Category Archives: Big Brother

The Age of Dumbassery

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Danny Quinney | 5 comments

I work with a bunch of “Young’uns,” I was just about to call them “Millennials” but according to Google, a millennial is someone who reached adulthood around the year 2000. So whatever “today’s” generation has chosen to dub themselves, I work with a bunch of them. This is both fun and infuriating. It’s fun because they are just a bunch of dumb, stupid kids, and it’s infuriating because they are just a bunch of dumb, stupid kids.

I’m about to tell a story. I want to be perfectly clear that I am NOT picking on one kid. Although it’s a true story, and only one kid is involved in it, all my annoyance is not solely directed toward this young’un. If we are all on the same page, I shall proceed.

As I walked toward a gaggle of young’uns talking, I overheard the current political situation was being discussed and of course my ears perked up. I asked one of the kids (we will call him Steve*) who is probably 19 years old, who he was going to vote for. Without a moment’s hesitation he answered: Bernie Sanders. I asked why. His answer, “He is better than Trump or Hillary.” I said, I understand you don’t like those two, but what specifically about Sanders do you like? His answer, “He is going to legalize marijuana.”

***FACE PALM***

Okay…so…I can almost understand being a one issue guy. Whatever the issue is. I have friends who believe the legalization of drugs is a good idea. And these aren’t drug-using types of guys. I’ve kicked it around and have decided legalization is not a good idea, I then BRILLIANTLY wrote about it. You can read the article by clicking HERE. Putting that issue on the back burner for a minute, I just don’t see how any rational, thinking adult could look at the current political landscape, see the direction the country is heading, and think “Oh yeah, that’s my guy because THAT’S my issue.” Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate Bernie Sanders. I think he’s an idiot peddling utopian nonsense, but I believe he is a kind-hearted, well-intended idiot. The fact he has such a following with the left is enough to make my eyes roll, but that’s really not the point. “But Danny,” you whine, “what is your point?”

Why the HELL do we allow 18 year olds to vote?

According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, the 26th Amendment, adopted in 1971, guaranteed the “right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” The main agreements (back then) for allowing these little’ins to vote was an 18 year old could drink and be conscripted into the military, so they oughta be allowed to vote. I can almost see that. Back then, if you were old enough to drink AND kill for your country you should be allowed to have a voice. HEAR, HEAR!!!

But…in 1973 they ended the draft, in 1984 congress realized 18 year olds weren’t very bright when they drank so they changed the legal drinking age to 21, and if Obamacare taught us anything it’s that you’re not officially an adult until you are 26 and can finally get off your parents insurance. Sooo…why are we allowing these little’ins with zero life experience, who don’t own property, don’t have spouses/children, don’t pay much of anything in taxes (if they do have children and earn less then 39K they get an “Earned Income Tax credit – so they not only don’t pay in to the system, THEY GET MONEY BACK), and many of the kids between 18 and 26 don’t even have jobs (thanks to the floppy eared President they are so proud to have supported, wrecking the economy.)

What I have instinctively known for years, science has now proven. Human brains are not fully developed until the age of 25. Young people are particularly deficient in the development of their frontal lobes (prefrontal cortex), which control decision-making, complex/rational thinking, judgment, the ability to plan ahead, and resisting impulses. “Adults over the age of 25 tend to feel less sensitive to the influence of peer pressure and have a much easier time handling it.”

So we have the Bernie Sanders of the world promising FREE everything and these non-fully-developed-brained-little’in are sucking it up. Then, of course, we have just under half of the liberals with fully-developed brains, but clearly not fully functioning, jumping on the “Everything is FREE” train as well. As a grown up, I KNOW there is no such thing as a free lunch. There is no such thing as a free anything. Someone always pays. These cute little doey-eyed little-in’s are blissfully unaware they are going to be footing the bill for all these “free” goodies for the rest of their lives.

How can they not see that?

*his real name is Logan

LIFEZILLA: I proudly test ALL my articles on animals.

5 Comments

Posted in Big Brother, Elections, ObamaCare, Social Issues, Uncategorized

Tagged 26th Amendment, Bernie Sanders, Human Brain

Global Boooooooring (Part 2)

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Danny Quinney | 5 comments

In my last BRILLIANTLY written article “Global Boooooooring” I spent most of the time explaining how the “science isn’t settled” just because a bunch of scientists say it is. As much as it pains me, I have more to say about the subject.

When I was a wee little lad in, hmmm…I dunno, second grade, I learned that one of the main reasons the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, is salty is because it is the remains of what was a huge lake, Lake Bonneville. Apparently 14,000 years ago the majority of the lake dried up and all the sediment from Lake Bonneville was left over in the Great Salt Lake.

