Veteran’s Day Irony
First, I want to make it clear I’m not bullshitting anybody. For those of you who read the blog with any kind of regularity, you’ve probably been wondering what happened to consistency. Well, the kind of writer who tells you they can function without deadlines is either an old-school prolific cat with a typewriter or a liar. In most cases, it’s probably the latter. For that reason, I apologize that the advertised interview with Dr. True Ott hasn’t been met with the same intensity that most deadlines are. Then again, I gave myself a tougher deadline than anyone’s given me in two years. What matters is that I will get that interview to you in the near near future.
Secondly, Happy Veterans Day to all former and active military. I rarely agree with the various international massacres you’ve all been dispatched to become involved with, but your intentions are noble and it’s not entirely impossible to do your own good by displaying the kind of brass most of us won’t admit we lack. I have a few friends that are recent vets and I thank them tremendously. Both of my grandfathers served in World War II and military families are to be commended for their sacrifices. Let’s try and cut down on the necessity for that as much as possible now, eh?
The Veterans Day job board post I couldn’t resist but to share comes from career mega-site Monster, where a tip column for job hunting in the ‘recession’ gave a pretty interesting tip:
Concentrate on Growth Industries
Brent Berger, a Las Vegas-based scenario planning and strategy consultant, suggests focusing on growth industries and areas. “Look at energy,” he says. “With oil costs where they are, the need for cheap fuel and cheap heat is ever-mounting. And any job that alleviates pain is recession-proof. Similarly, the National Guard, Border Patrol, homeland security and the defense industry in general will continue to thrive as the next stage in the war on terror continues.”
I’m not sure I would trust “similarly” as my transition word fearing someone might associate my description of the war on terror as a growth industry with “any job that alleviates pain,” but that’s the writer in me talking. All kidding aside, that isn’t exactly the kind reassurance you want while job hunting after all the shit America’s been through in the last 7 years. I’d almost have liked it better if I cruised by Monster, it detected my IP address, and said “You’ll be working at Burger King so don’t waste your time” compared with that little nugget from our friend Mr. Berger. No pun intended, if course.
In America, we enjoy the freedom of giving half our income to the government through various forms of taxes. We have the freedom to participate in a Ponzi scheme known as Social Security. We have the freedom to vote for the president. Unlike the voters of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who only had one choice for president, we have two choices! We have the freedom to choose between Republican-led big government programs and Democrat-led big government programs. We have the freedom to use government-controlled money, which loses value every year. We have the freedom to subsidize the poltically-connected agricultural, automotive, and banking industries. We have the freedom of sending children through the compusory government-run education system, and then pay for job training for those that get through 12 years of schooling and still don’t know how to do anything. We have the freedom to own guns, provided that said gun is approved by the government and we pass the government-mandated background check. If we get the appropriate permits and stand in then proper free-speech zone, we have the freedom to protest.
Thanks to all the veterans that defended these freedoms and kept them from being taken away!
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023944.html