clicking on the link all together. Alright here it is.

Fun!

Good luck sleeping tonight.

Yay!

I am listening to Loveline on KROQ on my iPhone using the AOL Radio app. I highly recommend them all. If you are not familiar with Loveline or KROQ, do a google search and check them out. I became a fan while living in Southern California for many years.

While I have been listening, there was a young female caller and after listening to a little bit about her, one of the hosts, Dr. Drew determined she might have something called “Love Avoidance”. It reminded me of something specific to my life and I will devote a specific entry to it in the near future.

The guests tonight are Brian and Nikki from the Silversun Pickups. An absolutely amazing band. Check out there new album “Swoon”. (Side note - Isn’t it interesting that bands now use myspace as their official website. How sad is that. I personally hate myspace and facebook. Many of you may not even be aware of the websites Six Degrees or Friendster, but these were around years earlier and based on the same community idea, yet you probably have MS and FB pages but never did on the prior 2. Is it just about timing?)

Today while playing baseball, I got hit directly on the bone on my right ankle. As you can imagine it hurts pretty bad.  And now I am icing it and keeping it elevated as much as possible. Hopefully it will heal up quick enough so I can play again next Tuesday.

On a sports note, today Florida International University hired Isiah Thomas. Prior to FIU he had been a part owner, GM, head coach and star in the NBA. Thomas had not been part of a university since playing at Indiana University for Bob Knight. Why would Thomas decide to coach at a second tier sports school? He couldn’t even get a job at a major university. His career is continually going downhill. I suppose all I can say is good luck to the Golden Panthers.

JW

PJ's 2009 Alive shirt

Ok, so I ordered a PJ shirt last week when I renewed my annual membership. Yes I am a member of the “Ten Club”. The only band that I am a member of. And it is worth it. I always get tickets to shows and good seats at that, since we get ten club seating. They would be my favorite band of the modern era (80’s and forward). I have even been to see them with some of you guys. I have seen them in Miami, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, Orange County, San Jose and San Francisco. Two or three times in some of those locations. Some of my other favorite bands or artists in no particular order are: Tool, Death Cab for Cutie, Quicksand, Evaline, Silversun Pickups, Bjork, Ani Difranco, Radiohead, Coldplay, Face to Face, Imogen Heap, Kenna, Matisyahu, Mike Doughty and Soul Coughing, Operation Ivy, Rise Against, Rage Against the Machine, The Suicide Machines, System of a Down.

Just a sample of some of my tastes. What do you guys like and why?

JW

Congressional Black Caucus

So here is my first and probably only question.

Is there a Congressional White Caucus? Of course not, because that would be racist. Well why is it racist if there is a white organization, but not racist if that organization is black or asian or some other particular race? You should either allow everyone into your organization or allow all races to have independent organizations.

For those of you who think I am picking on the left today, fear not. I will soon tackle the right as well.

JW

Barbara Lee and the Congressional Black Caucus in Cuba

Ok I am just going to start with a couple of different posts tonight. They are a result of reading an article about Congressional Black Caucus members visiting not just Cuba, but with Fidel Castro.

So a quick recap. Did Fidel Castro murder people in his homeland with the help of Che Guevara to become the leader of Cuba? For those of you not very familiar with Cuba, the answer is yes. Nobody will argue this fact, yet we are suppose to cater to him.

This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Whats next? Visits to Kim Jong-il.

I did not know who this Barbara Lee woman was, so I looked her up. Turns out she is the Chairwoman of the aforementioned CBC and a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And again I did not know what these Caucuses were, so read up a little bit on them as well. (This is a very common theme for me. To read about something I am not familiar with and then to look it up to understand what it’s all about).

Wow, was I in for a treat. The CPC advocates “universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare,” fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on corporate welfare and influence, an increase in income tax rates on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in social welfare spending by the federal government.

So let’s tackle some of these individually.

First: Universal access to affordable, high quality health care. This happens to be one of my favorite arguments from the left. I even have some pretty close friends that love this idea. Well I know it sure makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you say it or hear it. But the reality is it isn’t going to happen in this country, and that is a very good thing. Some people argue Canada does it, why can’t we. Ok, I will tell you why. Canada has about 25-30 million citizens, the US has over 300 million and increasing everyday. That means that our system would need to be at minimum 10X times larger than Canada’s. Have you ever gone to the ER in an emergency? Did you enjoy sitting there and waiting for hours to be seen. Now imagine that at your local doctors office for your regular visits. You think its crowded now, just wait till everyone can just walk in to your local Dr. office. In fact no one is currently turned away who can’t pay. Every city has at least one hospital that treats people without insurance. In Miami, where I grew up it is called Jackson Memorial Hospital. It partners with the University of Miami (a private institution). In fact my cousin Katie was born there in Feb of 1977.

