Ryan: America You're Too Stupid

Not long after Mitt Romney told us that 47% of Americans are freeloading scumbags that he doesn't care about, we have another astonishing statement come out of their campaign, this time from Paul Ryan.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Ryan told us that their wonderful new tax plan designed to fix the economy and make America beautiful again would "take too long" to explain.  We the 53% of America that Mitt Romney cares about are expected to accept some vague promises to lower taxes and close tax loopholes and leave them to handle the details after the election.

It's really hard to know what to even say about this.

We have a multi millionaire who expects us to trust him simply because he is rich, not to ask how he dodged the draft, or how he got so rich, not to look at any more than two of his tax returns, not ask about his shady tax dodging foreign investments, not ask questions about the cult he is a member of, and apparently now not ask for any details of any plans he has to run America.

His campaign has essentially degenerated to blaming President Obama for not fixing the Republican created recession quickly enough, and asking us to simply have faith that he has some kind of magic formula that he's too busy to explain to us.

However it's really no mystery what their game plan is.  Screw the poor and middle class, relax laws that protect consumers, and give a boatload more money to the 1%.  Thanks, but no thanks.

The Magic Bracelet

I have to hand it to the snake oil salesmen of this generation; it's pretty amazing that in today's society of people with access to Google and other Internet resources a con trick company can so easily exist and prosper.

Power Balance bands, and similar wristbands have been sold for several years now, and have become so popular that you see celebrities, sports people, and maybe even people you know wearing them.  However in 2011 they were forced into bankruptcy after a class action lawsuit was brought against them and any and all claims they had made to con people were proven to be false.  Moreover they were also found to have been lying and using deceptive practices to artificially add value to what at the of the day is a silicone band with a hologram sticker attached to it.

These days their website is a lot more conservative about their claims stating that, "The thin polyester film hologram is programmed through a proprietary process, which is designed to mimic Eastern philosophies that have been around for hundreds of years."  Okay then.

The way they convince people to buy their product is through a series of impressive looking tests taken right out of the books of the old time snake oil salesman.  The mark is asked to stand on one leg and hold out their arms to the side.  Then with one finger the grifter pushes down on the mark's elbow and they topple easily.  Then a Power Balance bracelet is placed in the victim's hand and the demonstration is repeated.  But this time the con man is able to push really hard with both hands on the elbow and the mark is able to remain balanced on one leg.  Amazing right?

The bit you don't see (and there's a video at the end of this article you can watch to see the demonstration), is that the first time the con man does the demo he is pushing down but slightly away from the person's body, which easily takes them off balance.  The second time he is pushing slightly towards the body, and thus towards the center of gravity.  To the spectators and the victim it looks like he is pushing a lot harder, but in reality he is helping the mark remain in position.

This weekend, I believe I got to see the same type of con, but this time they have doubled down on gullible.  What I saw this weekend at a conference was a company called Tuning Element selling metal bracelets for as much as $215.  These bracelets which one would normally expect to pay considerably less for as a fashion bracelet are special we are told; "Every Tuning Element bracelet is individually tuned to the Earth's natural frequency of 7.83 hz, and this unique tuning allows your body to tune itself to its own natural frequency of 7-9 hz by simply coming into contact with the skin.  For this reason, our bracelets are designed to be comfortable and durable enough to be worn continuously, and come with a lifetime imprinting guarantee, which means your bracelet will never lose its tune."

Wow.  Tuned to the Earth's frequency.  What a bunch of fucktarded bullshit.

This company has a whole range of designs, some as little as $55, but those are basically just a silicone strap with a small amount of metal tuned to the Earth's frequency.  Their collections range from 'casual' to 'executive.'  And coming soon, according to their web site, they are going to make some from precious metals; which I'm guessing will be a lot more expensive.

It's all just a bit depressing to be honest.  And it certainly isn't a 'dumb American' thing.  These con men have been busy selling this shit all over the world.  Australia prosecuted Power Balance big time for what they did.  Yet still these products exist, people are still buying them.  But worse, there are still people willing to get out of bed every morning and peddle this crap, knowing full well that they are taking advantage of people and lying to their faces.

I don't know how people can live with themselves doing that kind of work.  I guess some people will do anything for a pay check.  I think I'd rather work at McDonalds.  At least that's honest work.

Anyway, here's a nice YouTube video of how the con looks, and how it is performed:

iPhone 5 Lightning Connector Blues

I'm not sure what episode of Star Trek some critics were hoping would be re-enacted at the iPhone 5 launch yesterday, but ever since the launch I keep reading the baby-like whining from some techno journalists about how the phone doesn't have teleportation, or an invisibility cloak, a holographic keyboard, or the ability to render Siri into a real living person to feed your cat when you are at work.  In some areas it seems that some people were expecting a little much from Apple.