About the same age I learned about Woolly Mammoths and the ice age.
Long story short, I have been acutely aware of “Climate change” since second grade. (I say “acutely” because of how much of “acutie” I was.)

I know!!! Adorable, huh?

If you recall from my last article, of the 12,000 peer reviewed papers only 65 said that humans are the primary reason for climate change. Now, 2nd grade Danny thinks the people who wrote these 65 papers are stupid pooh-pooh heads (the current Danny thinks the same thing, but with more of an “R” rating). You remember Lake Bonneville? According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, “With the change in climate, the lake began drying up.” That begs a question: Why was there a change in climate all those years ago? I don’t recall learning about all the SUV’s the Woolly Mammoths drove.

You may also recall in the last article that 97% of the 12,000 papers believed that humans probably contribute something to climate change. These authors would be thrilled to learn that both 2nd grade Danny and current Danny could buy into that. I’ll buy into the argument that humans have an impact on the environment. Am I willing to gamble $2.23 trillion (of US economy) and the economy of the world on it? Absolutely not.

Quick tangent: According to the other source of all knowledge, Google, the earth is 4.54 billion years old. We have been measuring its temperature for what, 200 years? If my calculations are correct we have been measuring the temperature for .000000044% of the time the earth has been in existence. Who are we to say what the average temperature of the earth is? Just because 72 degrees is comfortable for us does that mean it’s the average temperature of the earth? I dunno.

“But Danny,” you whine, “I saw the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and they showed scientists drilling ice out of Antarctica to measure the earth’s temperature – they can go back hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.”

And?

This winter has been one of the coldest winters in years. Unless you happen to live where I live, Utah. It was super cold for about a week in December and it’s been warm since. Can you honestly tell me the record cold in New York can be measured and somehow applied to Utah? If you can, I’m willing to learn. End of tangent.

Let me give you two little facts:

1- Global warming stopped seventeen years ago. Al Gore didn’t invent the internet, but he sure as hell invented “global warming”…until it stopped. Now everything is blamed on “Climate change.” In the summer, if it’s hot “Climate change!!!.” In the winter, if it’s cold “Climate change!!!.” Whatever happens “Climate Change!!!” (Whew…it makes me really happy that seasonal depression only happens four times a year). Oh wait. I misspoke, according to the article cited global warming “paused” seventeen years ago. The word “paused” heavily implies it could start up again at any moment. It’s super scary. The only reason it isn’t “super-duper scary” is that the environmental alarmist have been sooooo far off in their predictions in the past. In 1986 the best and brightest wrung their hands and predicted how much warming there would be between 1997 and today. They were slightly off. By roughly 300%.

You read correctly. 300%. I don’t care how famous you are or how many letters you have after your name, no credentials can compensate for an error that big.

While I’m on it, no one in the scientific community predicted the “pausing” of global warming between 1997 and today. And yet we are supposed to follow, zombie-like, the suggestions (nay, demands) these jackasses are ramming down our throats. If we follow the cry that “We have to do something,” we are going to radically change the economies of the industrialized nations, thus harming the poorest of the poor in developing nations. Which brings me to fact number two.

2- None of suggested proposals will do anything to curb the (non-existent) rise in global temperatures.

Cap and Trade, a carbon tax, The Kyoto Protocols, climate reparations for poor countries. All different approaches, all the same outcome: Not one will reduce global temperatures. Many proponents of these policies have publicly conceded they will do nothing to the climate. It is complete and utter B.S.

More then just B.S. To me, these policies are immoral.

“But Danny,” you whine “how is it immoral? Are you suggesting we do NOTHING?”

It is immoral.

How is it moral to drive around in our air conditioned cars, or sit in our air conditioned home or office and then bitch when they do the same in developing countries?

How can we smugly tell an African country that they can’t drill for oil or mine coal because an international climate control protocol tells them they can’t? Many of these developing countries have a GDP a thousandth of the United States. Further development of these countries will lead to freedom, prosperity and hope. That’s good for everyone. That’s good for the world. Yes, we can feel morally superior as we drive our SUV’s and drink our bottled water, as long as we feel horrible about it. Passing these proposals means the deliberate oppression of the worlds poor, ensuring people will continue to live in poverty and will continue to die.

It really, really chaps my ass.

The last thing we need is another “symbolic gesture” or “good start.” What we need are concrete facts, and years of accurate and verifiable predictions. Until then this should NOT be a political issue.

