Rammy's Rant

Rammy’s U.S. Rant

Now comfortably retired in Mexico, I am not a hateful person or a person that dwells on the negative but there are just times when it feels good to get a few things off my chest. Right now is one of those times. I’ll bet that you will agree with most of these feelings that follow so check them out. Here goes. I hate it that:

l. Corporations are allowed to trash loyal employees by dumping their pensions on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. via bankruptcy and then stay in business anyway. It’s immoral, at best, and likely the beginning of a future workers’ revolution if it continues.

2. O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Robert Blake and Mike Tyson are on the street and not where they belong.

3. Too many linger in the passing lane on our highways.

4. Rap “music” and its lyrics have found listeners.

5. Baseball players and basketball players, who can’t hit or shoot a lick, are disgracefully overpaid while working parents can’t afford to take their families to games unless it’s the minor leagues.

6. Members of Congress decide Social Security issues for us and they aren’t even in the program themselves. They do better than we do and have no shame about it whatsoever. And yes, they keep on getting elected anyway.

7. CEO’s of corporations continue to award themselves millions in salary and/or stock option and benefits, even when their companies are losing money. Where are the Boards of Directors heads…up their butts? And where’s Ralph Nadar on all of this; planning his next spoiler campaign?

8. Even so-called Republicans now want to take away states’ rights. Feds now interfere in Oregon regarding assisted death and California regarding medical marijuana. So much for the label “conservative”. The courts, and elected legislators, will do the dirty work, as necessary.

9. The United States Supreme Court has held that anyone’s home, business or church may be seized and turned over to private interests to “benefit the community”. So now the fifth amendment protects criminals but its benefit to homeowners is lost forever. Kelo v New London. And people tell me that I should be concerned about owning property in Mexico!

10. For some inexplicable reason, the USA has become the self-anointed policeman and rich uncle to the world…and its working citizens pay billions for it year after year. These handouts haven’t even been mentioned during the Presidential debates.

11. Cell phones have become a consistent and rude presence everywhere, even on the beach.

12. Judges rail against mandatory sentences without understanding that their light sentences for serious offenders created the impetus for mandatory sentencing. No one else has forgotten that.

13. I’ve been preached at too many times in my short lifetime about civil rights. Enough! Bill Cosby should be Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for consistently telling it like it is.

14. Reality TV ain’t real.

15. Too many medicines in the USA require a doctor’s prescription.

16. Cashiers always have someone to talk with on cell phones when I’m next in line.

17. Contractors with three “no shows” without cause on contract work days for any one client should lose their licenses for one year….after they complete the job.

18. Comedians nowadays think that the “f word” is much funnier than it is.

19. There are not enough piano bars for all our Sams to play it again.

20. Our elected government allows its citizens to get ripped off by OPEC while we hold millions of barrels of oil “in reserve”. The matter is rarely even discussed in the media.

21. Nursing homes are divesting our elderly of their hard-earned estates while the government stands idly by. At the same time, we “excuse” $40,000,000,000 (that’s billion) in loans to the so-called poor nations of the world without any legislative input at all. An example of representative government at its worst.

22. Every dead blues musician is considered to have been a genius at his craft.

23. You can scan scores of channels on TV and find nothing whatsoever worth watching.

24. We allow people 85 years of age to serve on our highest court. An 85 year old person who doesn’t understand his “limitations” cannot be right for that critical job. (See also Clint Eastwood)

25. Canadians understand the value of Mexican workers and welcome them into their country. At the same time, the USA is mired in the building of billion dollar walls. “Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!”

26. Hundreds of millions are wasted on political campaigns while citizens of the USA remain without health insurance.

27. Billions are spent on foreign aid and undeclared wars while citizens of the USA remain without health insurance.

28. Adam Sandler is considered a “star”.

29. Al Sharpton, who never apologized for the Tawana Brawley fiasco, has been given a “pass” by the press in the USA.

30. Presidential politics has become a national obsession.

31. The beginning of the outsourcing problem was when we realized that the Japanese and the Germans really did produce a superior product, the car. From there it’s been all downhill.

32. We have permitted unlimited ownership of our real estate and corporations by foreign entities. One day we will pay.

33. Cubicles have become acceptable work stations.

34. Football coaches at major colleges are paid many times what the average professor earns.

35. Candidates can now agree to pay off their opponents’ campaign debt to get them out of the race.

I look forward to receiving comments/ supplements to this list. My gripes are not limited hereto. I’ve just run out of emotional energy to complete it.

Story ID:	3853
Written by:	jim rambo (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	Everytown USA
Year:	2008
Person:	Rammy