DiamondDave's Community Blog

Why do political and religious leaders fall prey to the "desires of the flesh? Especially when they spend their their lives trying to convince the rest of us that such things are evil and need to be eradicated from society?

Latest case in point: The Governor of New York. Here we have a man who has been called the modern day version of the famous gang buster Eliot Ness. One who fought vice and graft with a passion. A family man with three daughters that has even been perceived by some to be a future Presidential hopeful. He has now resigned because of his transgressions.

This was a man that tried his best to stamp out corruption and vice, yet fell victim to the world that he so desperately tried to destroy. Part of his downfall was his relationship with a 22 year old prostitute/aspiring musician known as "Kristen". A woman who has become immensely popular of late with a "My Space" page that reeks with the mindset of a high school girl.

Before that, we had the President and his tryst with an Intern and his alleged history of using the state police to cover up previous encounters with "women of ill repute".

Oh yes, and let's not forget the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, the renowned televangelist crying on television for forgiveness for having a prostitute call him bad names in a hotel room as she pleasured herself in front of him.

So... could it be that these great men were actually weak and troubled men? In an effort to force their demons out of their minds and lives, they lived and acted in a manner very opposite of their desires. Then...finally succumbed to their personal demons? Perhaps their minds and souls could no longer lie to themselves.

Some people believe the answer is actually quite simple...men often think with the smaller of their two heads, the one without the brain.

The un-edited version of this can be found at: The Cutting Point

David.

From a recent msnbc report: "One out 100 adults are either in jail or prison in the United States".

Apparently the birth place of freedom has the highest ratio of it's population incarcerated than any other nation on the planet according to a recent study done by the acclaimed Pew Research Center. And some of our states are more prone to lock you up than others. In fact, four of our 50 states spend six times more money incarcerating our fellow Americans than they spend on higher education. Amazingly, the total nation wide money spent last year on corrections alone was a record 49 billion dollars.

To make matters worse... even with such a large sum of money being spent on corrections, the national crime rate doesn't seem to be decreasing, it's actually increasing ( even in the higher "lock-up" states ). Thus, the cost to many states continues to increase as well as their inmate population. Some states that are short on funds have been forced to take alternative measures to save their budget,  yet still try to appear as not being "soft on crime".

To date; Texas and Kansas have been the leaders in showing leniency towards non-violent criminals such as  "technical" parole and probation violations, thus allowing violators to become "viable tax paying citizens" (under supervision).

In contrast; Kentucky's crime rate has only grown 3 percent in 30 years, yet their inmate population has grown over 600 percent. This type of situation is also common in other states, and is believed by some to be caused by the push to be "tough on crime" along with the Bush administrations "3 strikes" law.

So what is the answer if locking up everyone with one too many traffic violations isn't working? Or letting the Meth dealer off on probation isn't working? Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont states: “Perhaps, if we adequately invested in our children and in education, kids who now grow up to be criminals could become productive workers and taxpayers.”

The Senator may have a point. Yet it will take time to achieve what he proposes. But what are individual states to do now? Perhaps the way Texas and Kansas are going could be the best answer in the meantime.

Or... we could go full tilt like other countries with more population and less crime by making our punishment more severe that just a stay in the local jail. For instance; Getting caught stealing in some countries means loosing a finger or two. Now that would surely cut down on the Britney wannabe's from lifting lighters and lipstick. In the end, there most likely would be fewer crimes committed and fewer people in prison. That might even mean more money to go around and fewer taxes.

Naaw... that won't happen (fewer taxes that is).

*From our parent site: The Cutting Point.net

According financial experts and democrats alike, the Presidents soon to be announced final budget proposal is based on flawed math and could lead to a fiscal meltdown.

Apparently the President's plan does not include the cost of both wars and still will leave the country in a deficit of $400 billion for 2008 and nearly 300 billion for 2009. He also wants more money for the war, Homeland security, Border security.

But do we really need to spend more money on a war that has gone bad that nearly 70 percent of Americans now disapproves of? A war that is sapping the economy to the tune of $3 billion a month? Do we need to spend more money on Homeland security when persons can enter the country without their passports being checked? (as was the case when one of my students came back from Egypt with her 3 brothers and simply said "They're with me" and their passports were not checked).

He is also asking for 3 times the amount of cuts in Medicare and Medicaid than he asked for last year, even though our aging population is growing due to medical advancement.

In regards to children's heath care; he wants to basically split the difference between what he proposed last year and what is actually needed to cover the majority of needy children.

