"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

probably a bad rant..
January 23, 2002 - 6:01 pm

how did i get free pizza? well the fearless leader of my office's fearless leader came in to give us a little state of the union today. he'd be the vp of the northeast. i'm sad to note that this is his first trip to my office in two years. we do these stupid 'lunch and learns'. see people (vendors whoever) come in and talk to us about something (their products) and we eat while they talk. it's pretty pointless and overly rude...since we are munching away as they prattle.

anyway, i bought blue cheese ranch dressing. it sounded good, but it doesn't taste too good. i'm eating it anyway.

seems like it's pretty darn near an all out war in isreal huh?

i'm surprised at this headline: "backlash growing over 9-11 victims compensation". it's a story on drudgerport.com. i like drudge, even though half the goddamn time the links don't work. anyway, it seems people feel bad for the families devistated in 9-11 but are starting to think that an average payout of 1.6 million (some more, some less) is enough. if i recall other stories, the payout would be 1.6 minus life insurance and other monies the families are already getting.

so let's i had 1.6 million in the bank and lets say i could get 5% a year in interest, that's $80,000 a year in intersted. i think interest is taxed at a max of 28%, so that's $57,000 a year after taxes.

sure that's kinda simplified..but what would be fair? how (if any) should the governmnet pay the families? here's a question, how much does the governmnet pay the family of a soldier killed in action? i don't think they get 1.6 million. what if the family who gets 1.6 million had lost who it lost in a car accident..would they be any less devistated? would they be in any less of financial situation? no...the loss of a wage earner is the loss of a wage earner.

well, as you can tell...i'm in the camp that says if they get something from the govt, they should be happy for it. i don't understand why our government should pay what would probably get into the BILLIONS of dollars...(1.6 million is average and if 2,000 people are paid out for..then that's 3,200,000,000 or 3.2 billion dollars). that's a shit load of cash..where does that money come from? what programs get cut? medicare? social security? education? what programs would you like to cut? what about the massive increase in defense spending? where's _that_ money going to come from???

what does money have to do with this anyway? the more i think about it, the less i like the idea of the govt paying out anything...will it ease the pain? what would you do with a lump sum of 1.6 million? most poeple would go crazy and blow it...i'm not saying all the families would do that...but if they do? then what? do they ask for more money and get it?

i dunno.

then there's the whole thing with people might sue the airlines and govt over not stopping the attacks. that's the american way. if you dont like something, sue the bastards. would you agree that the attack on 9-11 was an act of war? sure it gets called terrorism, but really (to me anyway) it was an act of war. a nation didn't attack us, but a group of people did. these people declared war on america and attacked. so to me, it's an act of war. i said that already didn't i?

what act of war is similiar? well pearl harbor strikes me as similiar. a surprise attack that killed thousands and led to america sending forces into forgien lands to kill other people. it's very parallel to me. what would you think of the idea of a the family of a dead sailor suing the govt or the family of some civilian who lived at the base sueing? back then, for sure, it was unthinkable. it was an act of war. should the govt have spotted the attack before it started? you could argue yes. did they and the reports were not heeded? i think i've read and seen shows about that...so it's an arguable yes again. why should people who died in 9-11 be able to sue anyone?

can you sue colt or smith and wesson if you're spouse get's killed with a bullet they made? why sue boeing or american airlines? a bullet is _made_ to be fired and hit things...even could be said to made to kill animals (and people are animals) if it's for a hunting rifle. can i sue a car maker if some 'insane' person gets behind the wheel and runs down my spouse? shouldn't there be an automatic cut off switch for cars? what if...what if..what if.

i'm probably coming off as cold and callous, but i'm not. i can only try to imagine what life has been like for the families that lost people in 9-11. i just don't see how or way a big ass lump sum of money from the govt will make things better...not without cutting funding to programs other people need.

i really had no intent of rambling about this. that headline just caught my eye and off i went. i just get this feeling that some of the families have this odd notion that they shouldn't have to work now that main wage earner is gone...or that they deserve to be given a huge pile of cash because for circumstances. i just feel that another american dream is creeping into to some peoples minds...that's the dream of getting rich quick...