Why are people such pussies?

Myself included.

These days at work, we are going through a corporate merger. Without going into details, the technology department is having to go above and beyond the normal call of duty to meet an artificial deadline, with the only real purpose to try to increase profits. The sad part is that no one who is working on it believes in the project, and no one truly believes that it will be successful. Everyone is on the same page, except of course the higher ups who don't seem to care even though it is in their best interest to care.

So why are we all pussies? Well, because we don't take a stand. We bend over and take it. And why do we do it? Well, I think because most people think they have to. Because they're afraid. Because they have been molded and trained to believe that what is good for the company is good for them. Maybe deep down they know they've bought into the bullshit. Maybe they don't. The fact is that really we are all just pawns being used to bring someone who we'll never know and never understand a higher profit. And the sad thing is that we do have the power. We are the cogs that keep the wheel turning. So why do we work late, why do we work weekends, when we know all this. I'm well aware of the bullshit. I know it doesn't have to be this way. But I'm just like they are. Deep down I am afraid just like everyone else. Even though I would love nothing more than to stand up, quit, and walk out never to return, I will never do that. I am afraid to not be able to pay rent, I am afraid to lose my benefits, I am afraid to let my fiance down, as now is a critical time when we need steady income and stability.

It sucks. When did people lose control of their own lives? And when did I become so afraid?

Greed

I have an extreme dislike for greedy people. Especially people who epitomize corporate greed. There's a merge going on at my company, and I'm getting to experience first hand how the lure and temptation of money and increased profit margins drives these people. They set unreal deadlines and expect the "real" workers to do whatever it takes to meet these deadlines. It happens all the time, I know, but in this case the push to get the product out according to the timeline (created by executives and investors) will have an adverse affect on quality. And these people that are driven by this profit factor are already either millionaires or otherwise extremely well compensated people. And those doing the real work are just the average joes like you and I.

So I was reading Fortune this morning, and saw some CEO's pays.

Highest Paid:
John Wilder - TXO - $55.2 mil
Robert Toll - Toll Brothers - $44.3 mil
Ray Irani - Occidental Petroleom - $41.7 mil (wonder why gas prices are so high?)
Bob Nardelli - Home Depot - $39.5 mil
Edward Zander - Motorola - $38.9 mil

Lowest Paid:
Richard Kinder - Kinder Morgan Energy - $1
Steve Jobs - Apple Computer - $1
Jeff Bezos - Amazon.com - $81,840
Warren Buffett - Berkshire Hathaway - $311,000
Paul Anderson - Duke Energy - $365,296

I have to say, when you are already filthy rich, do you need to get paid $55,200,000 per year? And I have to hand it to the lowest paid guys. Granted, they are all filthy rich as it is, but at least they are showing some signs of being human.

Things to remember

20% of the earth's population has no access to safe drinking water.
25% have no electricity
40% have no sanitary infrastructure

And more facts:
-The amount of oil consumed in 6 weeks, half of which is used in transportation, would have lasted 1 year in 1950

-Half of humanity lives on less than 2 dollars a day.

-Between 1990 and 1995, 250,971 square miles of forest (an area larger than France) disappeared in developing countries.

-During this century, ocean levels should go up by 50 cm. Holland could see 6% of its lands disappear under water, and Bangladesh, 17%. The evacuation of the Tuvalu archipelago in Micronesia has already started.

-On average, an American draws 600 litres of water per day, a European, 250, an African, 30.

-80 countries, accounting for 40% of world population, suffer from serious water shortage.

-In the course of his or her life, a child born in an industrialised country will consume more and generate more pollution than 30 to 50 children born in a developing country.

-The food industry spends 40 billion dollars a year in advertising. Children are the first victims: 10% to 30 % of children in developed countries suffer from overweight.
At the same time, 500,000 children throughout the world become blind each year for lack of vitamin A.

-People living in rich countries, a mere 20% of the total human population, eat 45% of meat and fish consumed throughout the world.

