Daddy on the Edge of Making it Right

The following is a blog entry that I wrote nearly three years ago for another blog. I'm posting it today, five years after Katrina hit NOLA, because it is unfortunately, still relevant. I'm hoping, on this fifth anniversary of Katrina, that everyone who reads this will click the link at the end and at least have a look.

Brad Pitt and I are building houses.

Man, that sounds so cool. Brad Pitt and I are hanging out together, swinging hammers, putting up some houses. I'm sure Angelina would be nearby as well, so really it would be Brad and Angelina and I, hanging together, doing the whole house thing. Of course, Brad's a busy guy, so he wouldn't be around all the time, so sometimes it would just be Angelina and I, hanging out together, playing house (Daddy's mind wanders off into fantasy land, yanked quickly back to reality by the realization that his wife reads this blog).

Okay, okay, I embellish. We're not reallly hanging out together, Brangelina and I - but Brad Pitt is building houses, and I'm helping him out when I can. And so can you.

Y'all know about Hurricane Katrina and the way it wrecked people's lives all up and down the Gulf Coast. What you may not realize is that, due to the truly pathetic, incompetent and greedy nature of insurance companies and all levels of the government, there are still a huge amount of people in the Gulf Coast who have not been able to rebuild their homes. I'm not here to argue about the reasons for it - I honestly don't care about any weaselly excuse for raining down more shit on these people after all they went through. All I know is that the victims of Hurricane Katrina have been through enough, and they deserve a break.

Turns out Brad Pitt agrees with me. Here's a snippet from his site - http://www.makeitrightnola.org/

In December 2006, Brad Pitt convened a group of experts in New Orleans to brainstorm about building green affordable housing on a large scale to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Having spent time with community leaders and displaced residents determined to return home, Pitt realized that an opportunity existed to build houses that were not only stronger and healthier, but that had less impact on the environment.
Previously, Pitt sponsored an architecture competition organized by Global Green with the goal of generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably. Several of those designs are currently under construction in the Lower 9th Ward and the project inspired him to expand his efforts.
After discussing the hurdles associated with rebuilding in a devastated area, the group determined that a large-scale redevelopment project focused on green affordable housing and incorporating innovative design was indeed possible.
The group settled on the goal of constructing 150 homes (one of the larger rebuilding projects in the city), with an emphasis on developing an affordable system that could be replicated.
To demonstrate replicability, Pitt determined to locate the project in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the most devastated areas of New Orleans, proving that safe homes could and should be rebuilt. Pitt hopes that this project would be a catalyst for recovery and redevelopment throughout the Lower 9th Ward and across the city of New Orleans.
Having listened to one former resident's plea to help "make this right," Pitt was inspired to name the project "Make It Right" (MIR).

As of this writing, 52 of the 150 proposed homes have been funded. That's pretty good, but it needs to be better. This neighborhood can be rebuilt, and the beauty of it is that it will be rebuilt as a green neighborhood, so not only will people have their homes back, but their homes will help all of us with their smaller carbon footprint. Seems only fair that, if someone's home is going to help all of us, that all of us should help get that home built, hmmm?

Daddy doesn't usually ask for much - read my blog, laugh at my strange humor, comment every now and then and I'm generally a happy camper. However, in this post, I am asking - very strongly - that you donate to this project. One year after Katrina, I set up a website to raise money for Habitat for Humanity and their rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast. The response was underwhelming, due in part (I believe) to the fact that people thought the crisis was over down there. The flood waters had receded, people had moved out of the stadium...business as usual, right?

Wrong.

The crisis isn't over. It wasn't over a year ago, and it isn't now. And that's sad. Just a sad string of broken promises:

The government promised they would help. They didn't.

The insurance companies promised they would help. They didn't.

Now Brad Pitt has promised to help, and he's asking for help from us.

I intend to help him keep that promise. I'm gonna donate whatever I can, because I truly want to see New Orleans come back - better and stronger than ever.

I hope you'll join us. Check out the site, tell a friend, donate. Let's Make It Right.

Daddy on the Edge of a Referral (and the briefest of comments about the mosque)

Hey.

