Sanjay's Commentary: as promised

From: Sanjay, Tech Support & Call Screener
To: All Who Can Read
Dated: 9-29-2006

Welcome to the Commentary, a hopefully recurring article here at the Right Wing. Thanks to Blake for actually letting me get a word in on my first day on the job, unlike some organizations we know of *coughSkewedcough*.
Anyway, on with the show.
The topic tonight is insourcing. What is that, Sanjay? I can hear you asking your friends and neighbors what insourcing really is. You've heard for years about outsourcing and the fact is, Americans want too much money. Of course, that doesn't speak well of the countries to which outsourcing is occurring. But I think insourcing is great. I get to come to America, a great salary, and the American dream. Blake was telling me about something his boss said earlier today. His boss's father lived in Georgia in the later 1940s. Georgia's economy was crap, so they moved to Ohio. Ohio's economy began to go downhill, so they moved to California. What I'm saying is, people moved to get better jobs, to raise a better family. No one in the 1940s and 1950s sat around saying, "The government is doing enough to get me a job. They'd rather pay some Indian 8 cents an hour to do this." Well, yes. What business wouldn't rather do that. Labor costs would plummet. Plus, where in the Constitution of your country does it say that the government is responsible for your job? I've actually read it, and I can't find it. This goes hand-in-hand with minimum wage. "But, Sanjay, I'm trying to raise my family on minimum wage." And that's my fault how? I didn't make the choices that led me to a minimum wage job. Blake's 24 and he's only worked one minimum wage job in his life. Your job comes down to choice, and if you make bad choices, then you have to pay for them. Get over your little manic-depressive contrdiction of hating this administration and wondering why they aren't helping you and get yourself a job. If you're able bodied, and you want more in life, then work two jobs. I hear Wendys, McDonalds, and taco Bell are all hiring late shift. The jobs are there, get over your self-importance and take them.

Sanjay

The Almighty 21, part b

TOP TEN
10. Matisyahu. More fun than you can shake a stick at, although I've always wondered what kind of fun people were having that shaking sticks was actually involved. By the way, Matisyahu is on my playlist right now.
9. College Football. Yes, it's no. 9. Makes you wonder what 8 things could possibly be better, eh?
8. Musical change of taste. If you get the chance, go to youtube.com and look up Varttina, Gjallarhorn, Loituma, etc. Finnish music is in!
7. Bass blasters and the idiots who drive them. I like to listen to music loud when I'm driving, but these nuts take it to the extreme. If your bass is drowning out my bass, and I'm over 1/4 miles away, you're too loud.
6. Israel. I know that this is a contentious point, but to the people that say Israel lost the war with Hizb'allah, the only reason that happened is because the world community (read: bunch o' appeasers) kept telling Israel to quit bombing the crap out Hizb'allah. Do I support everything Israel's done? No. I do think that they should be allowed to defend themselves. Everytime the world says "Israel, you should back off," Israel gets attacked. I say let 'em go next time.
5. CE & BCE vs AD & BC. Let me get this straight, history department. We're now calling it BCE and CE (Before Common Era, Common Era) but the date changes remains at the same spot. So in a way were saying "Thank you, Jesus, for changing our measurement of time. We're not going to say it was you anymore, but we'll always point back toward it." Nice.
4. Midterms. Well, lack thereof. *tips hat to Robert*
3. Madden. I was continuing my season on Madden '05, and tonight I rushed Michael Vick for 427 yards in one game. Dang straight.
2. Stargate SG-1. It was a good run, guys, but it looks like Sci-Fi has sold it's soul to Battlestar Gallactica.
1. Hockey. What else? The Trashers' season open Oct. 5 against Tampa Bay at Philips Arena. If you're there, I'll be in section 221.

The Almighty 21, part a

In honor of this 21st post (hey, Rennie, tell Fred I'm ripping you off again) I'm listing 21 things that matter, don't matter, might not matter, and just plain tick people off.