So now you are waiting in long lines, well guess what they are going to get even longer. If the government runs essentially “free” health care, then what is the incentive for young people to go to medical school and become doctors? In an 100% altruistic society, nobody would be in it for the money. But they reality of it is most people are. So now less people are becoming doctors. So over time you end up with poorer and poorer health care, not better. In the long run, we all suffer.

Second: Living wage laws. This means that people with no education or no skill set should be paid a “living wage”. So imagine I own a small business with only 4 or 5 employees. A little storefront repairing appliances lets say. I employee 3 technicians and 1 person to do many arbitrary and non specific tasks such as cleaning up, and taking the appliances apart, to make the repair process efficient. Preferably this last job would be done by a teenager for minimum wage (currently $6.55), as no education is needed for this job. But now with a living wage law I would have to pay him $12 or $15 an hour depending on where we are located, since the cost of living varies by state to state. Well if I am paying my technicians $30 an hour, don’t I know have to pay them more since they have a skill set much greater than the non tech employee. So now all of my employees would need to be paid more. Before this scenario, I made a enough to be self sufficient, but now that I have had these additional costs, I am no longer profitable to continue my business as it was. I now have to either raise my rates to my customers which will inevitably cause me to lose business thus exasperating my situation or close the shop completely. Which not only puts me out of work, but my 4 employees as well.

Third: Labor unions. This is one of the topics I never understand why people are still promoting in this era of “Equal Opportunity Employment” and the vast amount of laws protecting the employed. Unions and their leaders are strictly interested in the power it brings them. So lets see, the US auto industry is failing and is run by unions. Is that a coincidence? Definitely not. That unions only now that they see the companies about to go under are finally interested in making concessions. Here locally in the Dallas area, AT&T is in the news with their employees considering striking. Unions are inherently flawed. Your wages increase based on years of service not merit. How is that american or fair in any way? Some will argue, well that way 2 people both with the company 5 years will make the same income. Well that’s like saying, 2 people taking starting college the same time and taking the same classes should end up with the same grades and GPA. The students are not, they are graded on their merit. Should businesses not have the same right to judge their employees on their merit. I worked for my last company for 8 1/2 years and received a review annually as did all employees. And we received increases based on guidelines that was the same for everyone at their particular position. None of this required a union to be involved. What incentive would I have had to do my job better if I was going to get a preset pay increase no matter what. None, it just breeds lazy employees. In the early part of the 20th Century, when the working conditions were horrible and there were much fewer laws to protect the employee unions made sense. But in our modern society they do no good.

Fourth: Gay marriage. I guess I will throw one in that I agree with. I don’t disagree with all of their ideals. Denying gays to marry, is like denying a black man and a white woman to marry. Some people argue that its a slippery slope and that next, people will be marrying donkeys and gorillas. First of all, in many countries that already happens. What is wrong if someone wants to marry a snake. How does that affect you? Personal freedom is the key here. The majority of people that have a problem with gay marriage are religious people. And it is based on their own insecurities and prejudices. It almost seems as though they feel that if it’s illegal than the “yucky” gays will all disappear.

Fifth: Increase taxes on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor and an increase in social welfare spending by the government. Ok so this is sort of one big concept listed as three different topics. I have a much better idea. Tax cuts for everybody across the board and no social spending by the government. So lets go back to the living wage laws for a minute. This idea inevitably raises everybody income inadvertently and then we tax it back. Remember my employees example from earlier that would go from $6.55 to $12 an hour and the technicians from $30 to lets say $50, just to tax them more, so that we can give them “free” health care. Well obviously its not free if I am taxing you to pay for it. The reality is you are paying for it. What if instead of taxing you 30% or 40% of your income, you were taxed nothing. Now that original lower income is enough to cover your own health care instead of the government forcing you to pay for it by taxes. (Look for a later post about income tax and why it should be abolished completely.)

So Barbara Lee and her CPC sounds a lot like socialism/communism to me. I think I will have to pass on her and her ideas, since there is no example on earth where a socialist/communist society has made peoples lives better or won out in time over freer societies.

And one last note. The CPC supports campaign finance reform, yet their candidate (Obama) refused  public campaign finance when it came down to it. I am a firm believer in campaign finance reform. All candidates should have a cap on the amount of money they can spend, similar to the sports leagues and their salary cap to keep all teams competitive.

JW