Something caught my attention today. I heard a commercial on the radio today that was a thinly veiled direct attack on the governor of the Empire State. Now, I’m no expert with the NY budget, but these commercials seemed illogical.

The one that I heard multiple times today and really stood out was a drama of a mother speaking to the ER doctor that just operated on her son. She was very happy because he (the doctor) saved her son’s life. He said it was all in a days work, but it might not be so next time, since George Pataki cut so much spending out of the budget for hospitals and doctors.

I’d be upset too, if my gravy train came to an end.

This goes back to the since of entitlement that is plaguing the state and society in general. Too many of the left wingers and the R.I.N.O.s (Republican In Name Only, you know, like Senator McCain of Arizona) are addicted to state and federal aid.

What happened to doing a better job than the competition? Did I miss the memo that we are no longer in a capitalist economy anymore?

If you want socialized medicine, go to Canada.. we can see how well it is working for our neighbors to the north.

Now I understand that the cost of health care isn’t cheap, but whose fault is that? It’s the same reason that a college education costs upwards of $100,000, Federal and State aid for those who “can’t afford” it.

Is this something that can be done? Probably not. Once you are addicted to heroin, the only alternative is methadone. Kicking the habit is virtually impossible. It is unlikely that there will be less government subsidies for things such as education and health care.

My question to the producers of the commercials is this: Where would you have the money come from? Would you rather have a cut in the highway department? Police departments? Fire Departments? To be fiscally responsible, you don’t spend more money than you have. I know it is a foreign concept.. but it actually makes sense.. if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.. I know.. it is a crazy idea, but it’s so crazy it just might work..

Well, you had to know it was only a matter of time before I wrote something about the debates going on in our nation’s capitol.

The issue is causing thousands, perhaps millions to take to the streets in protest.

The issue is illegal immigration. Particularly Mexicans, but several nations are represented in these rallies.

Those who know me probably know where I come out on this.. but I’ll break it down.

First of all, there is a reason why they are called ‘Illegal Aliens’ and ‘Illegal Immigrants’.

I understand that our nation was built into the greatest nation in the world by immigrants, but there is a difference between the Mayflower and the coyotes that smuggle Mexicans into California and Arizona.

There are those who say that our economy depends on undocumented, underpaid farm laborers. I can’t find fault in the argument that there is little chance we would be able to get a head of lettuce for less than a dollar if farm owners had to pay minimum wage, plus payroll tax and social security for each of their pickers.

An argument to the contrary would be the drain on social programs that illegals and their children cause. Do enough of our tax dollars go to fund social programs to off-set the savings in food costs? There is no way to know for sure, but most Americans have an opinion.

After several years, someone has decided to do something about it, and now Congress has joined the bandwagon. One piece of proposed legislation would make it a felony to be in the country without documentation, another would all but give a free pass to those already here (but what would stop others from coming in?)

This is one of the issues that you will never satisfy everyone. The politicians can either serve those who elected them, or they can pander to those who can’t even vote for them.

I’m not a fan of talk show host Michael Savage, but his mantra rings true, “language, borders, culture.” By protecting these three things, America can remain strong. By abandoning them, we will be no better than the rest of the world.

And before all you who are dissatisfied with the way things are around here, and are mislead by the media saying how much the rest of the world hates the US, why are so many people giving all they have to come here? Maybe our Founding Fathers were on to something after all.

Let me start out by apologizing for the time between postings.. I am not going to bore you with the lame excuses.. I’m just going to start writing.. Before I go off on my latest rant, an update on my picks from the NCAA, after picking 6 of the Elite Eight, I got stung and only had 1 of the Final Four (Florida). I was in an online pool through Buffalo Wild Wing's web site. Out of over 4500 partcipants nation wide, I finished 334th. (I spent a bit in the top 10 for a while before the wheels came off). Overall, I cant be disapointed in my results..

And now, on with my rant..

The other day I watched a show that I wasn’t sure what to expect. In hind sight, I probably should have known.. but I watched it anyway… it was a show called “American Inventor”. It was a lame show with more fluff than anything else. The basic premise is anyone who fancies themselves as an inventor can bring their creation to this panel of experts who will judge it and if they vote to see if it is the next best product. It probably won’t surprise you to find out it was produced by Simon Cowell.

Seems pretty harmless. It was a 2 hour premier and there was probably about 35 minutes of actual ‘inventions’ (if you could call them that..) there was a lot of hype about the show, the obligatory bio for each of the 4 judges, but mostly it was sound bites of the alleged inventors.

The inventions ranged from the interesting to the insane to the down right stupid.. one guy ‘invented’ a walking stick (he called it a ‘wand’), another brought a device to add smoke flavor (via real smoke) to food, still another brought in an overcoat complete with a piss bag. You read that that right.. this guy added a plastic bag to the inside of a cloak that would allow you to answer the call of nature wherever you are. None of these 3 got passed on.

What really got me about this show wasn’t the bad acting, the weird ‘inventions’ or the shameful self-promotion of the show. What really bugged me about this show was the sense of entitlement that the ‘contestants’ had.

The people that didn’t make it on (you need 3 of the 4 judges to say ‘yes’ to move on) seemed to have a bug up their butt about not being chosen as the next ‘American Inventor’. They seemed to have this unnatural sense of entitlement. They appeared to be genuinely upset that they were passed on.

Now I don’t claim to be an expert on the next great invention, but the so-called inventions that were passed on, for the most part, were some of the worst ideas I’ve seen for new products in a while. I understand the frustration, I mean, many of these people have spent several thousand dollars developing their prototypes. Maybe they were just upset that they wasted their money. Although each of them had one thing in common.. they all said “you’ll see, my product will be everywhere, and you’ll wish things went different today” or something to that effect..

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about American entrepreneurship.. but let’s call a spade a spade. Some things weren’t meant to be invented. The trick is to know when your idea is a bad one, and let it go.