21. Soccer. Did anyone else watch this glorified game of tag that happened over the summer? I'll admit, they are athletes, but dang it, if they ever stubbed their toe they'd be in a coma for three weeks.
20. 5 Years. 9-11-01.
19. School Starting. I'm glad to be back, but it's really just the daily grind now.
18. F1 vs. NASCAR. I keep asking Rennie why Nascar is a redneck sport, but F1 is okay. He's yet to give me a good answer.
17. The Girl in the Blue Shirt. Just ask me sometime.
16. Old Friends. I ran into one of my old friends today. Good to see people like that.
15. The Chartreuse Shirt. My friends will get it.
14. Notre Dame. It thrills me to know that Notre Dame isn't as good as everyone thought they would be. Good times.
13. The Fall of Facebook. Yes, it happened. Every time college students catch a break there's always a twist.
12. The Braves. This years marks the first time since I was in elementary school that the Braves missed the playoffs.
11. When schools misspell. Yes, I got an email from the school that even had a misspelling in the title, can you find it: "Attention Summer Greaduates"

Join us next time for the Top Ten and a special commentary by Sanjay.

A Response to the Critic(s), Greater Good amendment 2

It has come to my attention today that one of our colleagues over at The Skewed View, a colleague who shall remain nameless, had some right nasty things to say about us here at The Right Wing. Apparently, among the many things this person takes issue over, is the hiring of Sanjay. Sanjay was angry, and rightly so. In the short time that Sanjay has been with us here at The Right Wing, our readership has doubled (albeit from 2 to 4) but still, you can't argue with 200%. Now how much validity to give to sirs argument about topic theft I cannot answer. He appears to believe that neither The Right Wing or The Fallen-ish would be around if it weren't for him. I say this, get a grip. To give a tip of the hat to South Park, which is something I shudder to do, "Simpson's did it!" There are no longer any original ideas. Every idea that comes about now is a result of a previous idea, and if everythin works properly, the new idea will expand and improve upon the old one. So, to sir who feels it to be his duty to enter into a vehement tirade against fellow bloggers, wait.... hold on... where is it?... I can't find it. What am I looking for, you ask? Simple: My concern.

The Greater Good

Now, joking aside, I feel the need to apologize to the Greater Good. This is a very simple idea, and if I personify the Greater Good in my writing, then so be it. However, today I was supposed to visit a friend. This was a plan we had in the works for a number of days. On my way over, he calls me to say that his dad wants to go see a movie and that our plans are now on hold. I was angry, upset. Ticked off a little bit. And I shouldn't have been. The Greater Good was definitely not pleased. There was no excuse for it, except good old fashioned selfishness. Who am I to get angry when someone's father wants to do something with their kid? It was petty, and yet I indulged it as though I would never have an opportunity to see my friends again. How fragile is the human psyche that little things like that can burden us down so? In my case, the worst part was yet to come, as I called another friends and began to make plans for Sunday night, when he said that he and a group of my friends were going out of town for part of the day and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night. This really upset me because, even thought I would be unable to go, I wasn't even told about it until today, and that was only because it interferred with our plans for tomorrow night. These people are my friends. They've never wronged me, and I'm certain this was just a lapse in judgment. I was having a great day, and then this happened. I'm asking myself now how something like that could shake me so. Perhaps I'm just not as strong in the Greater Good as I thought...

The Greater Good, amendment 1

A couple of days ago I brought up the issue of the Greater Good. I took careful steps to show that this was not intended as a spiritual issue, nor as something that the peace-loving fundamentalist terrorist embrace with martyrdom, but it is merely the act of being nice to people for a change. Douglas Adams, in a not so veiled reference to the crucifixion, noted that Christ was nailed to a tree for going around and telling people how great it would be to be nice to each other for a change.

Well, I've got a couple of new examples for you.
Go into your local Kroger, I was in one tonight, purchasing groceries. When you enter the checkout lanes, there is a space just beyond them for departing customers to walk back to the front door. This space is about ten to twelve feet wide, plenty of room to pass through, so long as your path remains unobstructed. Well, tonight as I'm leaving this lady in the lane closest to the door proceeds to push her shopping cart right into the path ov everyone walking out. I stop momentarily, waiting for her to pull back her cart and allow people to walk by. Instead she leaves her cart in the way, grabs her bags out of it, and walks off. The Greater Good, needless to say, was not happy. How much trouble is it to pull your cart back, or even take it the extra 20 feet across the entrance and put it back with the other carts? But no, causing a disruption for the sake of your own benefit, and by benefit I mean getting out of Kroger before the three of us that were walking toward her, is much more important.

