Royalties for My Apologies?

(Photo and original article: Gizmodo)
So Kanye West has been apologizing. A lot. His unbearably rude actions at last year's awards ceremony was offensive, not only to Taylor Swift, but to the music industry and human beings at large. I'm not a fan of either one, but what's right is right. I don't care who wins an award, but here's what's happening. Mr. West is flooding the world with his (IMHO:BS) apologies in a well-timed propaganda campaign to endear himself to the public (who rightfully has seen fit to lose interest in his career) and to Ms. Swift (who hopefully will ignore the ignoramus). He goes on and on about the "scars" he bears from the backlash of fans and people who see his behavior for what it is. He blames his behavior on alcohol and bad timing. He places himself in the role of a victim of the media who, he feels "were waiting for the opportunity to go in all the way on me, and when it came, they beat me to a pulp." Then he goes on about how no one in the artists' position ever stands up and says anything anymore; how he has given his awards to other groups multiple times on national TV, but "they" never showed that during the "massacre of Kanye." After all, in his own words, he was "only trying to do good." WHAT? He saw himself as the helper? "But people don't always need my help. Beyonce didn't need that. MTV didn't need that. And Taylor and her family, friends, and fans definitely didn't want or need that." He goes on again... how he imagines that there are many people who think he only said what they were actually thinking (DUH! but we didn't behave like a self-righteous hun). He goes on again about who actually "benefitted" from all this. Again... WHAT??? There is no benefit. Who cares if the media made money from his public shame? Of course they did. I would too, if I were in the position to do so. I would plant his image and description of his horrible behavior for the world to see and hope that he might truly be ashamed. Throughout his tweets (nice... a real meaningful way to apologize...) he does say a few times that he's learned a lesson, that he's changed, that he was a jerk. But the veil of humility is not strong enough to block out his diversion tactics shifting the focus from where he claims to be solely responsible for his actions to blame chemical dependency and clouds the difference between truth and perception.

The public self-abasement comes across as shallow and self-serving, as it should be blatantly apparent now that he has come forward with a song he wrote just for Ms. Swift. He really wants her to perform this song. Why? He's losing money. Even if he never lays a finger on a track or lends a note to the background, if she records and/or performs a song he's written, he will benefit with royalties. How's that for an apology? It's easy for a songwriter to write a song. How about he does something he's not so good at? Like.... tearing down the veils and letting the light of the truth burn away the clouds.. until there's nothing left but a man named Kanye who is reaping what he sowed.

Another Baaaaaaad Idea....

I've heard the buzz in the news. The government is looking into ways to help homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than what their homes are worth. Awwww... isn't that nice? Um.. nope, not really. The government has no business meddling. The bail-outs, the weird tax cuts/hikes, where does our government get the right to interfere in the natural cycle of things? America is a free-market system. Well, mostly... but with the government regulating, taxing, appropriating and generally sticking fingers in everybody's pie, the free enterprise system is becoming a very narrow road, and difficult to travel.

Whoops, back to the real estate thingy. So, Mr. John Q. Public bought a house at its current fair market value, and took out a loan to pay for said house. Fast forward n-amount of time, and the property has depreciated, now he owes more than the property is worth. DUH! This happens all the time. It has happened since the beginning of property ownership and it will continue long after past, present and future administrations become nothing more than dusty volumes in a basement storage room. When I bought a car and took out a loan for it, I drove the thing away and enjoyed using it, owning it, caring for it, polishing it. I even made a few improvements and repairs here and there. Still, its value fell and I owe more on the car than it's actually worth. Should I go crying to the government to help me out? Oh, silly me, it's not their problem, is it? And what happens when the market swings upward again? If Big Brother did help out, would Mr. H be obligated to repay the lost revenues to the government -- or the bank? After all, it is the bank's assets and income we're really worried about here. John Q is merely a funnel for the money. We don't want to clog him up, eh?

It's not the government's job to interfere with the natural progression of economics. And yes, I said "natural". Any current economic situation is the natural result of previous economic trends and actions. We must allow businesses to fail or succeed on their own. No, it's not comfortable, but it's the only way we Americans will be shown for who we are. We can show that we will support each other and get through the hard times and work even harder to bring back the good times. Let the cycle work itself out and we'll enjoy a stronger future economy for it. Keep bailing it out and we'll all suffer the sudden collapse which bailouts serve only to delay. If a business fails, it fails.

Our government has overreached its job description. What is that? Look in the Constitution. We are not guaranteed prosperous lives. If we continue to lean on the government for our daily bread, we become helpless sheep, dependent on elected shepherds who will show us what to eat, what to drive, where to sleep, and they will continue to shear us for every bit of warmth we can offer them.

C'mon sleepy sheep.... it's time to wake up and stand on your own. Money can't buy you character. But character can earn you a stable life with everything you need.

Diabetic Urine... $6 per Shot?

Uhmmmm.... okayyyyy....
I just read that sugar-heavy urine from diabetics is being used in the fermentation of high-end single malt whiskey for export from the UK. I've looked and looked for anything to help me describe this as just an ill-timed April Fool's joke but noooooo, lol.

Here's the first post I saw about it on BoingBoing. Once I picked my jaw up from my desk and stopped laughing, I realized that it had a ring of truth, so I dug a little deeper. Seems that the story is actually legit! HERE is an excerpt from an interview with the distiller. And to make the story even more veritable, The Discovery Channel website has this offering.

So now my question is... can I just have my Dad pee in a bottle and sell it for extra cash to buy more whiskey?

Slide On In!

Okay, so I live in a town that has more restaurants per capita than nearly any other city in the US. I guess people here just don't like to cook and have a nice family meal at home. But that's another rant. This one here is about the new BBQ menu items at White Castle. That's right-WHITE CASTLE, lol. Okay, so they put some shredded meat product in a soup of bbq sauce and put a tablespoonful on one of their little buns. Every business should rethink their business offerings from time to time. What got me is that the drive-thru, parking lot and access road were filled and lined up with cars full of people just aching to try out this 'new' thing (c'mon, we've all had bbq on a bun before, lol). But to have a very, very, very long line of vehicles filled with bleating consumers who apparently have nothing better to eat from the other (hundreds!) of restaurants in this weird place- it almost filled me with a sort of Stephen-King-ish fear. Sometimes I wonder if, like Derry, Maine in his books, that this place doesn't have some ancient evil sleeping and lurking under the earth, seeping into our drinking water and crops, eating away at not only our brains but our very souls. For me, for now, I'm staying as far away from White Castle as possible. And I think I'll avoid the local produce for a while too, lol.