Sorry I've been away from BlogsVille lately. I see some people's blogs and they've already logged 60 entries for August and I start to feel about as inadequate as I might in the Knicks locker room. I just can't do that. I know it might not seem like it, but I put a lot of thought into my entries - I struggle with what I'm trying to say until I feel like it doesn't suck. Or maybe only sucks a little bit.

That is not to say that more proficient writers are somehow more sucky than Daddy - on the contrary, these guys are great - clear, concise - I got no problem with these guys, except for the fact that I'm not one of them. However, I am now going to refer you to one of them. A FaceBook friend referred me to this guys blog, and I liked his style - smells like a toned down version of Daddy with a little more schooling. Here he is - check him out;

A plain blog about politics

As for me, I'll be writing again soon. I think I'm building up to something, but I need time to sort out the gray matter. I wasn't going to write at all about the Mosque that's not a mosque, but the more I think about it, the more I think I have something to say. Here it is;

The events which occurred on 9/11 were acts of Satan. They were acts of Evil.

The activity of a mosque that serves the community at large is an act of God. It is an act of Good.

Burning a Koran on 9/11 is an act of Satan, even if it is a Minister doing the burning. It is an act of Evil.

Forgiveness of those that have wronged us, and tolerance of others - love toward each and every human being on the planet, no matter what has occurred in the past - these are acts of Good.


These are the teachings of Jesus Christ.


This is the will of God.

'Nuff Said.

Daddy on the Edge of Reality

I get it now.

It's all about perception really...how we view reality.

The average American believes that there is always the chance that he will one day be like this guy and his family;


The unfortunate truth is that the average American is only a handful of paychecks away from being like this guy and his family;




Yet, the average American will listen to politicians blather on about how tax credits for the rich are good, while welfare and unemployment are bad, and the average American will believe that he will never be on welfare, but is just soooo close to getting into that wealthy tax credit bracket. The average American never considers that Medicaid may one day be more of a concern to his direct well being than will the Estate Tax.

The average American may be in for a rude awakening.

I hope I'm wrong - I hope we wake up one day and find that we're all just super duper rich, but deep down most folks know the odds are against that, and the wealthiest among us keep making the odds steeper and steeper every day. So maybe we should stand up in support of extending unemployment. Maybe we should speak out loudly against extending tax cuts for the wealthy. We might save someone's ass that was just going through a rough patch...just needed a little more time to get on their feet.

And who knows, the ass we save may be our own.

Track 3 on the Daddy Revolution Soundtrack. Embedding was disabled on the official video, so I ended up with the karaoke version. Still worth the listen.

“I think it's both good ethics and good economics to scrap this notion that we can fight a war on terror and give rich folks like me a tax cut. It amounts to class warfare.”

~Bill Clinton

Keeping it Real,

Daddy

Daddy on the Edge of "The Welfare State"

So, I started out as diligent little blogger person, searching for stats - facts and figures, charts and graphs to back up my seemingly Un-Daddylike position that supporting all of the greedy little thieving welfare queens in our country has simply got to stop. And then I thought, I don't need no stinkin' stats! I'm fueled by rage! Powered by righteous indignation! I'm having a Tea Party in my pants! So here I go - catch me if I fall.

First, let me say that, if you are just broke ass broke, and you need help, then you should have help - I'm all for that. If you're sick and can't care for yourself, you should have care. The weakest among us should be assisted by those of us who are not so weak - Jesus said it, Buddha said it, Ghandi said it, Clinton, King, Obama, Kennedy, and of course - Daddy says it.

However, if you do not need welfare - if you already make more money than you need and yet still insist on taking that which is meant for those less fortunate - well then, you are scum. You are disgusting, loathsome maggots feasting off of the flesh of our country - taking that which does not belong to you; that which you do not deserve, and in doing so, forcing the rest of us to pay for your gluttony. You are filth, and it is you that we speak of when we discuss "Welfare Queens".

Here are a few of those money grubbing bitches - those welfare queens that sit around all day with their other freeloading friends, trying to think of even more ways to steal from honest, hardworking Americans;


ExxonMobil
Sales: $311 billion
Pretax income: $37.3 billion
Income taxes: $17.6 billion
Tax rate: 47%

None of ExxonMobil's income taxes were paid in the U.S. In 2008 the company's income tax bill was $36 billion.