Another issue happened in class yesterday. I have a 45 mile drive to school everyday, just because I love going. I drive through Gainesville. After Gainesville I have a few backroads before I reach the college. I got stuck behind a couple of inmate work crews on my way. My first class starts at 9:35am. The teacher like to start at 9:30am. I walk in at 9:37am, two minutes, people. The teacher stops what she is saying and proceeds to dress me down in front of the entire class, saying that entering class late is a distraction and I should try to be on time. Which reminds me, I need to call the Georgia Dept. of Corrections and find out their inmate work schedules. So I take my seat, trying to let it go, but then two girls walk in ten full minutes late. Does the teacher say anything to them? Nope. Aparently they were not a distraction. Once again, the Greater Good is shaking its head.

Jeez, that made me mad. I'm gonna let my new hire Sanjay take this next one, Sanjay...

You are not more important than me. Let me say that to start things off. I know, I should say that I'm glad to be here at The Right Wing, but the fact is my position and responsibility do not make me anything more or less than anyone else. You're responsibility is merely that, responsibility. We all have it, to whomever we give it to, it is not a badge of honor, it is a badge of humanity. That being said, I want to tell the driver of the Ford Focus to slow the heck down. Like Robert said, the passing lane is there for a reason. If you are back behind a pack of cars, like ten of more deep, then forget it. You're not more important, or in a bigger hurry, you're just more selfish and self-absorbed. Get over your whiny teenage angst music, get past the fact that your eighth-grade girlfriend is the easiest go in five counties, get over the notion that life revolves around you. The greater Good would be much happier.

Blake...

Thanks, Sanjay. Ladies and Gentlemen, Sanjay, my tech support and call screener.

Announcing a New Hiring

Here at The Right Wing we've fallen behind the times. Outsourcing apparently has run rampant in our country, and just as I was about to hire some poor sap... er, I mean, brilliant young man named Sanjay to handle tech support for me, I had the brilliant idea to hire American. So I've gone out, broken down the racial and ethnical demographic of my area (so as to conform with Affirmative Action) and ralized that, to meet the stringent guidelines in place, I have to hire a 28-year-old lesbian woman who's father was Hispanic, who's mother was African-American, who's grandfather on her father's side was Irish and her grandmother was Puerto Rican, who's grandfather on her mother's side was Canadian and her grandmother there was Nigerian, and who's second cousin twice removed was French, who's only ever made $10,000 a year once in her life, and who has at most a tenth grade education.

You know what? That person doesn't exist. And if they did, in this country, they'd want about four times the salary Sanjay is willing to do the job for. So I'm hiring Sanjay to handle tech support. He'll also be answering your calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays while I'm in class.

The Greater Good

Okay, maybe that caought your eye, maybe not. Still, you're here. And by here, I'm talking about The Right Wing (hey, Carl and Rennie are doing the shameless self-promoting, I can too).

The Greater Good, from this point forward, will refer to anything I think can make this country better. I'm not talking about some Islamo-fascist blow up the infidels kind of greater good martyrdom. I'm talking about the little things in life that can make this trip a bit better for all of us.

Take a moment and consider a few things. What could you change in your life that would make your journey a bit less stressful? (And don't go overboard with the spiritual sounds in this entry, I'm looking at basic tenets of everyday life.)

Holding the door for someone. I know, mundane, right? But why do we hold doors? We don't help ourselves by this, and the person behind us is likely just as strong or able-bodied and could surely open a door by themselves. But many times we will actually go out of our way to hold open a door for someone who could do it themselves. Think for a moment. Some people are actually insulted by someone holding a door for them. I tend to think of it as a common courtesy, a simple way of saying, "Here, you don't need my help, but I'm offering it anyway as a way of being a nice guy."

That's just one of a plethora of ideas for the greater good. I hope you have some of your own.

A Day of Mourning, Politics, and Conspiracy

It's now 9/12. It's been over 5 years since al-Qaeda launched the devastating attacks of 9-11-2001. On one hand our country still seems trying to cope with the issue. On the other it seems that both sides of the political aisle in Washington wish to play us all for fools.

I'll start with September 11th. Yes, I remember exactly where I was that day, I hope I never forget. I had just parked my car at Gainesville College and was getting ready to go to class, listening to the Neal Boortz radio show when the announcement came that a plane had struck the World Trade Center's North Tower. My first thought was that it was a small plane. I went to the library and pulled up pictures of it online and realized what was happening.

