Apoplectric

Chicken Little and Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Those photos are from an ongoing instagram series called “Rich Kids of Instagram”. The series consists of pictures presumably taken by a bunch of rich kids, and each photo consists of them flaunting their wealth in some obscene manner. The photos are proof that money cannot buy a good sense of self-awareness. Generally I do not look down on, or envy the rich. A lot rich people are rich for a reason – i.e., they worked their asses off in order to earn the wealth they eventually achieved. I do, however, look down on spoiled ingrates that did nothing to earn what they have (other than beating out the other sperm in order to fertilize the egg). The photos are what they are, they’ll piss you off for a bit, and then you can go on with your day.

In the grand scheme, though, I kept these photos in the back of my mind while reading a couple of other news articles today. The first is regarding the impeached Ukrainian president. During the last day or two, the protestors (the rebels? I don’t know what to call them) made their way to the former President’s house. It should be noted that he made $25,000.00 per year as the President of the Ukraine, and this house cost $75,000,000.

That brings me to this clip I saw from Pat Caddell discussing the Ukrainian crisis, and whether or not something like it could ever be seen in America.

On a similar note, Glenn Reynolds (a.k.a. Instapundit) had a great article on USA Today about the civil disobedience taking place throughout America today. He refers to a concept known as Irish Democracy wherein the populace passively disobeys laws that overreach into areas generally accepted to fall within the arena of personal liberty. It’s short and well worth the read.

Bringing us to a story from last week that perfectly illustrates the public’s growing distrust of law enforcement. This woman was jogging down the street in Austin, TX while listening to music and didn’t hear a cop (who was standing on the sidewalk handing out jaywalking tickets) ask her to stop. He grabbed her, she didn’t know a cop had grabbed her, freaked out and tried to run away. The cops arrested her. Good news for the P.R. department at the Austin PD, it was caught on tape, and is now a national story.

Chickenshit instances like this instill a disrespect for law enforcement. Law enforcement is an arm of the government, so a lack of respect for them works its way up to a greater disdain for the government. That is how revolutions like the ones in the Ukraine can start.

Disdain cannot be too far behind when you have a government that seems to pride itself in raising taxes while never seriously considering to cut its own spending . It seems the only cuts that are made are in the one area we should not be cutting spending , especially in a world with China and Russia flexing their muscles, and a regime of psychopaths in Iran hellbent on getting a nuclear bomb so they can lob it over at Israel. Although, I might be mistaken. Even though the government doesn’t take its job seriously, I’m sure if the president can make a few more pop culture references in his public appearances, he will win back the trust and the respect of the citizenry. The world and the country may be standing on a precipice, but that’s okay, did you know that the president is way into House of Cards?

Anyway, rich douchebags, corrupt world leaders, ham-handed law enforcement tactics, and empty-headed do-nothings in DC aside, all of those stories made me reflect on this one from Zero Hedge. This is frightening, but I can’t help but feel that something of this magnitude is just around the corner – not necessarily in this country, but certainly around the world. We are being fed images in our various media of people living an extravagant lifestyle, yet we don’t view these people as necessarily deserving it. At least in the way we have been taught what deserve means – generally through hard work, ingenuity, etc. Instead we see people like the rich trust fund kids on Instagram, celebrities that seem to be more lucky than talented, or wealthy businessmen and politicians that seem to get all of their breaks due to family contacts rather than by being exceptional. We see all of this, yet many of us have to work more than one job, and decide on whether to fill the gas tank up all the way, or save an extra $10 for milk at the end of the week. There are breaking points, and Zero Hedge has a good point in mentioning the disproportion that exists between the uber-wealthy, and the rest of the world. All of this can lead to cynicism towards the government and the culture in general, but that could eventually ferment into a rage – like we see being played out in the streets of Kiev and in Venezuela.

Maybe I’m being a bit negative. It is Monday after all. But then again, how can you read this on the day that this happens, and not think that the end is nigh?

Global Warming Update

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/022114-690857-farmers-almanac-more-accurate-than-climate-models.htm

I’m not going to say that I’ve always liked the Farmer’s Almanac – I think every time I’ve leafed through one it has been either before or after putting the finishing touches on an Uncle Herschel’s Favorite at the Cracker Barrel. However, I have always put about as much stock in it as I have into the accuracy of today’s climate scientists/professional-panhandlers-for-government-grant-money. Regardless of whether there is or isn’t global warming, I think everyone should be in agreement that the billions and billions of dollars the government shells out to fight it could be better used else where (like throwing a couple of bones my way so I can pay my student loans off and not having to work two jobs – at least then there would be a measurable result). I also like that the guy in the Farmer’s Almanac calls himself a “Prognosticator” and that his name is Caleb Weatherbee. HE’S GOT WEATHER IN HIS LAST NAME!!