You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2009.
The inaugural selection for the Mans Inc. book of the month is entitled “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism” by Arthur C. Brooks.
It is statistically proven that the single biggest indicator of one’s charitable givings is religion. I found it really interesting to read the various statistical breakdowns of altruism in the United States. Before being exposed to this book, I wasn’t sure what the findings would be to such a question, although it would seem that liberalism/socialism would naturally lead people to greater giving. It is simply not the case. Here are a few of the more telling statistics to be garnered from the book:
- Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
- Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
- People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
One of the things that I found really interesting that is so often religious conservatives tend to oppose liberal social justice advocates, and it is quite eye-opening to see who really “practices what they preach.” It is also interesting given that WordPress, the host which is lucky enough to have Mans Inc. on it, is replete with militant atheist blogs, and the statistical reality highlighted by Brooks is a stark reminder to these contributors to tone back their rhetoric and acknowledge the truths regarding how social justice and charitable organizations are supported.
I would recommend this book to any conservative who wishes to gain a more accurate platform to understand the disconnect between liberal philosophy and practice.
I’ll finish with a quote:
While conservatives tend to regard giving as a personal rather than governmental responsibility, some liberals consider private charity a retrograde phenomenon — a poor palliative for an inadequate welfare state, and a distraction from achieving adequacy by force, by increasing taxes. Ralph Nader, running for president in 2000, said: “A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.” Brooks, however, warns: “If support for a policy that does not exist … substitutes for private charity, the needy are left worse off than before. It is one of the bitterest ironies of liberal politics today that political opinions are apparently taking the place of help for others.”
It seems that Australians are hell bent on living the cliche of a dirty criminal lifestyle. Although it seems there is a huge perk to this story.
A 27-year-old Australian man who pimped a 16-year-old girl so he and his girlfriend could afford their apartment, would pay the schoolgirl with chicken nuggets, the Australian Associated Press reported.
Ronald Vikash Gander used the $4,500 the teen made for having sex with five middle-aged men in June of last year to pay the weekly $1,050 rent on his Brisbane apartment, the Brisbane District Court was told.
Gander and his 16-year-old girlfriend would pay the teen with an occasional box of chicken nuggets, the AAP reported.
I don’t know what is worse… the fact she was had to sleep with Australians or that she her self is an Aussie.
Vince Shlomi, aka Vince Offer, aka Sham Wow Guy, was arrested recently while wearing a sicky fur jacket. He was arrested on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room.
According to an arrest affidavit, Shlomi met Sasha Harris, 26, at a Miami Beach nightclub on February 7 and subsequently retired with her to his $750 room at the lavish Setai hotel. Shlomi told cops he paid Harris about $1000 in cash after she “propositioned him for straight sex.” Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly “bit his tongue and would not let go.” Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue.
The affidavit notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face. After freeing his tongue, a bleeding Shlomi ran to the Setai lobby, where security summoned cops. Harris refused to cooperate with officers, who recovered $930 from her purse.
The real question is, why was Vince paying a hooker? It seems to me that this guy should be able to sell this girl into paying him for sex. Why didn’t he make her an offer that lasted for 20 minutes… you know he can’t do it all day. He could have got some live testimonials from other girls and edited them together to make a seamless sales pitch. And if she ordered right now, he could have sweetened the deal by doubling pleasure, assuming of course she was willing to pay the separate shipping and handling.
It seems that Vince has trouble following him everywhere he goes. He is also currently involved in an ongoing feud with other TV Pitchman Billy Mays (Oxy Clean Ass Hole). Billy Mays has publicly called out Vince. Watch the video below. Am I the only person on earth who hates Billy Mays. I cannot go 5 minutes without having him on my TV. Get off TV Billy Mays. Vince spends his time punching prostitutes, while Billy Mays spends his time hocking any product he can get his hands on. Billy needs to take a few lessons from Vince.
The Delta Smelt is a 5-7cm. long fish that is listed on the Endangered Species List, and it resides in California, a state severely hit by the current depression.
The California taxpayer is about 6 feet tall, works about 40 hours a week, and is quite abundant all along the West Coast, including California.
Apparently, according to the liberal hippies in California, and in California’s congressional delegation (I’m looking at you Pelosi) in Washington, the former is more important than the latter.