The librarian then turned on the TV in the audio/visual room just as the second plane hit the South Tower. My friend Matt, who is older and vastly more learned than I, especially at that time, said "bin Laden has screwed himself this time." I, of course, had never heard the name of Usama bin Laden. Moments later a report came in that the Pentagon had been hit, and shortly after that both Trade Center Towers collapsed.

It burns my heart to see the footage. To watch people choosing to jump to their deaths, knowing that rescue was impossible. To hear the flight recordings, as Muhammed Atta tells the passengers of American 11 that they are returning to the airport, blatantly lying, willing to sacrifice the lives of thousands. To hear the pilot of United 93 tell his passengers that there was a bomb on board and that they were returning to the airport to make their demands. To listen to a 911 call from an upper floor of the South Tower, hearing the fear in a man's voice, knowing that he will in all likelihood die very soon, and then hearing his screams as the Tower begins to fall. My blood begins to boil, and if you are able to listen to this and not feel anger over what happened, then I feel sorry for you.

September 11 marks a turning point for the world. I know that sounds trite, but the truth remains. Nothing as been the same since that day. Are we safer? I don't know. I do like the idea of getting these Islamic Radical Fascists in their own lands before they strike at us again, which is not a matter of if but when.

So yesterday, the five year anniversary of the most destructive terror attack ever, President Bush goes before the nation to discuss a number of issues. He started with a tribute to those lost on 9/11, but afterwards spent his speech discussing foreign policy. I tend to believe that Islamic terror is the key enemy on this earth. I've discussed this in previous posts, and will not re-hash my belief here.

So Bush discusses foreign policy. I'm okay with that. I understand the necessity of going into Iraq. Do I like war? No, anyone that does is mad. I understand that some wars have to be fought. I'm sick of a media machine that loves to focus all attention on the negative. Five years after the attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3000 people, the combined efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq have claimed nearly as many American lives. The media will hammer this point into your impressionable head at every turn. They love to show how dangerous life is with the Iraqi insurgency and the attempted re-establishment of the Taliban. They will not, however, tell you of the 50 million or so people freed from tyrannical regimes. They will give you a 30-second sound bite about 12 million Iraqis voting in a truly democratic election, and then pound out about 15 minutes of coverage on a car bomb that blew up in Kirkuk.

The worst part is the far-left wing of the Democrat Party, the wing that has essentially co-opted the party away from it's moderate roots, the wing that has FDR spinning in his grave, will tell you that President Bush is at fault for everything. Perhaps not the members of the party, but at least the constituency will blame Bush for everything from a soldier's death at the hands of an improvised road-side bomb to the actual collapse of the Twin Towers.

There is a group called "Scholars for 9/11 Truth" who are dead-set in their argument that the Bush Administration planeted Thermite charges and various other cutter charges in the Twin Towers and in WTC Building 7 in order to launch a war in the Middle East to make their Big Oil buddies richer. Remember that this is the same President who 90% of the liberal component of this country say is the dumbest president ever. Apparently bush, who was in office for just about 8 months prior to the attack was able to orchestrate the planting of controlled charges, and then pay off about 19 Saudis to take over 4 airplanes and start crashing them into things. Yeah, that sounds plausible. Here are two of the worst arguments...

Argument 1: The collapse of the Twin Towers was far too controlled, including puffs of smoke coming from different floors at the building collapsed to have been totally related to the two 767's that struck them.
Answer: Absolutely. But it couldn't have anything to do with the fires generated by two 767's that were fueled up for cross-country flights, nor with the subsequent office and paper fires, nor with the structural damage produced from the attacks. As for the puffs of smoke, those counldn' tpossibly be related to the pancaking of the floors, or from the air being pushed down and blowing out the windows as around 50 million tons of steel comes crashing down. And why did the building fall into their own footprints? I keep hearing this argument and I almost wonder is these people are sad that more destruction wasn't unleashed in New York. The buildings collapsed straight down because that's how they were designed. Chief Architect Minoru Yamasaki planned for the building to fall straight down, in the event of a structural failure such as the one witnessed on 9/11.

Argument 2: Building 7 wasn't struck by an airplane, why did it collapse?
Answer: I've heard, from the conspiracy nuts, that WTC 7 had to be demolished because of a clandestine CIA operation based out of it. I'm thinking it may have more to do with damage suffered during the initial attacks that would have sparked fires and damaged the inner structure of the building. I could be wrong.

