And, who might you be?

http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/facebook-more-83-million-users-are-fake-919873

As someone pointed out, that's more than most European countries. Well, not surprising. I think there's really only twenty or so posters on Topix despite there being *thousands* posting at any given time.

The number of people who post as their pets is alarming. I actually know a couple that does this. My step-sister and her jerkoff husband have no kids but they do have a dog who has a FB account. I'm not friends with the dog or the jerkoff husband.

And I had to drop a *friend* who was an otherwise good poster because he had a penchant for friending "whores" (mostly of the European variety) who had, in turn, a penchant for trying to friend me. That was his business and I only had a problem with them bothering me. And since I really didn't know the guy (we had mutual friends) I couldn't ask him to stop being stupid so, I defriended him. Those girls- if not 300 plus pounds despite their photo portfolio's- are likely 300 pound dudes. That's his business too.

You're technically not supposed to have multiple accounts according to the FB terms of service. Evidently, since they've gone public they've had to crack down on that. Facebook is claiming 900+ million users, + or - a buncha million fakers.

So, after my Topix experience, I wasn't really surprised to see this. Voter fraud, is .0004% of voting and THAT is a crisis but, 8.9% of FB users are dogs or guys posing as women and everyone is pretty much like, "Yeah...what ev's..." Now that FB has gone public, they are accountable to stockholders and can't be inflating/padding the rolls. If this happened with Topix, they'd be fucked. Could you see an auditor checking IP's and discovering that half the posters on Topix were Sambilly, Kevin and a 300 pound, disabled longshoreman named "Lou"? That might cause a kerfuffle of sorts...

It's sad and extremely pathetic that the three above (and several dozen others) are the bulk of Topix. But, on the other hand, it's kind of encouraging too. On Offbeat I could read a vitriolic post and think: "Sheesh- ANOTHER IDIOT!" and have no hope for society. But, thankfully, I read that idiot and know it's most likely Sambilly. So, there's no hope for Sambilly but, the rest of the world might make it. Maybe.

I'm not going to say I'm flattered that these three (assuming they are not just one idiot) are so obsessed with me that each has dedicated every waking moment of their lives to stalking me. I'm not flattered. Sheesh, they are sociopaths. That doesn't make me feel special. I've got a John McClane-like ability to really, really piss off some assholes but, I can't help that. It's a gift. It would be wrong not to use it.

It's weird and it's creepy to have strangers thinking about you constantly. It's a celebrity that I didn't ask for. I post on Topix is all. If certain people cannot handle that and choose to make it their life's work to harrass me, there's nothing I have to do about that. I don't even have to feel sorry for them. Topix keeps them off the streets at least. You know, whenever a thing happens like the recent Colorado theatre shooting, it always flashes through my mind, "I wonder which poster did that?"

These people are basically harmless though. They're the obscene phone callers of the 21st century, bandwidth terrorists. You can ignore them but, they will NOT go away. I give them just enough to tweak their insanity a little. If you give them too much, give them the fight they want, they'll get to thinking that they won. They've got nothing to lose and can turn absolutely anything around in to *victory*. Ever argue with a third grader? You know what I mean.

So, 89 million fakers on Facebook. I wonder how many are Sambilly, Kevin and A770? Where do they find the time?

Silly, isn't it?

Gay marriage itself isn't important. Gay people are not dying in the streets, starving for lack of marriage. I think in six states now they can marry? There will be more to come, probably all states before the decade is out. It doesn't actually effect anyone's lives except the couples involved. It won't bring about the End Of Times and it won't even cause more hurricanes. Curious though that the same people who vehemently deny global warming, believe that their God sends hurricanes and floods to punish cities for their gay people. Very Old Testament, if you think about it waaaay too much.

Gay marriage and Chick-Fil-A are distractions. Most of politics is distraction. This stuff leading up to the election is the smoke and mirrors of our leaders doing their job. There are more than 300 million of us in this country and the reality of life is that we are not that smart and our leaders know this and count on this.

I am a smart guy. I'm pretty sure I'm brilliant. But, I fall for this shit all the fucking time! I think this stuff is important really only because others make it seem so important by being so dead-set against it.

There's actually a lot to be said for that. I've long been curious as to where and why people draw the lines that they do in life.

Years ago there was a problem in a bar we were at and we threw some guys out for being combative assholes. There was some fighting but the miscreants gave up pretty quick. Except for one guy. One little guy was banging on the back door, bloodying his fists to get back in...so he could be thrown out the front door like the rest of his cohorts... That's what he said. All he had to do was stagger fifty feet up the sidewalk and there his friends were. They could mount a counter-offensive, leave or whatever. They just couldn't come back in.

