Apparently I started a heated conversation amongst friends when I cast a light on this satirical article: Steelers to Lose Super Bowl Trophies

My friends Min and Nicole started off the convo by telling me I am crazy and they like paying taxes

Then Drew got involved with his thoughts: Meme Watch (I think a direct ripoff of Bay Watch)

I was going to email back my response, but realize Drew’s method is much better.

good blog post Drew!! I never really thought about socialistic the NFL was! it has always seemed lame that the crappiest teams get the highest draft picks. it should totally be randomly assigned. But history has proven that some of the most valuable talent comes out of 3rd and 4th round picks. The top 10 picks are rarely the top 10 best NFL players. Not that it justifies the system, but eh.. Revenue sharing is ridiculous.

And i agree that most things in moderation are good. I think life works best with balance. Good and bad to a varying degree, so some form of socialism seems good (taxpayers paying for schools, police, etc). But, think about if schools actually got compensated for their students performance like a business. Teachers could make more money, and then feel that they are compensated for the importance of their job. Instead of all teachers who have 4 years of experience basically making the same thing, no matter their skills as a teacher or their rapport with the children. I’m sure some smart marketing people can figure out ways for schools to make money (scrupulously of course)

And yes, some redistribution can be good for certain programs where people are less fortunate, but obviously the system is being abused at the low end and high end, and the people in the middle are the ones who are left with the responsibility.

I am more than happy with my salary, and I have become accustomed to the taxes being taken out, but the idea of the government getting more and more involved scares me. If the gov’t gets the power that Barack wants, they can just seize a company because they ‘think’ it might fail. that seems like a dangerous precedent. whats next? we can speculate i’m sure.

I have read some interesting pieces on higher usage tax, as opposed to income tax. You are taxed more for the goods and services you use. That way people actually pay for what they use. If i have kids, i pay for school. Others without kids dont. If i dont have a car, i dont have to pay for roads (as much). I know everything is interconnected, and someone else’s kid becomes my doctor, and thats why socialism to a degree may be a good thing (I havent thought out all sides of this argument, being that its a ramble, and not a debate), but again, there is some imaginary line where you wake up one day and realize that things just feel a bit too communistic and the president has a lot of power and the people are kept in check by being kept in a constant state of fear.

Are things REALLY that bad? i still see bums in charlotte with clothes and cell phones. Most people I know have jobs, houses, and food. The media has been playing the role more of chaos merchants, than fact reporters. Bad news sells, so they speculate and tell everyone how bad things are, and people believe it. “Oh no everyone, WAMU is going to fail!” so what does everyone do? they go take their money out of WAMU, and sure enough they do fail! is it because the media was right? or is it that they CAUSED the bank to fail by convincing people to withdraw their funds, making WAMU under capitalized.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Bush did a great job at all as president of our country, and it is yet to be seen if Barack will be an amazing leader. I’m not one to hold onto bad ideas for pride’s sake, so if Barack’s economic plans work, great! I’ll realize that I jumped to conclusions too early.

Where is this rant headed? Who knows! But I for one am glad humor and satire is alive and well in this country. I know satire is meant to sarcastically mimic the truth, but I think its still funny. I still laugh at Seinfeld and the Office and South Park.

And yes, I am turning 12 this year.

Just finished up an awesome day of snowboarding at Snowshoe WV, and swimming with the girls and Landon! We’re staying at an AWESOME resort at the top of the mountain! I walk out our door, walk about 10 yards, and i’m at the top of the lift! its pretty ridiculous. Also tons of board shops and bars right in our little village.

It was sunny and warm today (like 60) and the slopes were pretty slushy, but still not too bad.

Hope it gets a bit colder! we’re stayin till Thursday (or Friday).

Here is the girl Leah created today:

I was putting Erin to bed tonight, and she said “I love you daddy”. first time she said all 4 words together! Gotta love the kids…

She is getting so big! Its crazy how much faster times seems to go with Erin than it did with Leah.

1.5 weeks till our Snowshoe trip!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!

As you may have noticed (unless you are oblivious) i have moved my blog!

I’m still deciding on the theme and styles/images so there might be some changes still. Seems like there is more control with Wordpress over Blogger.

So….yeah.