Another gripe I've been reading about this morning is the one about the new connector that Apple call Lightning.  It's smaller, faster, better etc, and yet people are whining about it.  "What am I going to do with my old cables and accessories?" they ask with a quiver in their lower lip.

I'll tell you what to do, throw them in fucking garbage along with your VCR, Razr, eight track, and CRT monitor.

Seriously, we really want Apple never to innovate again, because we've gotten used to a certain type of cable?  Should we still be using analog data cables because we didn't want to change to HDMI?  Should we demand that Apple never changes the screen size because our eyes have gotten used to the old one?

Technology is always about change.  It's like the people that always whine when Facebook gets refreshed, and some losers start a page demanding it be rolled back to the old version.  If you don't like new technology don't buy it.  Go get a nice book, and read it over and over.  It won't change shape or size or require some new connector that makes you mad.  The fonts won't get smaller or bigger, and the color will only change slightly over many years as the paper decays.

What I want to ask these so-called journalists though, is why they choose to write about technology if they get so angry when it evolves and improves.  Just seems strange.

Anyway, rant over, time to decide to stay with AT&T or move to Verizon for my iPhone 5 order.

GOP Overachievers

One of the themes we keep hearing from Republicans is how through their own greatness and hard work they have become rich.  The message is essentially if you are poor, it serves you right.  You should have worked harder.

The thing that seriously annoys me is how people like Mitt Romney seem to conveniently forget the insane level of privilege that they were accidentally born into.  The fact is you could take any average white kid and give them access to riches, incredible education, power, and a stable family and there is a very good chance that they would be successful too.

Willard Mitt Romney was named after J Willard Marriott (millionaire hotelier), a family friend, and his father's cousin who was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears.  Mitt's father was CEO of American Motors and became a millionaire from his stock options.

That kind of money would probably explain how a family of four kids could afford to send Mitt to an elite boarding school whose current fees range from $22K-38K a year.  Or to put it another way, if you wanted to send your first grader to the school until they graduated it would cost you about $300,000 and that's not including expenses, inflation or the extra $35K it would cost if the child boards from the ninth through twelfth grade.

Romney then spent a year at Stanford, graduated from BYU, and then took a four year Harvard degree in law.  Between Stamford and BYU he dodged the draft by spending three years in France unsuccessfully attempting to recruit French people into his Mormon cult.  In three years he averaged one new cult member every three months.  But in all fairness convincing French people to give up alcohol cannot be that easy.

I think it would be fair to say that the cost of raising Mitt Romney from birth until he graduated from Harvard would have exceeded a million dollars in today's money.  Can you imagine how few families of four in the United States have that kind of money to throw at their children?

And this really is my point.  If Mitt wants to talk about having a successful career, that's great.  But it delusional to believe that it was nothing more than being smart and working hard.

By comparison, let's talk about Joe Normal.  He's a fictional guy born on the same day as Mitt Romney.  Joe Normal had to skip on the $300K schooling, so he didn't get to go to Harvard.  Joe Normal didn't have a rich family to pay for the three year vacation in France, so instead he got sent to Vietnam.  He comes back and uses the GI Bill to pay for community college, but has a hard time focusing because he has post traumatic stress disorder.  So he drops out of college, and ends up working for Walmart stacking shelves, although later he gets promoted to department supervisor where he makes $36,000 a year.

I could give you a million more examples of Joe and Anne Normal's working all over this country, busting their asses for the kind of money that wouldn't even pay for a year of fancy private school; even if they had no other expenses.

These people are not lazy or stupid.  They are normal every day people.  But they will never have access to the kinds of opportunities afforded to the rich and well connected.  It is this truth that Republicans want us to forget.

Now I am aware that there are many Republicans out there who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and made it big, without a rich family.  That's great too.  But it does not mean that everyone else has the potential to achieve the same simply by working hard.  And this is why it is important to have social programs, quality education, and a safety net to protect the poor.  Sadly though Republican egomaniacs don't like that answer because it reminds them that they didn't "build that" alone.  In fact, they probably had help along the way that got them to the successful place they ended up.

And let us also not forget that Joe Normal working in Walmart for an average pay check is not a loser, or a failure.  He did what he could, and he worked hard.  He deserves health care, a reasonable standard of living, and to be respected.  And his taxes should not be paying for millionaires to get a tax break.