Perhaps not so much a true Bonehead article – then again, perhaps it is.

My friends, I’m angry. Not just John McCain angry mind you, really fucking pissed off angry. What exactly am I angry about you ask…like there’s any chance in hell I’m not going to tell you.

I’m angry about the fact that this country can actually produce living, breathing cretins like those two Neo Nazi skinhead idiots from Kentucky who thought it would be a great idea to kill 88 black students, 14 via decapitation in honor of the ideals of one Adolph Hitler (the 88 is symbolic in that the letter “H” is the 8th letter in the alphabet – therefore 88 stands for “Heil Hitler” – deep thinking shit from a bunch of sick morons). Oh, then when they were done with that they were going to try and assassinate Barack Obama. Thankfully, these two were such a couple of bleeding vaginal belch assholes they were easily tracked down and caught before they could do anything more than acquire one poorly sawed off shotgun and half a can of chewing tobacco. Here’s hoping that someone castrates them with a rusty shiv while they rot in jail.

I’m angry too about corporations who let criminals continue to get away with robbery and deceit with no concern about the damage of doing nothing that wears away at the other minions. I’m angry about CEO’s who destroy companies and walk away with windfalls with no concern for how it affects poor schmucks like us who toil tirelessly in virtual anonymity with honesty, integrity and a continuous effort to try and do what’s right. These things tend to happen when nobody is really paying much attention – sort of like deregulation.

I’m angry about the fact that this is the final season for Boston Legal– you know it’s a great show if I’m watching it and I switch out only during commercials to see what’s going on during a simultaneously occurring World Series Game, Peyton Manning on Monday Night Football and Monday Night Pro Wrestling – then going right back to enjoy Denny Crane.

I’m angry that my charming wife won’t allow me to pack light for our upcoming cruise vacation, and simply rent a tuxedo on board the ship. You’re supposed to rent one for the “formal” dinner – but I figure I’ll rent it as soon as I get on board and wear it for the whole trip. Who doesn’t look good in a tux? And, it’s just going to make packing all that much easier. More on this later.

No – what I’m really angry about is the state of this country and it’s sadly disintegrating economy. I know I’m not the only one who’s watched their 401K, IRA and Mutual Funds shrink faster than twigs and berries tossed into a pool of ice water – but I’m angry about us having to talk about it, and worry about it every fucking night.

Sure the economy is a mess. Ultimately all of the problems point squarely to the housing crisis, there’s really very little disagreement there. It’s the largest asset the majority of the population will ever attempt to acquire, pay off and possibly own. Problem is, more and more people were led to believe that they could attempt to acquire more than they can ever afford, and when the chips came due, or the falsely deflated interest rates of come-on adjustable rate mortgages suddenly crept up, thousands of people could no longer afford the homes they were in and foreclosed. Banks see their loans going bad and they go out of business, spooking other lenders, soon nobody can get any money to continue their borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, and oh shit, we have a housing crisis!

The Republicans will point backwards to the Clinton administration, and the growth of affirmative action – insisting that regulations be relaxed to allow more people than ever to attempt the American dream of home ownership. Democrats will point to the Bush administration and the complete deregulation of most all of the financial industry leading to a flood of bad loans and reckless spending. Take whichever side you’d like, but think about this; John McCain has used, as a large part of his Republican nominee rhetoric, that Barack Obama wants to do what all Democrats apparently do – and expand government. Now, I’m not a fan of expanding government, but a shrinking government seems to me to lend itself to even more deregulation of our financial system, banking system, Wall Street and all of those factors that work to make our economy run. Less government means less regulation, which, no matter what your views, you have to admit has played a huge role in the world of shit we find ourselves in.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’ll never sit here and shill for one party or the other. I am opposed to the two party systems and would never affiliate with either for fear of developing an obligation to vote based on party lines. I am proudly independent and I make my decisions of who to support based solely on their plans, ideas and agenda. Following specifically one party or another based on a group belief system is the same as following a misguided religion – those who do are simply sheep. This is unfortunately what most of the residents of this country are.

At least we’ll never face a shortage of sweaters and delicious lamb chops.

See, and with that is something else that’s been making me angry. So many people blindly follow what they’ve been told and actually believe their actions will have no repercussions. Like a big part of the housing crisis – people buying houses that they could not afford. Oh sure, the banks and the mortgage lenders and Freddie and Fannie
all pushed to get more mortgages on the books, but guess what little lambs – owning your own home is neither a right nor an entitlement, it is an earned responsibility. The largest part of that responsibility is making sure that if your income changes or the cost of your mortgage increases – you can still afford to stay in your home, because you’re meeting your mortgage payments.

“Gee whiz Bone, how do we do that?”

Too many people put themselves in places that were more than they could afford and did not look ahead to the possibility of what they would do if the ARM increased and their income did not. What would they do if suddenly a two income family became a one income family? What would happen if Medicare suddenly decided to stop covering your mother in-laws dialysis treatments?
Why can’t you tap into your homes equity when you need an emergency loan? It’s because you didn’t plan well. Maybe you took out a mortgage with no money down. Maybe you thought it was really important to have a media room in the basement of your house even though you’re blind and married to an Amish woman. All these things and thousands more make for a poorly planned financial decision, and unfortunately a housing market beset with thousands of foreclosures.