-If the Earth had formed a year ago, on January 1st, life would have appeared on February 26th, dinosaurs would have arrived on December 10th to vanish 16 days later, and Homo sapiens sapiens would only have showed up very late on December 31st. A few minutes later, in less than a second, he would have drastically altered the fragile balance between land, seas and atmosphere.

Some interesting sites

Here are some interesting sites. Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a photographer who apparently takes aerial photos that "invite each of us to reflect on Earth's evolution and the future of its inhabitants."

http://www.earthfromabove.com/
http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/

I should have said...

During the course of this past weekend's events, someone questioned my dislike for President Bush. A group of us were hanging out, and the person questioning me was someone who I didn't know. I was caught off guard, so I didn't have my mental list of reasons and explanations ready. When he asked me why, the first thing I that came to mind was dishonesty and the war. So I blurted it out. Someone else threw in, "yea, but aren't all politicians dishonest?"

So immediately the talk moved to the topic of the war, and immediately I was dubbed unpatriotic and unsupportive of our troops. The guy who was questioning me was from Canada, and his argument was that we (Americans) live in a free society and people are dying for my freedom to say what I want and live how I want and that I should be thankful for this, and therefore I should support what's going on in Iraq and the rest of the world. Which of course is complete and total horseshit (I would think he, being from Canada, should understand this concept). I tried to explain that there's a HUGE difference between not agreeing with the reasons for war and supporting troops; and that I can support the concept of what the troops do without agreeing with the war. I told him that I am probably more thankful than 99% of the population, who don't even have an opinion, and probably could care less because, "it doesn't affect them". I said that I have the utmost respect for people who will volunteer for the military, because I sure as hell wouldn't. I appreciate what they do, but I tried to explain that supporting them and supporting their mission are two very different things. Nonetheless, these comments from this guy from Canada caught me very off guard.

We were all drinking, and someone decided that we shouldn't be talking politics so the topic was dropped. I would have liked it to continue, but it made me think and now I am ready to defend my opinions a little better.

Now if someone asked why I don't like the president I would say: "Well, I am not religious and don't agree with his religious beliefs and faith based policies and his desire to make others believe what he believes, I am not rich and certainly don't agree with his economic policies, I am an environmentalist and I don't agree with his environmental policies, and I don't agree with his foreign policy. I think the war in Iraq is unjustified, and although I support our troops who put themselves in harms way, I don't support the mission. I think Bush is a disgusting and extremely corrupt man who lies straight-faced to the American public. I think that a man who has presided over more than 100 executions while governor and signed a bill saying life support can be dropped when patients can't pay is disgusting and has no right to say he "errs on the side of life". I think that a man who was convicted of insider trading multiple times in the 80s should not be making economic decisions that are destroying the middle class." And on and on...

I should have said something like that.

Still busy...

Arrghhhh!!! I've been incredibly busy at work, and it's slowly sucking the life out of me. I hate it. I don't even have time to think or mess around on the internet anymore. What's that shit about?

Ahhhh

Busy, Busy, Busy. Those are the words of the past few weeks. I used to be able to sit and collect my thoughts at work, you know, "Office Space" style. But now I'm busy the entire day, and then some. I guess that's what they pay me for, but it seems like a lot now.

On another note, I see that I have a few people who seem to visit my site regularly. If you have a blog, I'd love for you to share it with me, and I can link you up on my site. Of if you don't, I'm still curious about who reads it. If you're so inclined, drop me a line and let me know who you are, and why you read my blog. Hopefully it's because you like it.

So that's it for now until I get a change to ponder life some more...

Funny story

We were downtown last night before the Padres' game, and as we were crossing the street, a guy who I'm assuming was blind or vision impaired crossed the street coming towards us. He had the red and white cane, and seemed like a normal self sufficient guy. He was wearing a black hat (baseball cap), which had a message prominently displayed on it. It read in bold white letters, "FUCK OFF". It was the funniest thing I've seen in a while.