Crank the A/C. It’s getting hot.

LIFEZILLA: No animals were harmed in the writing of this article. A cat got stepped on, and someone shot a duck. But that’s it.

5 Comments

Posted in America, Big Brother, Climate Change

Tagged Al Gore, Cap and Trade, Carbon Tax, Climate Change, Environmentalist, Global Warming, Lake Bonneville, The Day After Tomorrow, The Kyoto Protocal, US Economy

Global Boooooooring

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Danny Quinney | 5 comments

I haven’t even started writing this and I’m already bored to tears. This is going to cause me physical pain. It is so incredibly stupid. But…here goes.

For my real life job I work for a company that manufactures high quality accessories for cars and trucks. I’ve worked there for 23 years. Several years ago we were introducing a new widget at the big yearly trade show. Someone came up with the idea of making a big sign to go over the item that simply proclaimed “Product of the Year.” I witnessed a lot of traffic come into our booth to ask about the highlighted item. We were three days into a four day show before the first person asked, “Product of the year. According to who?” (He didn’t say “whom”.) I told him we took a poll in the office and we all agreed.

Back in February Secretary of State John Kerry said that climate change was the “world’s most fearsome” weapon of mass destruction, he went on to say, “the science of climate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3D movie. It’s warning us; it’s compelling us to act.”

Wow. “Leaping science” sounds kind of scary.

I don’t recommend it, but if you want to slip into a self induced coma you can read the speech here.

Then, more recently 30 Democratic senators spent the entire night having a “’talkathon‘” about climate change. Can you imagine anything more boring?

In John Kerry’s speech he said, “When 97 percent of scientists agree on anything, we need to listen, and we need to respond. Well, 97 percent of climate scientists have confirmed that climate change is happening and that human activity is responsible.” And then Democrat Senator, after Democrat Senator, after Democrat Senator repeated the same thing. “97%! 97%! 97%!” Some even upped it to 98% – which is even more.

First of all. Who cares what 97% of scientists think? I’m willing to bet 100% of the greatest thinkers at the time agreed the world was flat. Doesn’t make it so. And when, exactly, did science become “settled” through consensus? “We all agree so it must be true.” Really? Is that how it works now? In the olden days science was settled by a consistent series of observed results. If I drop this ball gravity is going to pull it down. My son once told me that “for fun” he figured out exactly how long it would take for a quarter to hit the ground from his desk. He calculated the trajectory and a few other fancy words and was able to predict with a high degree of accuracy how long it would take.

Cool, huh?

The reason there are no “gravity deniers” is because the science is settled. There is such a thing as gravity.

Now, because I remembered the “Product of the Year” experience and I know that anybody and do almost anything with numbers, I decided to do a little digging to find the source of the 97% mantra.

That 97% figure comes from a website, where a guy ran an analysis of 12,000 peer-reviewed papers, 97% of which claimed that humanity is having an impact on the climate.

Well. There you go. There’s your consensus. The science is settled. Humans are the dominant factor in climate change. Oh wait. Not true. The website acknowledges that 97% of the papers attribute some human impact; in truth less than 50% of those papers maintain that humans are the primary contributor of global warming.

Well okay, that’s not really a consensus, but it’s still damning.

Oh…but wait.

If asked, most people would say that a phrase like, “Less than 50%” would imply something in the 41-49% range. But no. It’s less than that.

How much less? I’ll give you a hint. If you guessed 65 papers out of the 12,000 reviewed, you would be right.

65. Out of 12,000.

Now, I’m no mathematician, but I can tell you with certainty that that is indeed less than fifty percent. Going out on a limb, I would say it is less than one percent. But still, every Al Gore tirade, every screaming news story, and every global warming alarmist demands that if you dare question the “settled science” you are to be boiled in oil – or disposed of in a more environmentally friendly way. Just as long as you lessen your carbon footprint.

While I’m on the subject, since when are there science “deniers?” I would have thought only religion has deniers, disbelievers, or heretics. The truth is this really doesn’t have anything to with science. Science is about evidence, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with belief or disbelief. In the olden days science was dependent upon skepticism. Without skepticism, you do not have science. Or am I wrong?

Unless you are completely ignorant of the facts (which is exactly how most liberals stay liberal) than I would say a consensus doesn’t exist. In fact I would say any time a politician says “the science is settled” the science is indeed not settled.

TO BE CONTINUED…? (If I can wake up after that)

LIFEZILLA: Me so ornery. Me loathe you long time.

5 Comments

Posted in America, Big Brother, Climate Change, Government Over-reach

Tagged Al Gore, Climate Change, John Kerry, science, Settled Science

You Got Married? That’s So Gay!

