Junto Boys

SICK OF: THE CONSTANT ANALYSIS: Every little thing no matter how insignificant has a full airing out in the 24 hours new cycle. I don’t care how many U.S. attorneys were fired and I don’t care what Gonzalez has to say or what Schumer has to say. This is not a real issue but just something to talk about. I’m not sure there is any news. I haven’t heard any for a long time and I don’t seem to miss it.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF: RICKY GERVAIS: The American version of THE OFFICE is the only sitcom I watch and yet it lacks all the subtlety and British nuance that made the original so entertaining. I just finished watching both seasons of EXTRAS and Gervais is funny again, albeit somewhat cruder than American TV fare. His stuff is politically incorrect and sometimes surprising in its vulgarity, other times funny in its simplicity.

SICK OF BUD SELIG: This guy should run for Congress where his duplicity and influence could be absorbed into a system of gridlock.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF: NETFLIX: Now I can have every movie in print on my doorstep in 2 days with no late fees. I read once that today’s American lives better than any 19th century nobleman. Netflix allows me to live as well as any 1930s studio mogul.

SICK OF: THE AIRPORT SCREENING SYSTEM: Anyone who sees an old lady being searched at the airport while Ahmed moves briskly though asks either consciously or unconsciously, “Are we really at war?” The administration’s unwillingness to profile ethnicity makes the war seem unserious. You don’t have to search every Middle Eastern man, but is there any reason for a half-ass search off Mildred other than to send a message that we play no favorites? The media’s effectiveness in disparaging the war was easy because Bush created a soft middle by not making the tough decisions domestically. This seems to be a war that we’re willing to lose if it means that we have to hurt some feelings.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF: WAL-MART: It might not be the most pleasant shopping experience, but I don’t care for shopping in general, and Wal-Mart is inexpensive and they have everything. The lines may be longer than at the expensive place, but think of it as a job and they’re paying you to be there. I bought an alarm clock last week for $5. Air conditioner filters for half the normal price. Other stores have had to become more efficient to compete with those prices so even if you have never stepped into a Wal-Mart your life is better for their existence. If you're poor, Wal-Mart has done more to raise your standard of living than any government program. When you walk through the door, imagine punching a time clock. When you walk out, figure how much money you just earned for your time. And remember, money saved is tax free unlike money earned. Also, offering someone an at-will job is not victimization no matter if the elite critics wouldn’t like to do the job themselves.

SICK OF: HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATIONS: They purport to be the savior of your property, but they collect money to make you do more work. It’s like the inmates taking up a collection to pay the warden. I got a letter from my old Home Owners association months after I sold my house threatening me if I didn’t immediately pay my late association dues.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF: HDTV: I’ve seen more football this past year than the previous 5 years combined. A simple up-conversion DVD player ($100) boosts movies to a level where you can easily ignore Blue Ray and the latest expensive fad. I don’t miss going to the movies anymore because the effort doesn’t always seem worth it unless I can see more than one film for my hassle.

SICK OF: THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE: Understanding one another is the hallmark of progress. In our society today, anything perceived as remotely offensive gets re-defined so that we don’t quite know what we’re talking about. The imprecision of our language is supposed to make people feel good, but is that a worthy trade-off for not understanding one another? Ask the man on the street to explain the difference between undocumented worker and illegal alien and they won’t be able to tell you that they’re the same thing. They must be different because he knows what an illegal alien is. The new term does nothing but give someone a standing they don’t actually have. With time, the new terms will catch-up and become pejorative too. “Undocumented workers” will at some point be as vile sounding as “illegal alien.” Eventually we’ll have to revert to grunting so as not to upset people’s sensibilities.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF: THOMAS SOWELL: Read any of his books and they’re direct and eye-opening. You’ll be surprised at how much he can teach you on any subject. His column yesterday cuts to the heart of what we’ve been complaining about in this thread. He speaks of why he can no longer stand talk shows:

If either a guest or the host has a pointed question that cuts to the heart of the issue at hand, the first thing the person on the receiving end is likely to do is sidestep the question, saying something like "That's not the real issue" -- and go back to expounding his prepackaged talking points.

All that you learn from watching these kinds of "debates" is how clever some people are, how fast on their feet, and how big a supply of rhetoric they have.

SICK OF: RIGHTS: We have a right to everything as long as someone else is paying for it. What we don’t have a right to are those basic things in the constitution like speech, religion and fire arms. If you’re not a citizen, and not wearing a uniform of a national Army, and you’re caught killing Americans you will no doubt have more rights in the United States court system than a guy in the panhandle who gets caught dumping fill dirt on some swampy land in his backyard.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF: FRIENDSHIP: They make the good thing better and bad thing easier to deal with.