Oddly enough, one of his favored programs is in the area of education. He wants to make it easier for poorer children to get monies for college. This is fine, yet he calls for more cuts in extra curricular activities and mental health services for children.In regards to mental health services he seems to be unaware of the increase in child crime and school murders committed by children.

The bottom line as we see it: The Bush administration is making a last ditch effort to give the impression of setting things straight (without admitting he was ever wrong). Yet, the Presidents thinking is flawed as always and slanted towards the financial interests of the wealthy.

Remember "Back in the day" upon his first election... Bush was going to have this country in a surplus of billions of dollars? ... and it all started with that "rebate" check? and now we are heading into a recession. Guess what? another rebate check is on it's way.

(We wonder... when George and Laura settle back at the oil ranch, will Laura be the one keeping the check book?)

msnbc story...

CNN story...

We have all seen them... those shadowy dancing little devils that have started to emerge of late upon our screens. Just when you thought pop-ups were irritating enough and installed a pop-up blocker, then comes something so evil that it is actually imbedded onto the page you are reading.

There's the "Jazzy" demon. He often brings his irritating entourage with him (like Britney but worse). They tout trumpets and gyrate and gyrate and gyrate... Speaking of gyrating, I could come up with some things they could gyrate on and they would have nothing to do trumpets.

There are also the "Electric Slide" demon dancers. You know, the ones that roll their arms, slide to the left, roll their arms and slide to the right. I would give a body part if I could just make them slide off the screen and into the hot cup of coffee setting on my desk.

Naturally there is the "Holly crap! I'm on freaking fire!" demon. He's the one that stands there stomping his feet and flailing his arms above his head as if he was actually still burning in Hell and not on your screen. I say get a Priest and send dude back.

Lest we not forget the "Hit and Run" demon. He's the one that starts of running from the background and comes right up to you and then runs off. Why can't he just once, run towards me and smack his head on the inside of my screen and fall down (and not get back up)?

But... we can still take control and invoke some devilish torment yet upon them! If you look at it like this: they are not leaving, so that makes them captives on your screen and subject to you toying with them. Personally, I enjoy taking my pointer and rolling it over them. They most often stop when you do this, but sometimes will up start again.

When they start again... I then move the pointer very quickly back and forth over them to see just how slow they are to react and eventually bog down the program that's running them.

Yes! I have conquered the demons! And it only cost a small portion of my time and a mild case of carpale tunnel to do it. Yeah baby!

Ah yes, we have all been there and still return. We have no choice. We stand, we lean, we dread them. Check out lines are a part of daily life that are welcomed like the plague.

If it's not bad enough that we must endure the time spent waiting in line that could be used doing something useful, this "daily living activity" can at times attack our very soul. They put us is a position to let our thoughts wander and our minds become bent on the wishful destruction of others.

So what is it that can take a person from being an all around great guy like Dave to becoming a Jeffery Dommer wanna be?

Well... some things like this;

There you stand, with your cart of groceries. You have just spent the last 45 minutes fighting your way through the isles to try to find what you want and some of the things you actually got were merely concessions because the store didn't have what you really wanted. You are now running short on time and realize that you should have gone to the bathroom before you left. Thus, you try to find the shortest line and see that the shortest line is actually the one with carts that are filled to the brim. You then back up and try to find what may be the "fastest moving" line.

After finding your "spot" you eventually make your way near the register. The lady in front of you only has a few items and you are planning your escape after check out to the bathroom. But No !...now the end is suddenly not so near as your back teeth begin to float and your frozen items become room temperature.

It seems as if the kindly looking woman in front of you has to pull out a credit card. Naturally this card does not go through. She then tells the cashier that she doesn't understand why and then tries again...nope, still didn't go through. She pulls out another card and the same thing happens. At this point you just want to say; "Hey lady! you are over drawn, get it! over draaaawwwn... now move it before I pee all over your leg". So now she pulls out a CHECK !! . Holy Crap! here we go....

Does she have a valid ID ? ... no. Is the check local?... no. OK, now she defaults to her last resort and digs into the bottomless pit of her purse to dig for cash. Naturally, she is short on the change. So you, being generous offer her the 7 cents that she needs. She replies; "No, that's ok, I have it in here somewhere".

Now, while all of this is taking place, this is actually what is happening:

Your heart rate has increased and if we are only allotted so many beats in a lifetime, your life has just gotten shorter. Your blood pressure has increased and will eventually stress your heart, thus causing congestive heart failure. By the time you leave the store, you are now one day closer to death because you had to eat.

So is it any wonder why the darkest thoughts in your mind somehow take over your soul in a check out line ?

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This article & similar can be found in the "Why me?" section at: The Cutting Point.net