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Danny Quinney | 9 comments

So, as much as it kills me (and it does cause me physical pain) I’m going to throw in my two cents on this whole gay marriage thing that is happening in Utah.

If you don’t know, or if you have been living under a rock, on December 20, 2013 U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled that the Utah state ban on gay marriage violated the U.S. Constitution.

If you’re new here (you may be the seventh person to find this) I have already brilliantly written my take on gay marriage before, you can find it here.

I’ll try to keep this fresh.

Our founding fathers were obsessed with the separation of powers. They didn’t want the federal government to grow out of control, and so they set up checks and balances. They did recognize there were certain things the federal government needed to be in charge of: making money, immigration, declaring war, you know…stuff like that. To help ensure the restriction on the growth of the federal government they gave us the 10th amendment. It reads:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

In other words, any issue not specifically mentioned in the Constitution for the federal government to have dominion over (for lack of a better word) is up to the states to decide.

Let me illustrate an example of the federal government overreaching its authority. Let’s say there is a small, random state of roughly 3 million people. The people of the state don’t want to have fluoride added to the water. They don’t care if other states put fluoride in theirs, it just isn’t for them. They vote and add it to their states constitution that they are a “No fluoride in the water” state. Sixty-six percent of the voters come out in favor of this resolution. BUT…there are a few dentists in the state who disagree with the will of the people. “How can the state not want fluoride?” they argue. “There is no evidence that it hurts anyone.” So they sue, and find a federal judge who interprets the “everlasting gobstopper clause” of the US constitution as saying the will of the people is wrong. And so the state district attorney immediately starts pouring fluoride in drinking water.

That is exactly what happened with gay marriage in Utah.

“But Danny,” you whine, “not everyone is Utah voted on that amendment, what about the will of the people who didn’t vote?” This is going to sound super harsh to my butt-hurt liberal friends, but if they didn’t vote, their opinion doesn’t mean squat.

Quick side note: Is it just me, or does “LGBT” sounds too much like a sandwich?

“But Danny,” you whine even louder, “didn’t the Supreme Court knock down DOMA, thus opening the door to this kind of thing?” (DOMA is the “Defense of Marriage Act – signed by Bill Clinton which defined marriage as between a man and a woman). Hmmm….not really. Basically the repeal of DOMA showed that the Supreme Court recognized that defining marriage wasn’t the federal government’s place, that put definition of marriage back to the state.

And later, the same year part of DOMA was repealed, Shelby, the judge from a lower court, said the state couldn’t define it either.

I’ve read quite of bit about gay marriage. I’ve read the arguments for, and I’ve read the arguments against. I’ve even read articles where the writer uses copious amounts of inordinately profuse, abstruse, and perplexing vocabulary. When reading these articles I always think, “Whatever, dude, what-ev-er (or dudette if you are one.)” In my mind very few people get it, on either side of the issue.

It’s sad. There are faces involved. The roughly 1,400 same-sex couples who were married in Utah are in limbo. Are they married or not? These people are being used as pawns. I know my butt-hurt liberal friends are going to howl at that phrase, but it’s true. They are being used as pawns. The district attorney who authorized the county clerks to issue gay marriage license knew this was going to happen.

In my little brain the real issue here isn’t gay marriage. That is just the face of it. The real issue is States’ Rights. Sadly, most people (in this case those in favor of the judges ruling on gay marriage) aren’t looking at the big picture. They either don’t get–or they don’t care–that you can’t pick up one side of a stick. They have an issue and if one activist federal judge can overrule the will of the people, to them, the end justifies the means.

To me that is wrong. Good ends should come about from good means.

Think about it. We live in a representative democracy. Generally speaking if a law is made from the elected legislators we, the people, are accepting of it. Almost all of the most decisive issues in the country are brought about judicially.

Whatever your opinion on gay marriage, for it or against it, it should be the voice of the people who decides. We don’t live in an aristocracy, where the smart people tell the stupid how to live. In the United States, judges don’t have the right, and should stop trying, to invent laws.

LIFEZILLA: Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…you probably have boobs.

9 Comments

Posted in America, Big Brother, Government Over-reach, Social Issues

Tagged Constitution, DOMA, Federal Judges, Founding Fathers, Gay Marriage, LGBT, Separation of Power, States Rights, Supreme Court

Wake Up (It’s 1984)

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Danny Quinney | 3 comments

When I, your humble writer was a mere, wee little (early teenage) lad, a friend introduced me to what would become one of my all time favorite bands.