The protection of this fish is slated to remove 500,000 acres of agriculturally-viable lands in the state from use, resulting in the loss of 80,000 estimated jobs. Exactly what California needs right now, I’m sure.
Although the scheme and object of the Endangered Species Act is legitimate in many situations, this is clearly not one of them. The basic principle of common sense is being drown in the same waters that these little Anchovy-wannabes are swimming in.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Ca.) is finding the situation so ridiculous that he says California as we know it, is over, and the reset button must be hit.
That reset button should be saved for the Democrats in Congress that are so drunk on ideology that they would allow for this environmental legislation to be bastardized in such a way that would cost 80,000 people their jobs. This is an example of how the current depression is causing the cracks to start openly tearing in some areas of the US. Issues like these need to be brought to the attention of the public in greater detail so that the hard-working tax-payers on this continent can take a stand for what is right, and not let the sinking ship that is America fall even faster.
Rep. Nunes, who is quickly becoming my favorite member of Congress, made a powerful YouTube video which any MansInc. regular should check out…
Thanks for the help Nancy!
” We should just take back all the money that we gave those executives.”
“If the government is bailing out corporations like AIG, why can’t the government simply not pay executives these bonuses that aren’t earned?”
“Obama sucks!” (just to keep these articles harmonious).
The economy has most people dusting off their old pickfork, lighting up that trusty torch, and joining the angry mob.
One of the stories that has received the most attention regards the bonuses that are being paid to executives of corporations now under majority control by the United States Government. Hearing of executives of these companies being paid bonuses during tough economic times, when their companies have performed terribly, using government money that objectively represents debt that will be paid by our children’s children, will cause anyone to get pissed off, and rightfully so. But there is a huge difference between what ought to be and what is.
These bonuses represent contactual obligations that these corporations are bound to pay their employees. The Rule of Law would be severely deteriorated if these bonuses were not paid despite their contractual validity, as counter-intuitive as that sounds. No amount of moralistic reasoning, or meritocratic logic allows this contracts to be dissolved. This would have severe implications for many contractual relationships between employers and employees, and the negatives will far outweigh the positives in the long run.
The Democrat-controlled House and Senate has advanced a plan to retroactively tax these bonuses, which amounts to stealing from these citizens.
These bonuses are gone, and the major media needs to start focusing on the lack of leadership the Democrats are showing in proactively instituting new reforms to ensure that this pattern of incompetence does not continue.
I have yet to write a piece on the brutal job President Obama is doing running the free world but i have had enough. Not only does he take a shot at mentally challenged athletes saying that his bowling score was something resembling the special olympics, but it has been nothing but hypocracy coming out of that guys mouth since day 1!.
Beef 1) The Detroit school district reported that in 2008 only 18% of its highschool graduates continued on to post secondary education and less than 30% of highschool kids actually graduated. There is a serious problem with Detroit school board and something needs to be done about it. There are several solutions including federal regulatio. But, what would Obama have us do? Fork over $500+ million and hope for the best. The Detroit school district is missing $56 million from its 2008 budget and has reported to be $200 millions dollars in debt! Once again, Obama looks to his money tree to solve another one of America’s regularoty problems.
Beef 2) Before appearing on Jay Leno’s late night talk show, the President met with research groups who are looking in to the development of electric cars. Hey Hussein! Been there! Done that! The electric car is not viable in today’s market. Maybe when the price of oil was well over $100 a barrel but spending millions of dollars into R&D for something that is out of your hands is BS! Not only is it hypocritical that he was preaching about electric cars in Californa, state that has to IMPORT its electricity from Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, but number of people who can barely afford electricity as it is would see a drastic increse in utilities! Once again, Obama spening money not to enhance the economy, but to promote his partisan agenda! what an OBAMAnation!
Beef 3) Again, a comment made on Jay Leno’s talk show was about how his plan for massive investment into healthcare and clean energy will improve the ecnomy. BOGUS! It is proven that things like healthcare, minimum wage and “equalization”, in some bilingual countries north of the 49th parallel, actually slow economic growth! Do you think that China would be where it’s at if it was sending equalization to Tibet?! HELL NO! Obama’s socialist agenda is pushing this government stiumlous plan way overboard. This recession has been for the democrats what 9/11 was for the neo-conservatives: A God send! I can’t wait to get this left leaning HACK out of the whitehouse!
