No Such Thing As A Dumb Question?

People have been saying that for years, but..... (Of course, we hasten to remind people of the commercial where the guy asks "Do you want a pain reliever that works?". Yeah, like you've ever gone into a drugstore and said "Man, I've got a headache! Give me some of that placebo in the blue box.")

But we digress....

The Old Sarge reports going into a store on the Saturday after Christmas (Dummy! How many times do we have to tell you.....?) and hearing an old favorite: "Are you finding everything all right?".

Huh?

First of all, Sarge wasn't looking for "everything". In fact, he wasn't looking for anything in particular. Secondly, he found quite a number of things that weren't "all right". So what's with the dumb question? Whatever happened to a simple "Can I help you?"? Maybe that's too simple.

Has Atlas shrugged yet?

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Coming tomorrow (or as soon as we feel like it): the annual awards.

Rules for Bosses

Several years ago, a list of "12 Rules for Graduates", variously attributed to Paul Harvey, Bill Gates, and Kurt Vonnegut, among others, began making the rounds. Naturally -- since it was terribly one-sided -- we considered the yin of this yang and came up with:

12 Rules for Bosses

1. No one cares what working conditions were like when you were our age. That was then, this is now. Deal with the present.

2. Money doesn't make you anything but wealthy. A rich idiot is still an idiot.

3. You can't always have your own way. And your temper tantrums don't impress us. You're supposed to be a grown-up; act like it.

4. You don't own me, you only rent me. I do have a life outside of the company.

5. Just because you want to work yourself into an early grave, doesn't mean that I have to. No one on their deathbed ever said "Gee, I wish I had spent more time at the office."

6. Just as you expect a fair day's work for a day's wage, I have a right to expect a fair day's wage for a day's work. After all, you only get what you pay for.

7. Learn the difference between leadership and management. You can manage resources, but you have to lead people.

8. Praise in public, punish in private. One of the surest ways to make me your enemy is by bad-mouthing me in front of others.

9. There's nothing that goes around that doesn't come around again. Stand up for me, and I'll stand up for you. Mistreat me, and....

10. Don't play favorites based on personalities or family ties. You can't afford anything less than a meritocracy.

11. Too often, procedures are the chains with which the incapable and the unwilling enslave the capable and the willing. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

12. Lighten up. Don't take yourself so seriously that no one else takes you seriously. Where is it written that work can't be enjoyable?

What They're Teaching

It's bad enough that some schools (probably in the Kalifornia People's Republik) were confiscating kids' school supplies on the first day of school and then re-distributing them according to Socialist principles. Now comes word (thru Neal Boortz's web site: (boortz.com/nuze/index.html) that the lessons are getting a bit more formalized.

No wonder kids can't spell, read or do math. How much longer are parents going to put up with this sort of indoctrination?

Has Atlas shrugged yet?

Light Reading

OK, a good head cold is what we get for sitting in a draft. So, instead of celebrating Christmas, we wind up in bed all week. The upside was a chance to make major progress on finishing "Atlas Shrugged", the latest addition to our list of recommended reading.

The full list, as it stands now:

It Can't Happen Here
Animal Farm
1984
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
None Dare Call it Conspiracy
Catcher in the Rye
Atlas Shrugged

The list was intended to be a recommendation for anyone in high school or college. Heaven only knows what they're reading in high school these days ("Dick & Jane"?) and we don't think we want to know what's being stuffed down their throats in college. We read "Animal Farm", "Brave New World", "Catcher in the Rye", and "Lord of the Flies" when we was in high school a lot of years ago.

"Catcher in the Rye" really has no political significance; we just thought we'd throw it in to tweak the twits who've tried to get it removed (sometimes successfully) from high school libraries.

"Holiday" message

"Holidays", nothing! It's...

Merry Christmas!


(Wise men still seek Him.)

News Flash! Terror Alert!

NEWS FLASH!

TERROR ALERT!

Confidential intelligence sources report that Washington DC has been
infiltrated by two terror cells, known as the "House" and the "Senate".
These two cells are run by a group of terrorists known as the
"Republicrats". Factional infighting within the Republicrats has so far
prevented them from fully implementing their plans for conquering the
American people. Sources warn, however, that Americans should be on the
highest level of alert and should be particularly aware of anyone
promising them something for nothing, or greater security in exchange for a
giving up a purportedly "small amount" of their freedom.

The intel sources did point out, though, that the plans of the
Republicrats could be defeated by the deployment of squads of freedom
fighters known as "Libertarians". Although greatly outnumbered by the
Republicrats, these Libertarians are highly motivated and have recently
upped their efforts at getting better organized. Libertarian sympathizers
are also expected to aid in the effort, if they can be mobilized in
sufficient numbers.

Dumb & Dumber

Reporting on Monday's quake in California, Fox News Channel's Trace
Gallagher says that rescuers were still "looking for potential victims".
Hey, Trace -- get a clue. Anyone they find in that mess already is a
victim.

This is as bad as all those morons in the media who refer to
someone as a "possible suspect". Have we really gotten that stupid in
this country? Either the police think the guy did it -- in which case
he's a suspect -- or they don't think he did it -- in which case he's not
a suspect. Kind of like being "a little bit" pregnant.

We wonder if Trace went to government schools?

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He didn't know they were there????

So some idiot gets arrested by the security screeners in an airport with a
razor blade and a hacksaw blade(!) in his shoe. His defense? He didn't
know they were there.

Huh?

Whacko Jacko's "Conversion"

So Michael Jackson is converting to Islam? Well, isn't that special? As far back as the Jimmy Swaggart fiasco, we were saying that religion has apparently replaced patriotism as the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Intro

Since this is our first "real" blog -- as opposed to that terse little thing you get to try it out -- we should do an introduction.

OK, so what's the deal with "Christian Zen Master"? When we first heard of Zen many years ago, we automatically assumed it to be one of those whacko Far East things. Little did we know....

Many years later, we got a better introduction by reading "Zen Combat" by Jay Gluck. And the rest, as they say, is history. It takes years to become a Master, and we're not going to go into that here. Suffice it to say, though, that the experience solidifies a whole new way of looking at the world.

Are we Christian? We hope so. Someone once asked the rhetorical question: if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? We often wonder. But we certainly believe in Christ, accept His teachings and do what we can to follow His example.

These two aspects constitute the major influences on our thinking and the way we view the world. As a natural consequence, we are neither conservative nor liberal in our political views. We see no other way to go than libertarian. How can we not believe in liberty?