They paid ZERO. A pre-tax income of 37.3 BILLION and they paid ZERO. Daddy's pre-tax income was just slightly less than 37.3 billion frigging dollars, and let me tell you that Daddy paid taxes. Daddy's butt is still sore from the last tax payment. But hey, as long as I'm supporting poor, defenseless companies like little old ExxonMobil - I mean, somebodies gotta pay for all that boom, right? I wonder if my money is helping them dodge proper well drilling techniques, or going to purchase poorly misused and inadequate boom, or maybe my tax dollars subsidize the bird cleaning effort. Hey, as long as I'm doing my part to keep this poor company on it's feet!

Chevron
Sales: $172 billion
Pretax income: $18.5 billion
Income taxes: $8 billion
Tax rate: 43%

Chevron paid $19 billion income tax in 2008. Of this year's taxes, just $200 million were paid in the U.S.

Not as bad as ExxonMobil, but still - $200 million down from $19 billion? Methinks someone has found an offshore haven of sorts.But hey, we didn't need that $18.8 billion, did we? We'll get by - maybe we can have a bake sale!

Y'know that I could go on and on with this rogues gallery, but we have grocery shopping to do, so I'll wrap up with this one, which is by far my absolute Fav!

General Electric
Sales: $157 billion
Pretax income: $10.3 billion
Income taxes: (-$1.1 billion)
Tax rate: N/A

GE's financial services unit, GE Capital, keeps the overall tax bill so low. Over the last two years, GE Capital has displayed an uncanny ability to lose lots of money in the U.S. and make lots of money overseas, where tax rates are lower.

Read those figures carefully - that's a Negative $1.1 billion under Income Tax. Not only did they "owe nothing" in U.S. Income Tax, but they managed to record a tax benefit in excess of one billion dollars! I love that - they have an uncanny ability to lose money here and make it elsewhere! Y'know, there's a name for that ability. It's called Larceny.

The bottom line here is that you can blame the poor in this country all you like for "the strain on the system" that they cause through their needs, but it is nothing when you compare that amount to the enormous amounts of money that these companies deny the U.S. every year. We need to be clear on who's stealing from us. While it's comforting and easy to blame this guy -



the truth is that he's the least of our problems. He's a decoy, put out there by lobbyists, corporations and even those in our own government. They want us to focus all of our energy on that guy, so we don't notice this guy -



Pretty damned good decoy, huh? I'd have trouble telling these guys apart. This Welfare Queen to my right is Lee Raymond, Chief Fat Bastard of ExxonMobil, just looking all happy as a pig in shit over how he fleeces this country that he calls home. Bastard.



We've gotta stop this, and I'm certain we can. But this requires thought. It requires minds greater than Daddy's to figure out how to bring down these giants and steal their wallets. That's where you come in. We need ideas; we need to start a dialogue. Revolutions are won by those who show up - leaving some thoughts in the comments section is a damned good start.

Here's some music to get you excited - track 2 on the Revolution Soundtrack.

"The principles are clear and explicit. The free market is fine for the third world and the growing counterpart at home. Mothers with dependent children can be sternly lectured on the need for self-reliance, but not dependent executives and investors, please. For them, the welfare state must flourish."

~ Avram Noam Chomsky

Time to dethrone the Queens,

Daddy

An Open Letter to Congress

It's summer. 100 degree days, sunblock and swimming pools, sweat dripping down my blue collar nose as I hammer on through the heat and humidity that is July in New York.

So why do I smell November in the air?

'Cause it's comin', brother. (Can ya smell it?) The elections are coming, and our dedicated representatives in DC are just about ready to totally abandon any real work that needs to be done, so they can focus on re-election. Now, it's not like it's a slow time and you can sneak out without anyone noticing - no, there's some pretty important stuff going on - there are some big issues that really need some fixing - and we need some brave folks up there with the courage of one's convictions - defined as having enough courage and determination to carry out one's goals.

Damn. That's in short supply. But hey, I get it - who wants to rock the boat when their job is on the line? Ummmm...any politician with any self respect left that still gives a crap about actually acting for the good of the country? Yeah...that guy's getting my vote.

It's hard to be courageous when you're looking down the barrel of a pink slip.