Oingo Boingo.

I just gotta say, Oingo Boingo’s lead singer/song writer Danny Elfman is BRILLIANT. Since the 1980’s he has composed the scores of countless movies and television shows. Truly a talented, talented man.

It’s the song “Wake Up (It’s 1984)” that I want to talk about today.

If you are not familiar with the song, here is a link to a Youtube video. (This isn’t the official music video.)

Imagine a young Danny dancing in his room wearing nothing but his red BVD’s to this song (to this day doing “Jazz hands” just makes me look gay).

Just for fun here is a list of some fairly recent headlines:

USA Today – “Tea Party Groups Detail ‘harassment’ by IRS”
The Hill – “Complaints of IRS Targeting by Religious Groups on the rise”
Huffington Post – “DOJ Seized Fox News Phone Records”
Mediaite – “AP CEO: Justice Department Seized ‘Thousands & Thousands’ Of Phone Call Records”
Washington Times – “IRS Sued for Seizing 60 Million Medical Records”
CBS DC – “Dept. of Homeland Security: Laptops, Phones Can Be Searched Based on Hunches”
And then, of course, the latest:
The Guardian – “NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily”

It has gotten to the point where even Al Gore is calling it obscene. Wake Up (It’s 1984).

I want to say this again. AL (Jazeera) GORE has a problem with this. Al Gore, a man who would, conceivably, drive over a corpse to get a better parking space has a problem with this.

Wake up (It’s 1984)!

Well…not yet.

What cracks me up is the left’s response to these latest “scandals” (or, if the allegations that some emails may be monitored by intelligence agencies is true, we can change the word “scandals” to “Felons”). With a few notable exceptions, like Al (Jazeera) Gore, most of the left is giving the president a pass, or they blame George Bush (honestly, how can anyone still blame George Bush for anything and keep a straight face?). Ron Fournier of the National Journal said, “Welcome to the era of Bush-Obama, a 16-year span of U.S. history that will be remembered for an unprecedented erosion of civil liberties and a disregard for transparency.”

Yeah, Ron, that is cute and everything. But I just ain’t totally buying it.

In the first place if Bush had collected every phone call from one of the largest cell providers in the nation, we would STILL be hearing the screams from the left and he would have been thrown out of office. Bush’s surveillance program was actually limited and only monitored foreign phone calls. But somehow Obama gets a pass because his surveillance is a “logical extension” of the Bush policy, when in reality it is a HUGE escalation. Does anyone remember the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth we endured when it was reported the Patriot Act gave the Department of Homeland Security the right to see what library books you checked out?

Library books. It’s kinda cute.

Now, I don’t think it’s the governments business what my kids or I check out from the library, but when you compare that to the Obama administration gathering information and monitoring traffic on major websites like Facebook and Google, it ain’t really the same thing. And yet he gets a pass.

The double standard here is staggering.

Take a minute to check out this video: (I can’t embed it for some reason)

Did you watch it? The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

And still I’m not living in fear … yet. Why? Well, my personal ratio of library to Google searches is about 1 to 10,000. Roughly 98% of all my Google searches are to help me “speeel wrods I don’t no.” You take me and times 300 million other Americans – and you’re talking about a lot of data. For the majority of Americans, I doubt anyone would ever really lay eyes on it. But there is that creepy guy I knew in high school who works for the NSA … hmmm?

I have two issues. The first is the definition of words. Words mean things. Depending on what side of the desk you’re on, you are either a freedom fighter, or a terrorist. I know what a terrorist is today, but what will it be tomorrow? The other issue is the “slippery slope” that this is. Where will this lead? We went from monitoring library books to monitoring Google and Facebook. That’s a big ass slippery slope. What’s next?

Gratefully, the American people are aware and the majority of them still get that freedom is a fragile thing. The ACLU is even suing the Obama administration over the NSA surveillance. That’s right. The ACLU is actually concerned over the erosion of our American Civil Liberties. That’s like the first three letters in their name. Hopefully with the outrage the American people have with the program it will be scaled back. If not, I guess if we don’t want the government listening to our calls we can exchange our phones for two big red Solo cups and a REALLLLLLLY LOOOOONG string.

I have to admit, with all the HUGE problems looming on the horizon – high unemployment, entitlement bankruptcy, the implosion of Obamacare, economic stagnation, and granting amnesty before closing the border – having a government computer looking for patterns in over a gazillion phone calls (if that is all it is) bugs me. But it’s not 1984.

Yet.

LIFEZILLA: I never follow my own advise. What do I look like, an idiot?