Things that make you say, “Hmmm, I’m getting fucked”

 

The whole conspiracy theory mentality has always amused me, although many of my friends would tell you that I’m the original paranoia propaganda peddler.  The problem with any good conspiracy is that, by design, it can’t be proven to exist.  Who shot Kennedy?  Who the fuck knows?  More importantly, who will ever know for certain?  And what about the Roswell alien cover up crap? (the writers of the X-files seem to know something about this.  I think they were part of the conspiracy then, and they’re trying to tell us something now!)  My point is that IF these things, as well as the myriad of other amazing but unproven conspiracy theory producing events actually happened, it has already been decided by the “powers that be” that we as a people can’t be trusted with the information.  Now here’s where the conspiracy theorists crack me up…  They claim that all media and information dispersal is controlled by “someone”, whose identity is unknown, but non-the-less can’t be trusted (it’s amazing how the human species has always feared and distrusted the unknown… That’s how God was invented you know).  Then what do they do?  Well, the next logical step is to fill in their own blanks about who killed Kennedy, or what happened to the bodies of the aliens that crashed in Roswell, publish it, and then get it out to as many loyal followers as possible.  They’re worse than the supposed “controllers of all media” whose master plan of public ignorance they’re trying to expose.  Oh yeah, I’m really going to think that the NY Times is a propaganda machine for the new world order, and that some sunken-eyed dweeb, living in his mother’s basement, and publishing a crack web site on “thetruthisoutthere.com” has the real scoop on what’s happening in the world.  What dumb fucks. 

 

My experience has taught me that to understand something, I first need to listen to what’s being said, and then to ask simple and direct questions to clarify the gray areas.  Along these lines… here are some questions that came to mind today while I was at work.  I don’t have the answers, but I think the questions are worth asking because asking eventually leads to someone, somewhere answering!

 

1.        Why does the prime lending rate increase annually at an expediential rate, while the interest rates on personal saving and checking accounts fall?  I can remember interest rates of 5.25% on savings accounts, the current rate average is .25%.  It makes me wonder if I have the correct definition of “inflation”?  Maybe we could substitute the word inflation with the phrase “Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom fee”, annual increase.

2.        Why can’t we win wars anymore?  The US had a great track record of kicking every country’s ass that ever fucked with us, until the last 50 or so years.  We’re proud to report that in 1776, a bunch of farmers beat the British all the way back to England.  We delight in great grandpa’s tales of how an under-trained and unprepared army beat the krauts in WWI, and again in WWII.  But ever since we started valuing foreign trade policy over American lives, our win record has fallen sharply.  It took us how long to squish Iraq?  And now we’re playing the same game in Afghanistan.  2 months to crush the Taliban?  And Bin Laden is still free??  It makes very little sense to me, unless of course the point is to drag wars out as long as possible to boost sales for Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Chrysler.

3.        Why do Levis jeans cost like $40 fuckin dollars when we know good and well that it costs less than $5 per pair in materials to make them?

4.        SEPTEMBER 11th – think about this…  The federal government gave the airlines and insurance companies billions of dollars to “bail them out” after the terrorist attacks in NYC, while the families of the victims are getting their aid from charity rock concerts and celebrity “Who wants to be a millionaire” (Of course that’s only when the aid is not being stolen by the Red Cross).  Did you know that the airlines, United in particular, were already in serious financial trouble for completely unrelated reasons prior to the attack?  And don’t try to tell me that the airlines lost billions because of a two-day shutdown.  And even if they did, any industry that loses billions of dollars in revenue in two days, will make it up three or four days later.  We’re talking fuckin billions here!  But, it’s the insurance companies that really piss me off.  They bring on as many paying customers as possible, with the knowledge that if a major tragedy occurs, they can’t pay off on all of the claims at once.  Then they plead for federal assistance, and get it?!  So the policy holders are paid with the their own tax dollars, and the insurance companies continue taking on more clients whom they can’t afford to pay.  Now let’s just apply this scenario to everyday US citizens.  If we take on an ass-load of credit cards, and then can’t pay them off, we’re in a world of serious shit.  I wonder what the Fed would say if I asked them for $500 to pay off my Visa because I over spent last month? 

 

As I said, I’m just asking some questions… none of which I can claim to have any reasonable answers for at present, but it does make you kind of wonder,  yes?  Maybe Kennedy’s assassins got together with big brother and the dead aliens and forced the CIA into a secret deal with Libyan sheep herders in an effort to convert our country into a space port for the exiled creatures from Uranus.  You never know…

 

-Woody