A Beautiful World Without Empathy: Exhibit A Texting

Texting

So I’m sitting in an average size living room watching a couple of people texting each other rather than carry on a conversation. Isn’t that weird?

Apparently it’s becoming common practice. Texting is everywhere.

Why is it that a growing number of people prefer to text rather than converse, or to make phone calls, or to even leave voice messages?

And why is it that ever since texting has become the preferred one-way method of distance communications (anything beyond 2 feet), no one but old fashioned fools bother to directly answer their phones anymore?

Well I had a hunch but I decided to do a little internet research concerning texting vs. talk. The many comments I read confirmed my suspicions.

"It's more straight and to the point.”

“I can ignore or respond at my own leisure.”

“It is so much more easily accomplished through a few words of text without all the niceties and formalities of a phone call!”

“Texting is direct, to the point without the small talk involved in phone conversation.”

“I hate talking on the phone.”

“I know some people who keep me on the phone way longer that I'd like.”

“If I don't have time to have a full attentive conversation, I have to text.”

“It’s so easy to flirt and exchange small bits of banter. It's playful and possible that someone might find it easier to text risqué thoughts than saying it face to face or on the phone.”

“It's just convenient and quick.”

“I can keep in touch with people who I don't see often but don't want to call.”

“The only con for me with the texting is sarcasm gets taken for seriousness and it offends people. Soooo I gotta watch what I text”

“When I text, I just want to bark or whisper my message. I want to make you laugh or smile, but I don’t want to get into anything complex or time consuming. I don’t want to listen to you at least not right now. I want to share something quick, easy, and right at my finger tips.”

“It’s all about me. That’s what it’s really all about. Me, me, me and what I want when I want it and I really am not interested in what you want when you want it. God forbid that I would have to perform niceties and endure formalities for your sake!

If I called you I’d have to listen to you because you would introduce into the conversation something you wanted to talk about. I just don’t have time for that. Life is too short and I’ve got a really cute Avatar sweetie in Second Life that will do exactly what I want when I want it. And I don’t need to sweet talk or small talk my honey Avatar. So just text me back when you have a chance and it better be important because I’ve got a life! Really I do.”

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We all know that American Idol has become the most important thing in the lives of millions of Americans, but some people take their obsession with the show way, way too far.  The truth is that it is absolutely frightening how seriously some people take a simple television show.  In fact, one mother's epic tirade after learning that Crystal Bowersox lost to Lee DeWyze in the American Idol finale is quickly becoming a YouTube legend. 

If you have not seen the video posted below yet, you have got to watch it.  Yes, it is extremely funny in one sense, but it is also an incredibly sad commentary on just how far we have fallen as a nation.... 

So did the fact that Crystal Bowersox lost American Idol really "ruin" this woman's life?

Of course not.

But the truth is that tens of millions of American now live in a false reality where the things that happen in the entertainment world are what really matter, and the fact that the world is literally falling apart around them doesn't really register.

Here is another example of this phenomenon....

A 32 year old Clackamas, Oregon mother recently made a trip with her three year old son to Chips Palace and Restaurant Casino in Lakewood, Washington.

She arrived at the casino at 4 AM, and she decided that her son would be perfectly fine spending the day locked inside her Lincoln Navigator.

Nearly eight hours later, a casino security guard heard the little boy crying. Inside the vehicle he found the little tike with a soiled diaper and only a cup of spoiled milk to sustain him.

Isn't that lovely?

Yes another woman who is extremely unlikely to win Mom of the Year.

But that is what is happening to America.

We are so obsessed with entertaining ourselves that we have lost all touch with reality.

And yet the things that really matter are being totally ignored by tens of millions of Americans that have been completely "zombiefied" by entertainment.

If people want to get upset about something, there are a whole host of crucial national issues that are just screaming for our attention.....

*The U.S. government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and yet our "representatives" in Washington D.C. continue to spend money like it is going out of style.  What we have done to future generations is absolutely criminal.

*Our health care system has just been obliterated by the U.S. Congress, and we  are going to be drowning in a sea of red ink as we try to pay for the bizarre new system that they have created.

*A horde of 30 million illegal aliens have brought a tidal wave of crime, drugs and gang violence with them into our cities and the U.S. government is doing nothing to stop it.

*Our politicians keep telling us how wonderful "free trade" and "the global economy" are while our once great manufacturing cities such as Detroit turn into rusted-out war zones.

*Over 40 million babies have been slaughtered in U.S. abortion mills since 1973, and yet the vast majority of the American people seem perfectly content for the murdering of the unborn to continue.

Yes, those are things that are actually worth getting upset about.

But instead, tens of millions of brain-dead Americans will continue to obsess over every little detail of American Idol and Dancing With The Stars while the Republic continues to crumble.

What a sad nation we have become.

Bill Clinton has discovered a truly unique way of raising money to pay off his wife's campaign debts. He is raffling off the opportunity to spend a day with him.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Bill Clinton is now a lottery prize. 

He has sent an email to millions of people who supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2008 that asks this question:

"How would you like the chance to come up to New York and spend the day with me?"

Doesn't that sound cozy?

Reportedly, an online donation of as little as $5 gets you into the lottery.

Considering the fact that Hillary's campaign debt is now down to $771,000, and considering the fact that her campaign has approximately $624,000 in the bank, it is not as if the Clintons need this money so badly.

Or maybe this is just a way for Bill to meet chicks.

In any event, the opportunity to spend a day with Bill Clinton is out there.

I wonder what he would do if a hardcore conservative won?

That could be fun.

You could spend half the day just asking him about the truth regarding the scandals during his administration.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more appealing a day with Bill Clinton sounds.

So if the opportunity came up, sure, I think I would hang out with Bill Clinton for a day.

But I would never give Hillary a dime, so I guess I am out of luck.