I'll close by saying this. I don't like war. I wish we had never been given a reason to go to war. But I would much rather stand up as Americans and take responsibility for the greatest issues and threats of our time, just like the World War II generation did, than to leave a problem unsolved for our children and their children to deal with.

The Life and Times of an ABC Mini-Series

ABC, the alphabetical network, is going to air a 5-hour miniseries called "The Path to 9/11." This is all well and good, but said miniseries does something that so few miniseries or TV events do any longer: it shows the failings of both major parties. Typically, and my liberal friends will likely agree, TV events tend to cast conservatives in a negative light. I point to CBS' "The Reagans."

Turns out 9/11 was one of those events where both parties failed miserably. The attacks happened less than a year into George W. Bush's first term as president, yet to hear some liberal scholars and Democratic strategists talk, he should bear the blame for everything. But the fact remains that the walls in place among the intelligence community, walls that prevented the sharing of information, were built by Jaime Gorelick, during the Clinton administration. In fact, Clinton was offered bin Laden twice, but turned down the offer both times. (I personally equate this to Bush 41 calling off the Gulf War push in 1991 when troops were just miles from Baghdad.)

Well, the ABC miniseries has a scene that shows Sandy Berger (then National Security Advisor) denying authorization to the CIA to cature or kill bin Laden.(1.)

As soon as the Clinton camp heard this, the machine went into a frenzy, because as we all know, no Democrat has ever done anything that could possibly harm this nation later on, it's only Republicans who seek to kill our own people. But, yeah, the Clinton camp is in a fury over this portrayal of Sandy Berger. This is the same Sandy Berger who tried to sneak documents from the National Archives by hiding them in his pants and socks, and upon being caught, said it was just sloppiness. How sloppy do you have to be to get documents in your socks?

The Clinton Foundation, that's right, the Clinton's have their own foundation, says the miniseries is "factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate," while the DNC issued a mass email claiming it to be a "despicable, irresponsible fraud." These are the same people who said that conservatives were being childish when CBS aired "The Reagans" and Republicans claimed that CBS was not showing a balanced view of the truth.

ABC is now claiming that the changes are being made to reflect the more "general indecisiveness" in the days before the attacks.(2.) Bill Clinton himself has even gone on the offensive, warning ABC to either change the drama, or pull it altogether.(3.)

So now, because of the drama between ABC and the Clinton camp, "The Path to 9/11" is drawing more attention than previously imagined.

(1.) http://www.variety.com/VR1117949675.html
(2.) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701454_pf.html
(3.)http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/

Random Things

Part I: Of Things Internet

So Facebook has updated. And by updated I mean screwed things around so royally that now even the creators of Facebook have thrown their hands up disgust and wandered out of the room.
Now we have MiniFeed, a device so useless that it can only be described as... well... useless. As Robert so eloquently stated, "Oh right, I can only have eight quotes but MiniFeed can take up 40,000 square feet of real estate."

The worst aspect of the whole MiniFeed fiasco is that, when Facebook pitches the idea of MiniFeed to you, it gives you the option to select Awesome! (and yes, the "!" is actually in the select box) or... well, nothing else, really. Just Awesome! So let me get this straight, Mr. Facebook, wherever you are. You're going to arbitrarily upgrade yourself, and then, instead of allowing your subscribers the option to not take the upgrade, you're not only forcing them to accept it, but they have to be excited about it.

Part II: Of Things Athletic

So a full week of college football has come and gone and we found out some interesting stuff this weekend. We learned that neither Florida State nor Miami actually recruited an offense this season. We learned that UGA and Iowa are both capable of beating up on Div. I-AA schools. And we learned that Notre Dame can barely beat a bunch of pests from Atlanta.

The NFL starts officially this Thursday. So I guess its prediction time for both the College ranks and the Sunday players.

College:
Pac-10: USC (I really want to pick Arizona St.)
Big Ten: Ohio State
Big East: West Virginia
Big XII North: Nebraska
Big XII South: Texas
Big XII Champ: Texas
ACC Atlantic: FSU
ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech
ACC Champ: Virgina Tech
SEC East: UGA
SEC West: Auburn
SEC Champ: Auburn

NFL
AFC:
North: Bengals
South: Colts
East: Patriots
West: Broncos
Wildcards: Steelers, Jaguars
Champ: Colts
NFC:
North: Bears
South: Panthers
East: Giants
West: Seahawks
Wildcards: Falcons, Cowboys
Champ:Panthers
Super Bowl Champs: Colts