politically (co)wrecked

Two things of note. Well, actually three, but I'll only briefly mention the fact that I have now added a somewhat humorous profile picture, so it doesn't really count. I do encourage you to check it out, though.

The first thing of substance has to do with polar bears on melting ice floes. Dear polar bears: You're welcome here in our little hamlet. It's been fricking freezing lately. Granted it has warmed up in the past couple days, but it was still cold enough last night and today to dump so much snow that even the law school cancelled classes. Bottom line, if this whole global warming thing has got you worried (I've seen the pictures, and I admit they got me a bit depressed), I assure you it's plenty cold down here. And we've got lots of drunken frat boys that you can gobble up, should your tummies get hungry.

Secondly, what would ya'll do if you were given $100,000? I went to get my Air Force physical Tuesday (all clear, unless the urinalysis ends up showing the doobies I was smoking while driving to the processing center) and at one point I was sitting with an Army Guard enlistee who graduated from high school a couple years ago. I asked him what his main motivations were for joining the guard and there were primarily two. First, he was looking forward to getting training in small arms repair, so he could figure out how to convert one of his rifles from semi-automatic to a fully automatic. Second, he knew of someone who came back from Iraq with $100,000 worth of combat pay, etc. and he was looking for the same thing. I mentioned that $100,000 would be an awesome down payment on a house, which was when the conversation faltered a bit. Yeah, he said after a brief pause, but I'll probably just rent. I'm going to totally blow my money (his words, not mine) -- buy a dirtbike, car, quad, and a bunch of instruments so my friends and I can start a band. This guy is on the tail end of two years dedicated solely to paying off credit card debts, but apparently he didn't learn a whole lot during that time.

So here's the politically incorrect part: I know that there are people who run into circumstances bigger than themselves, etc., etc., but after learning about many of my wife's co-workers and having various interactions of my own, it's become pretty evident that many (if not most?) of the people struggling financially are in that situation by their own doing. There is no inalienable right to cell phones, big screen TVs, or eating out. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Being manager at her store, my wife makes the biggest salary, but we are on the bottom end when it comes to "stuff" bought. If we can't afford it, or if we can afford it but think the money would be better spent elsewhere, we don't buy it.

I can see that I'm sounding more and more like a crochety old man, so I'll quit now. Politically incorrect point is, while some people find themselves in hard times due to circumstances admittedly beyond their control, a lot of other people exacerbate, if not outright create, the situation with little help from a conveniently amorphous "society". So there you have it. Respond freely.