But if you are interested, feel free to give the Clintons a donation. 

Who knows?

You might get lucky.

The people who brought you "The Great Swine Flu Scare Of 2009" now want to bring you "The Great Global Health Tax Of 2010".  The World Health Organization is actually considering a plan to ask governments all over the globe to impose a global consumer tax on such things as Internet activity and everyday financial transactions like paying bills online.

Seriously.

Apparently the goal of such a plan would be to raise "tens of billions of dollars" which would then be used to "transfer" pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing capabilities to the developing world.

Transfer them from where?

Places like the United States?

So let's get this straight. 

According to the WHO global tax plan, they want to do the following three things....

#1) Take away research, development and manufacturing jobs from us and give them to the developing world at a time when we can least afford it.

#2) Give much more money and power to the idiots who brought us the global swine flu scare of 2009.

#3) Make us pay for all of it.

The World Health Organization's "Expert Working Group" is also thinking of asking wealthy nations such as the United States to set aside fixed portions of their gross domestic product to finance the shift in worldwide research and development.

What in the world?

No, we do not want a global tax.

No, we do not want to redistribute our wealth.

We've got a big enough debt problem right now without the WHO trying to dip their greedy little fingers into our pockets.

Thanks to Obama and the U.S. Congress we are already flat broke as a nation.

So does anyone think that it is a remotely good idea to give billions of extra U.S. tax dollars to the WHO?

But the truth is that some nations are already taxing their citizens for the benefit of the WHO.

A program known as UNITAID was started in 2006.  The goal of UNITAID is to battle HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the globe.  This program is financed by a "solidarity contribution" levy of anywhere from $1.20 to $58 on airline tickets.

Ouch!

The nations already imposing this tax include France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the U.K.

Apparently it has already raised around a billion dollars, and the WHO says that more countries are getting involved. 

The truth is that this is yet another reason why the United States needs to leave the United Nations.

Not reform it.

Not try to get it to change.

The U.S. needs to pull out of the United Nations and never look back.

Otherwise, there are going to be relentless attempts to impose global taxes, global rules, global regulations and global mandates on the American people.

But we do not want global government.

We never have and we never will.

The Democrats are taxing us dry already.  Just how bad would things be if we let a bunch of global bureaucrats dig around in our pockets?

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."
-Benjamin Franklin
 
It is now official.  A majority of Americans are willing to give up liberty in order to be safer from terrorism.  A stunning new McClatchy-Ipsos poll has found that 51 percent of Americans agree with this statement: "it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism."

Only 36 percent of those polled agreed with this statement: "some of the government's proposals will go too far in restricting the public's civil liberties."

So are Americans really this stupid?

Have they really been brainwashed into willingly giving up their essential liberties just so they can feel a little safer?

Maybe they have.

After all, a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll says that 78 percent of Americans approve of the new full body scanners that the U.S. government wants to install in all U.S. airports.

So almost 4 out of 5 Americans are perfectly fine with letting airport security officials gawk at their naked bodies just so they can feel a bit safer from terrorists.

How sick is that?

The truth is that when Americans allow themselves to become so wimpy and so fearful that they are willing to throw many of their most important freedoms out the window, those responsible for the terror scares have won.

In fact, Amerika (formerly America) is very quickly becoming a brutal police state where privacy is a thing of the past and where free speech and alternative points of view are openly repressed.

For example, in a 2008 academic paper President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated "cognitive infiltration" of groups that advocate "conspiracy theories".

Infiltration of groups with alternative viewpoints that the government doesn't like?

Do we live in East Germany?

Apparently we do.

Americans do not care about their freedoms and liberties anymore, so now they are being taken away.

And apparently the message of the most recent polls is that Americans are perfectly fine with that.

The Obama administration has decided that Barack Obama can break any law he signs if Obama decides that the law in not constitutional and that he can do this whenever he wants and that he does not even have to tell anyone what he is doing.  Seriously.  At least George W. Bush informed that American people that he intended to break the laws that he was signing by including a "signing statement" when he objected to something in a bill.  As bad and as unconstitutional as that was, now the Obama administration is taking things to a whole new level by saying that even if Barack Obama signs a bill into law, the Obama administration can still break any law in that bill if the Obama administration decides that it is an "unconstitutional" limit on Obama's power.

In essence this bring the United States even closer to a dictatorship.

If the president has the ultimate power to decide what is and what is not constitutional, and if the president also has the power to break any laws that he does not feel are constitutional, then the reality is that there are very few limits on his power.  The only limit is essentially how big of an imagination he has.

While Bush was in office, he challenged about 1,200 sections of bills, and Barack Obama continued this "signing statement" pattern during his first few months.

However, Obama has not issued a signing statement since last summer.  Last June, Obama issued a signing statement that claimed that he could openly disobey a new law requiring administration officials to push the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to adopt certain policies that Congress wanted.

That signing statement sparked a tremendous backlash on Capitol Hill.

Since then, the Obama administration has decided that instead of issuing signing statements, Obama will just ignore the provisions of any bill that the Obama administration believes are unconstitutional.

For example, the Obama administration has flatly disregarded a new law passed by Congress that forbids State Department officials from attending United Nations meetings led by nations deemed to be state sponsors of terrorism.

So now Obama gets to essentially have his cake and eat it too.

He can sign into law the various bills sent to him by Congress but can also ignore anything in them that he does not want to follow himself.

So can anything be done about this?

The truth is that this type of thing could quickly escalate into a constitutional crisis.  But with the Democrats in charge of both Congress and the White House, the odds of Congress complaining to the Supreme Court about what Obama is doing are so low as to not even be worth mentioning.

So for right now at least, Barack Obama will get to continue to openly break many of the laws that he is signing and nothing will be done about it.

Welcome to the new Amerika.