Hmmm….guess who’s going to have to pay for all these poorly devised purchases?

The rest of us who’ve tried to live within our means, budget restraints and brains.

Look, before you start wondering to yourself, just exactly how big of a prick I am – let me just get one thing straight. Lots of great, hardworking people are losing their homes because they can’t pay their mortgages. They can’t because the factory closed; they lost their jobs and were laid off because business is slow. So they’re the victims. I’m not angry at these people whose homes are going to foreclosure – I’m angry because the situation they find themselves in is part and parcel to the reckless spending of millions more living beyond their means. Defaulting loans and golden parachutes in the multi millions of dollars for CEO’s who drove the factories to close. The greedy over-consumption led by our corporate leaders and the trickle down through the media to the woolly public armed with over extended plastic.

Wondering who the true Shepard is? Nope, it’s not Little Bo Beep, it’s not even Jesus. The Shepard is the media, and the flock of this nation follows everything the media says. The media has become entertainment – I know, I work in the media – actually the entertainment industry and I try to sell people something. People love to be entertained, and many allow entertainment to become reality – that’s why they actually believe pro wrestling is real or that Rosie O’Donnell has any redeeming talents. Don’t want to believe that the news media is nothing more than entertainment? Have you noticed that female news reporters don’t really look like Barbara Walters any more…nope.

You’re a woman and want to be on TV news – you’d better be hot! Most of the male news reporters have some pretty nice haircuts too.

And if you want the best example of how the media can control the state of the country – all you have to do is look on the front page of today’s newspapers, or at the headline of your internet home page.

If you see this guy

The market is up and the economy must be getting better…let’s all go out and buy a plasma TV and a Hummer!

But whoa – if you see this guy….

Get out a marker and a piece of cardboard and practice writing out…”Will work for food”

Stop following and make your voice heard. Shout at your local congressman, write your local paper, post your one-sided rantings on a blog – but don’t just sit there and do nothing. That’s what the God-fearing followers in the red states do, and look what that’s gotten us.

By the time you’re reading this we’ll already know who the next president is – but I hope you voted with some intelligence and thought. I hope you kept in mind that the President of the United States is really only a figurehead – don’t forget that the world is really run by a consortium of underlords monitored in Britain by the Central Bank. I hope too that you kept in mind that even though it’s simply a front line position with less real juice than an overripe lemon – it is a position that sets the tone for the sheep of this nation. And at this time more than ever in most of our lifetimes, we need a really good tone setter. We don’t need another grumpy old man who can’t seem to remember which side of the bed he rolled out of, not to mention where he left the football. I hope you thought your vote through. I certainly did.

I think sometimes of what sort of platform a true Bonehead would offer in a push for the White House. Let’s see….how about we legalize all drugs and outlaw all religion?

How dare you say?

Well, this is not a problem limited to this country – although we can proudly say we’re among the leaders in some sad categories. Yup – in this country we’ve got folks sitting in federally (I mean tax payer) funded prisons for years on end for selling a bag of weed. But there’s still fundamentalist zealots walking the earth who believe honor killings of innocent children in the name of some non-existent God is righteous. This makes sense to some people.

How many people have died in wars and attacks in the name of religion or because someone thought their Gods and ideas were the only right ideas and that any who does not believe should be put to death as infidels. How many people have died in drug deals gone bad – or been wiped out in gangland shootings where the wars are over the bags of money selling bags of crack. If you could just walk into a store and buy the drugs you need – no guns, no back alley deals, might make for a lot less traffic in the prisons. And, if we outlawed religion, we could just put those accused of breaking the law in the churches, mosques and synagogues, except they could never leave. Bet that would stop them from passing the plate and killing in the name of Allah, God, whoever.

Don’t get me started – if there were a Hell we’d all be going there for being blind and complacent.

4-Aminobiphenyl, hexachlorobenzene Dimethyl sulfate, chloromethyl methylether 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, carbon disulfide Dibromochloropane, chlorinated benzenes, 2-Nitropropane, pentachlorophenol, Benzotrichloride, strontium chromate 1, 2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane

I went walking in the wasted city
Started thinking about entropy
Smelled the wind from the ruined river
Went home to watch TV

And it’s worse when I try to remember
When I think about then and now
I’d rather see it on the news at eleven
Sit back, and watch it run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down
I can see it with my eyes closed
Run straight down

We’ve been living in the shadows all our lives
Where it’s stand in line and don’t look back and don’t look left and don’t look right
So we hide our eyes and wonder who’ll survive
Waiting for the night…

Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer
First the water and the wildlife go
Pretty soon there’s not a creature stirring
‘Cept the robots at the dynamo

And it’s worse when I try to remember
When I think about then and now
I’d rather see it on the news at eleven
Sit back, and watch it run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down
I can see it with my eyes closed
Run straight down

– Warren Zevon 1989