Or it's easy.

A favorite mantra of Daddy's is, "The most dangerous man in the world is the man who has nothing left to lose". Because you can't take anything from that man; he has nothing left to take. He has been stripped clean of anything you might use to threaten him and stands before you, purified, even strengthened by fire, and able to swat down your puny assaults as he would a fly.

If this is a hard state of mind to imagine, it's only because we don't see it as often as we used to. It seems that, in a lot of ways, complacency has taken the place of courage. As long as it's not in my backyard, as long as I didn't lose my job, as long as my house isn't being foreclosed on, as long as my children don't die in that war, or that hurricane, or from lack of health insurance...

Then everything is okay.

And as long as I get re-elected, everything will continue to be...Okay. And when they ask me to contradict myself, to lie, to flip flop on issues that are near and dear to my heart because it will make the other guy look bad; when they ask me to sell out my country for a few bucks, I will kiss them full on the mouth, bend over and say...Okay.

Well, I'm here to tell you guys - it is not fucking Okay.

Our elected officials prattle on about "The Will of the American People" like they actually have any idea what that is anymore. You cannot be simultaneously out of touch and have your finger on the pulse of America. When Senator Jim Bunning equates the pain of missing his favorite college basketball team play with the pain of no longer having unemployment benefits coming in and wondering how you are now going to pay for FOOD - that is out of touch. When Joe Barton, on the tv, radio and in front of everybody, apologizes to BP's Tony Hayward for the government's audacity in asking BP to pay for its mess, that is just ludicrously out of touch. When John Boehner likens our financial crisis to a problem the size of an ant - I could go on and on - y'know, when I was in school and people were this out of touch with reality, we wouldn't let them drive home and they needed a friend to stay with them until they came down. When did we start electing Cheech and Chong to run the country?

The sad truth is, they're not stoned. They are Corporate Owned Puppets, and until we cut the strings of corporate control, we will continue to be on the receiving end of every corporate shit storm to come down the pike.

Here are words I never thought I'd say - The Tea Party is Right. We do need to take our country back. But not, as they would assert, back from the clutches of Socialist/Nazi/Pinko/Commie/Junkie/FagHags. I get the whole "Taxed Enough Already" - I feel that way too sometimes. But how about, instead of cutting social programs that help our poorest and most in need, we instead fairly tax those wealthy corporations that currently pay little to no tax at all? Wouldn't you like Exxon to pay its fair share? Or Haliburton? Or BP? We need to make that happen. We need to rescue our country from the hands of Corporate America, and the lobbyists that it sends forth like maggots onto flesh. We need to fight back against ridiculous legalities that grant corporations the same rights as people. Any time our voices are not heard, we must speak louder, and clearer; and if we are still not heard, we must take matters into our own hands and effect that change that we wish to see, that change that we know must be to make our country great again.

This is my rallying cry - let it start our soundtrack of the American Revolution against the Corporations.

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs."

~Albert Einstein

Sincerely,

A middle aged Anarchist

Daddy on the Edge of "Dad Blogs"

Why am I here?

What is Daddy on the Edge about, really? Solar Power? Lesbians and their Proms? Conservative Fear and Republican Loathing in Las Vegas?

I've talked about all of these subjects in my brief tenure here, as well as many other eclectic areas of study.

Blogs are amazing things - they're a hat, they're a brooch, they're a pterodactyl. They're a floor polish and a dessert topping. What I mean is, a blog is a different vehicle of expression for everyone who climbs into it. For many, it's introspective musings. For some, it's amusing re-tellings of everyday life. For me, I guess it's mostly been soap box. I yell here. I get to curse here. Dads need that - a place where they can let a good f-bomb fly. It's a virtual man cave for me, and I love the fact that people are interested enough to come in and see what I've scrawled on my man cave walls.

I've been wondering, though. The name on the door says "Daddy" on the Edge, yet I haven't been following suit with all the other "Daddy bloggers" out there, and there are a buttload of them! Holy Crap, I honestly had no idea how many Dads where in the blogosseum, but let me tell you - the place is crawling with them. So, do they really need me - one more Dad - to offer my telling, touching, poignant, laugh riot slices of my everyday, modern day, Dad-o-liscious life as Father to my two girls?