Every news piece I read with Obama quoted in it just leads me to more anger. His popularity is starting to wain as even the American Public is tiring of his maniacal rule. Even his latest publicity stunt of hitting Late Night television seems to have been a big mistake. The President has sparked controversy over his comments slandering the Special Olympics. In the latest President approval rating polls from Rasmussen, they show that his disapproval rating is climbing steadily.
I was reading this article on Obama commenting on Geithner’s status as Treasury Secretary and in it he made this comment:
CBS released excerpts of the interview with Obama on Saturday. In it, the president also says corporate executives need to better understand the public’s outrage over bonuses. He says executives should get out of New York and spend time in Iowa or Arkansas where people are thrilled to be making $75,000 a year with no bonuses.
What a hypocrite. Here’s a guy making a salary of $400,000 a year and a $169,000 a year expense account, which doesn’t include all the perks he also receives as a result of being the President, telling corporate executives to settle with making 75k a year. Hey, Obama, here’s an idea to help bring down the deficit you are attempting to pitch to Congress – Why not pay yourself $1 a year like some of the other CEOs? That 400k could go toward that cancelled earmarked project of re-sodding the National Mall in Washington.
I’m getting tired of ranting on this guy, but he just can’t seem to figure it out. This is going to be a LONG four years.
It seems I have been lucky enough to be chosen to inherit Millions of Dollars. I took the time to give this email a little proofread. Click on the image to read, then read my response below.
Click on Image to Read.
Hello Mrs Cynthia Vandeberg William,
I am so gracious that you have found me to help spread the wealth of your late husband. I have also fallen victim to a witch craft attack by a jealous family member. However, luckily another family member used a sorcerer’s spell to reverse the witch craft. I barely escaped with my life. I am very interested in helping you and am very willing to contact the bank to begin the process of transferring the money into my account.
What percentage of the money do I get to keep? I plan on donating the majority of the money to witch craft victim charities. However, I am going to save some of it for Vampires and of course Australia disease (GDay-Mate-alingus).
I prayed for this day and now it will come.
Please advise me further.
Thank you,
Patrick
On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 4:55 PM, mrsmrs@cantv.net wrote:
From; Mrs. Cynthia VandeBerg William.
Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire
Christ Bethel Hospital
Des Martyrs 44.Avenue
06BP.7452 Abidjan RCI
Reply to: mrs_mrs001@yahoo.co.jp
Dearest Beloved Friend,
How are you and your family? Hope Fine. I am Mrs. Cynthia VandeBerg from united states of America.And i am a Deaf and cancer woman. I was married to Late Chief VandeBerg William of a French speaking colony Ivory Coast who was a contractor with the government of Cote D’Ivoire before he died after few months now in the hospital over a family witch craft attack for the acts of jealousy of his wealth.
When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $14.500 Million in the bank here in my country which i will like you to contact them and ask for the to be transfer into your bank account for you to use it to help the the less privilaged people,because my Doctor told me that it is very likely i will die within the next 6 months due to A Blood cancer {LEUKAMIA}.
I have decided to donate the money for charity since i do not have a child to inherit it and it better i do not die leaving the money here without it reaching the poor and the less privilaged ones in the soceity since i do not want my husband family to inherit this money due to their wicked deed to my family you see my condition there. As soon as i hear from you indicating your interest to handle this project and not just to rêply me i will immediately give you the full contact information of the bank for you to contact them for the transfer of this money into your bank account.
Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated here in. Hoping to receive your response immedaitely.
Thanks and Remain blessed.
Mrs. Cynthia VandeBerg.
Reply to: mrs_mrs001@yahoo.co.jp
Such was the public outcry over Obama’s plan to “save” Veteran Affairs from having to finance the medicare costs of wounded war veterans by shifting the financing to private insurers that he flip flopped today and cancelled the proposed legislation. The fact that team Obama was even considering such a plan was absolutely ridiculous. Asking the same people who fought and put their lives on the line for the American Government to then have to pay through increased premiums at their private medicare insurers for their war related injuries is deplorable. Obama should be ashamed. The “change” he has promised has come in the form of hurting the people who built and protect the U.S.
Obama Drops Controversial Health Care Plan for Wounded Veterans
President Obama, after an uproar by veterans groups, has scrapped a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of troops injured in service.
