Stop Idiocy

Today I invite you to gaze upon what is quite possibly the most idiotic “bumper sticker” in existence, courtesy of a reddit user that spotted it in Alabama (click to enlarge):

Unfortunately this level of fantastically ignorant stupidity and intolerance is prevalent enough in this halfwit’s community that he is perfectly comfortable slapping this on his truck and driving around in it. Sadly, a quick Google search seems to confirm that there is no shortage of Americans that think exactly like this moron does.

Mitt Romney held a fundraiser in Beverly Hills this past weekend, where he briefly commented on his wife Ann’s recent scare on-board a plane that was forced to land after an electrical malfunction filled the cabin with smoke. Romney was upset about what he apparently considers a glaring safety oversight on current passenger planes, offering this tidbit in a short commentary about the incident:

“When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no—and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem.”

Windows that open on airliners? Who hasn’t wanted to pop theirs open while cruising at 600 mph and 35,000 feet for a bit of fresh (and delightfully invigorating, at about -50 degrees Celsius) air? It’s genius. No wait, it’s that other thing—what is it? Oh right, it’s abysmally fucking stupid.

This man is running for president.

Ah, diamonds. The ultimate symbol of an eternal commitment between two people in love, right? In fact, here in America, this sentiment is so strong that a diamond ring is viewed as an absolutely essential component of a marriage engagement proposal by virtually everyone. And of course, the more expensive the diamond, the more impressive the display of love—there are even helpful guidelines in place to let men know the minimum acceptable amount to spend when shopping for an engagement ring (two months’ salary, guys).

But did you ever stop to think about how diamonds got elevated to this lofty status? Or why nearly every American couple chooses to express their commitment in exactly the same way (by spending several thousand dollars on a rock, of all things)?

The answer is that most Americans behave this way because they were told to. The genius marketing minds at N.W. Ayers & Son created the diamond market essentially out of thin air way back in the 1930s with an advertising campaign that taught us that diamonds = love, and Americans have been paying exorbitant prices for essentially worthless rocks ever since.

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Interesting article up on Yahoo! News that highlights the biggest flaw in democratic systems: the voting population. According to research, the average person simply isn’t intelligent enough for democracy to work well. Not surprisingly, a democratic process combined with a largely unintelligent population overwhelmingly tends to produce mediocre results.

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I just caught Congressman John Duncan’s recent speech about domestic anti-terrorism spending on YouTube (or if you prefer, you can read the transcript on Duncan’s website). His comments are right on the mark, and it is refreshing to see somebody in our government standing up to speak out against the “security at any cost” mindset that has gripped America.

I was especially intrigued by Duncan’s rant against the TSA’s Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) program. Duncan claimed that a USA Today report asserted that more air marshals have been arrested than the total number of arrests made by air marshals (I was able to locate the article here). Considering that taxpayers are putting up nearly $1 billion every year to pay for the FAMS program, it doesn’t sound like we’re getting a very good deal.

I read some more and discovered that Congressman Duncan has been on a crusade against air marshals for awhile now. In 2009, he delivered a speech on the House floor criticizing the FAMS program for being “useless” and wasteful. Reading his speech, I was shocked to learn that while we have about 4,000 air marshals in service, the entire organization manages to average only 4.2 arrests per year.

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And he would have gotten away with it, if not for his Twitter addiction!

Recently, several media outlets reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had begun monitoring social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The FBI is also in the process of developing its own internet monitoring platform.

This week, we got one of our first looks at the level of security that we can expect thanks to this type of government internet monitoring.

Earlier this month, Homeland Security agents spotted a message on Twitter written by UK resident Leigh Van Bryan to one of his friends that read: “free this week for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?” Another of Van Bryan’s tweets read: “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA pissing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!” Based on these messages, DHS agents flagged Van Bryan as a threat.

When Van Bryan arrived at Los Angeles International airport with pal Emily Bunting this week, Homeland Security agents were waiting for them.

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Seen in a couple of my Facebook friends’ statuses today:

I like Dunkin’ Donuts as much as the next guy, but can we please stop propagating obvious scams like this one? What is it about the prospect of free stuff that turns otherwise intelligent people into complete morons?

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