In a word - Nah.

They've got that covered. And they do a fantastic job. Like David Mott, from "Dad's House" talking about his daughters first screaming orgasm , Laid Off Dad and his rallying cry about the need for Dad blogs and Jim at busydadblog.com telling of a chance encounter with Avril LaVigne and her...balls.

This is just a sampling of the plethora of Dads with something to say in the Blogateria. Every now and then, when I find one that tickles my brain, I'll post his link on the right. In the meantime, I might post about my kids. I might not. I might post about other parts of my body besides my heart (my pancreas is getting mighty jealous, let me tell you - and it seems I may have come down with "a lady problem"). I might post about the need to have solar panels installed on John McCain's head (a) to provide him shade and protect against future bouts of skin cancer and (b) to help power the lights in the auditorium where Lynn Cheney can finally attend the lesbian prom that she never had - anything is possible on the roulette wheel of crap in Daddy's head.

So place your bets. :)

Daddy on the Edge of....yeah...whatever.

Something is wrong with me.

I don't know what it is.

It is essentially a...Blah.

Now that is, of course, the layman's interpretation of my condition. I'm sure there are many cardiactical, neurological, hormonal and environmental factors that weigh into any official diagnosis, but the long and the short of it is this nasty, nagging, unrelenting feeling of BLAH.

There's a line from some song that says, "My get up and go must've got up and went." That is exactly how I feel right now. Motivation for forward motion or any kind of locomotion has been undermined by a demotion of emotion and lack of devotion to the promotion of lotion...or potions....or....um....whatever.

See? I used to be able to wrap up a rhyme scheme like that easy peasy- put a nice bow around it - now, it just peters out in confusion and I just can't bring myself to care. There are a few things I'm no longer able to bring myself to do;

I can no longer walk on eggshells very well. I was never terribly adept at said talent before, but I managed to hold my own. Now, I just can't see the payoff. It's uncomfortable for me, it's enabling for the person who scattered said eggshells in the path in the first place - it really doesn't serve anyone. And as of late, it's been something I have decided not to do. Instead, I remove myself from the equation. Extract myself from the eggshell field. Logic - if I don't interact with you, the odds of my not offending your tender sensibilities go up substantially. A win/win all 'round.

I can no longer work twelve hour days. I used to be able to, and reveled in my ability to do so. Now, the motivation, energy, passion, hope - whatever you want to call it or all of those things, is either in short supply or has totally dried up. I try to look at that as a good thing, since twelve hour work days aren't the healthiest things in the world, but it still feels like it's got "LOSER" stamped all over it.

I don't care (as much) what other people think. I'm trying not to care at all, but societal conditioning is strong. Bottom line is this - I know that I'm a good person, and that what I do in my day to day and the way in which I do it doesn't hurt anyone. Therefore, I'm going to do it however I want. If I decide that today is Opera Day, and I am going to sing every word that comes out of my mouth, then so be it. If piercing my ears numerous times seems like a good idea to me, then it will probably happen. As I've said in previous posts, life is simply too damned short for me to stress out about what strangers (or not so strangers) think of me. It's like Dr. Suess says,

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

The only thing that might possibly stimulate this battered, beaten, bewildered soul of mine is that thought that something might actually be fun. So, if something fun should actually arise, should I not do it because some idiot on the street might think less of me? Too many wasted years living that noise, let me tell ya.

Let me say here; I'm not trying to throw myself a little pity party with this post. As with my other postings, I am laying out the information on a subject, analyzing it and trying to come up with some solutions. I am honestly at a complete loss as to why I am feeling the way I feel lately, and if spilling my guts in blog form brings me any closer to a solution, then so be it. Because feeling like this...sucks. A lot.

I used to feel like I was happening to life - like I was an active participant. Now, I feel like life is happening to me - not even that - happening around me. And where I used to be an active player on the field, now I no longer feel like a player, and most days I barely feel like a spectator. Usually, I feel like the guy at the snack bar choking down an overpriced chili dog, wondering how much time is left in the game before he's gotta fight traffic to get outta here.

'Cause when the game is over, and I can get the hell out of this crowded stadium full of people living their lives, following their dreams, chasing their rainbows....

I can finally go outside and smoke.