“In considering the third-party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday in a written statement. “However, the president listened to concerns raised by the [veteran service organizations] that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans’ and their families’ ability to access health care.
But the American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans group, said the president’s plan would have increased premiums, made insurance unaffordable for veterans and imposed a massive hardship on military families. It could have also prevented small businesses from hiring veterans who have large health care needs, the group said.
SCALLYWAGS
This week’s Scallywag is not one person but a band of many who insist on being a menace to society. As previously mentioned in a Mans Inc. piece, the Canadian Auto Workers Union has taken over a plant in Windsor Ontario in order to stage a protest against recent job cuts and pay cuts made by GM and Chrysler. These people should all be arrested and imprisoned for the rest of their natural born lives as they clearly have no intention of living with the rest of society. Not only do they make upwards of $60 and hour, they have no education, no skilled labour or trade status and they do a job that machines can easily do for them. I believe it was Karl Marx who said that technology and machinery was a good thing because it would allow the human race to develop to the point that machines could do everything and men could be free. Obviously this isn’t true in all cases but in this case it is! These jobs are not needed as a machine could easily do the job without the bullshit union crying about things that show they are already more privileged than most blue collar workers. Unions are scum and especially this one, the Canadian Autoworkers are scallywags for being sloppy individuals who don’t give a shit about the country and the economic situation we face.
SCHOLAR
While March 17 marks St. Patrick’s Day on the calendars of most, it also marks the anniversary of the death of a very important political and historical figure. George F. Kennan died March 17, 2005. Kennan is a scholar because of the contribution he made to the United States Cold War efforts against the Godless Soviet Union. He is thought to be the father of “containment policy” as he served as the deputy head for the US mission in Moscow until 1948.
He wrote in his famous ‘long telegram’, “[The Soviet Union] warrants the United States entering with reasonable confidence upon a policy of firm containment, designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counter-force at every point where they show signs of encroachment upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world…Thus the decision will really fall in large measure in this country itself. The issue of Soviet-American relations is in essence a test of the over-all worth of the United States as a nation among nations. To avoid destruction the United States need only measure up to its own best traditions and prove itself worthy of preservation as a great nation. Surely, there was never a fairer test of national quality than this.”
For being one of the original Cold Warriors, George F. Kennan is a true Scholar.
My vendetta against sloppiness is under way and I have received a great deal of support as this issue weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of fellow gentlemen and scholars. It is clear that there are many who share with me this goal of eradicating that which lessons a man’s ability to present himself in a clean, proper, and confident manner.
While the first of my multipart editorial on sloppiness outlined the history of term, this piece will look at one area in which sloppiness can have too big an impact on: lifestyle.
The ways in which a man can choose to live his life in the 21st century are endless. However, it is now more than ever that men need role models and examples to follow. As I will describe, there are certain things that men should strive to do and there are things that men should turn their backs to.
Priority number one in any man’s life should be productivity. A real man does not wake up at 1:30 p.m., grab the box of lucky charms and proceed to eat a salad bowl portion of cereal. Rather, a man who looks to get the most out of his day wakes up no later than 930 a.m. and makes himself a well balanced meal giving him the energy he needs to go out and grab life by the balls.
Secondly, a man needs to be up to date on day-to-day politics and economics. This means spending at least 15-20 minutes a day reading the news paper, listening to news radio or, if you’re always on your computer, reading a couple online news sources like Mans Inc. One does not update themselves on the state of society by watching MTV News or surfing Perezhilton.com. Ignorance is a crime!
Third, after a long work week it is absolutely necessary for a man to unwind and let loose before he must get jacked to do it all over again. Although a colleague of mine has coined this phrase, it encompasses everything that a working man should be: Weekend Warrior. The weekend is the time for men to have a few drinks, share some laughs and otherwise dominate the social scene as the work put in all week makes men deserving of this fact.
It is how men let loose that is key. Note that I said men should have a few drinks, clearly the term ‘few’ is left open to interpretation. What I did not say is, “men should smoke a ‘J’ and crush fast food”. Men do not smoke marijuana, hit up taco bell and sit back and watch sci-fi movies on their Friday and Saturday nights. And don’t get me started about women and their frivolous nature, Men are not floosies. Men drink purposefully and in establishments that exude class and prestige.
College Know-It-All Hippie
Lastly, a man’s attire speaks loudly within social circles. A real man is a champion of the suit. A shirt and tie is a must during the week as it is important for a man to look professional. This does not mean sweatpants, tie-die shirts, and baggy hoodies will cut it. A man must be clean shaven, well kept and fit, and should want to look crisp in a new suit.
The sloppiness that I have highlighted here is that of a sloppy lifestyle. While I have given examples of how men should avoid sloppy behaviour in their household, workplace and social life, there is room for temptation. A sloppy roommate, co-worker or stoner buddy could make being an example of excellence tough. But men must prevail, stay strong to that which you know is scholarly and always fight against the perils of a sloppy lifestyle. Our enemy will always be the College know-it-all hippie who tempts us with theories of how the system will fail. ARONIOUS! The system will succeed on the backs of hard working gentlemen who commit to this common creed of brotherhood!
A Gentleman and a Fine QB
Late last night Canadian Auto Workers Union members staged a protest at a Chrysler plant in Windsor Ontario. They have ‘taken over’ the plant and welded the doors shut from the inside. The union workers are angry because two plants in the area shut down last week and claim that workers from those plants are owed money for severance pay, vacation pay, and termination pay totaling $1.7 million.
The plant’s owner, Catalina Precision Products Ltd. has offered the workers four weeks of severance pay or about $200,000 in total for all 80 workers.
The plant builds parts for Chrysler. Since last week, Chrysler has been trying to go in and collect parts and tools it says are its, but the workers are not allowing it. They have been blocking trucks from coming on to the property. Union representatives say the workers fear that if the tools and parts are removed, they will have no negotiating power.
These union people just don’t get it. The plants are shutting down in large part because Chrysler is on the verge of bankruptcy. The only way they can stay afloat is to make drastic changes to their operations, especially their operation expenses. The unbelievably high, unskilled, union wages are the single largest factor leading to the demise of the company. Plainly, the union has such a tight strangle hold on the company with their overpaid members, Chrysler is shutting down plants. I have written about this before and it seems the union is refusing to make any concessions, which will lead to the downfall of the company.
Ultimatley the CAW has to decide to agree to concessions or lose their jobs all together. After watching this whole thing unfold and especially when I see this kind of hostile take over, I am hoping for the latter.
As many of you are aware, the US Senate is a body of legislators comprised of many Gentlemen. Although, not all Senators are excellent humans, many of them are. The Senate is likely the most elite group of people in the world. The amount of power and influence held by Senators gets me pretty fired up.
Once such beauty is Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. Recently he made some pretty good comments regarding the current financial crisis, particularly referring to the execs of AIG.
He said.
The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them (is) if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.
And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.
Senator Grassley was referring to recent employee bonuses paid out to AIG execs. The company paid out $165 Million in bonuses, some of which were paid to employees in the department responsible for their financial predicament.
I love to see a Senator standing up and telling us how it is. Straight shooting politicians are few and far between and if they are going to be found anywhere, it is in the US Senate. Hopefully he sends a message to President Obama to a similar effect.
Dissenting Opinions.
Musings of Alexandra Ames
Today it was announced that Sarah Palin will be giving the key-notes speech at the Republican Senate-House dinner in June. Has the Republican party not learned from their mistake?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20063.html
In the hey-day of the party, the Republicans were the party of business, innovation, and intelligence. Many in the leadership of the party in the past have had impressive economic expertise, and if there was a candidate offered like this in the last election, it is debatable if Obama would have been able to pull out a victory.
So why continue to promote someone that, in part, cost the Republican party the election in 2008?
I for one strongly hope that the Republican party returns to its roots in business and economics. Upholding conservative social values is also good, but not is that if the only thing you bring to the table, you simply cannot win elections. The Republican Party needs to do some serious adjusting in it’s long term strategy, because, like it or not, having the name “Palin” anywhere near a ticket in 2012 is a sure-fire way to get two terms of a Democrat in the White House.
The GOP can start now by promoting candidates that are business saavy, and proven leaders in the economy. This is the recipe for success for a party that has been decimated in recent history.
This criticism comes from a desire to see the GOP strong again, and they can take a lesson from Harper’s success in Canada, a Prime Minister with a Master degree in Economics, helping to minimize the damage our country has to endure in this tough time.
Let’s hope that the GOP learns their lesson before it is too late!