I've chuckled about the absurdity of that for a couple of decades now. There are a lot of people like that little guy, in life today, who think they are looking at the big picture of things when they are actually reacting to the moment. And reacting wrongly at that.

The republicans are trying to win, not only the presidency but, every congressional seat, mayoral and governorship that they can. They will pound on every back door it takes accomplish this. Their thing is to appeal to every one's issues no matter how trivial and to be contrary no matter how ridiculous. Thus, gay marriage and chicken sandwiches- two things no one ever thought to associate before. No one should seriously care that the owner of a fast food chain is obsessed with gay marriage. He has a right to his opinion. You could argue that he has the right to remain silent about it but, that's only if he gets arrested for it... You, me and everybody have a right to disagree or not even care what that chicken guy thinks. Previously I wrote that it was a bad business decision to alienate a sizable portion of his clientele. But, former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckster, made me look foolish by *organizing* a day to show support for Chick-Fil-A that resulted in record sales for the chain. People lined up for hours for sandwiches to show support for the cause. Boy, do I feel like a dumbass!

There's a blood shortage right now in America and- speaking of food- several million people (including children, who are people too, my friend) are going hungry each day but, fuck that! We are seeing fit to buy chicken sandwiches to thwart the homosexual agenda that includes fabulous weddings! Priorities, eh?

Deflection. Such *political issues* are the Coliseum of Rome without- so far- the bloodshed for entertainment of the crowd. It's a goddamn soap opera. It's a diversion from what they really want to accomplish, whatever that is...

The democrats want control over our lives just as the republicans do. It's just that the dems go about it in a better way and that they don't intentionally fuck people like the republicans do. When the GOP makes such a HUGE deal about gay marriage while simultaneously proffering the rights of individuals, they're not just sending out mixed messages. They are showing their hand. And, they are showing it to the very people they court as the enforcers of their agenda. I really don't think that many congressmen really- really- care about gay people marrying. They care more about money and power and about how to get more of each. I'll venture that the vast majority of Americans don't really- really- care about gay marriage either. They just think they should because, you know, it'll end the deficit and bring back the America we all knew and loved back in the fifties AND lower the price of gasoline.

Something wrong with that thought process? Of course there is. Very few people outside of yours truly will express it as such but, this is a major part of their thought process. Denying gay people marriage today sets the stage for denying someone else of something tomorrow. Misusing the founders or the Bible to rationalize it  today sets the precedent for doing the same tomorrow. You agreeing to this today, makes you complicit to tomorrow. It sets the stage for you to become the next victim. You just don't know it yet. Gandhi said: "I like your Christ, I just don't like your Christians".  Like Jesus evidently said, "That which you do to the least of my people, you do to me." They're both right.

And this is why we care about the silly things. They want us to so that we don't care about the important things today or tomorrow. Let's take care of the silly things though because if we don't, it will get real- real- serious tomorrow. By then it will be too late. Pay attention now, America. Gay people marrying now will not ruin the country but not letting them will, in time. Don't wait and see as it will happen. It will happen by seemingly popular opinion.

Lunch counter 2012?

The irony of the Chik-Fil-A drama is that, if Dan Cathy had stayed in the closet, nobody would have known he was a bigot. Oh- they might have wondered but, that's the way people are. But, Cathy opted to get all flamboyant about it. Then, other media types who are like him got emboldened and then came out in support of Cathy. Who knew that Mike Huckabee was that way!? He's like a priest or something! And all of Foxnews! It takes all kinds, I guess. Anyway, I guess bigots have their rights too but, do they have to be so flamboyant? Sheesh- I bet they're going to have parades next!

Republicans, Christian conservatives- all those assholes- are extremely flamboyant these days. But, just when you think it's annoying and you wish they'd shut up, you realize that it's best to have them out of the closet and on the public record. See, these people weren't in metaphorical closets, they were in board rooms, senate chambers- positions of power, where they could use their bigotry at their discretion. It isn't just gays. Gays are a pretty easy target in their eyes, or so it would seem. All sorts of people are fighting back against the Dan Cathy types because they are realizing they could be next. Jesus is famous for saying: "That which you do to the least of my people, you do to me." Something like that. There is more of that every day and conservatives are getting more and more flamboyant about it.

True, in many ways they always have. The Klan and Neo-Nazi's have long held public rallies. Now we have Tea Partiers in costume with weapons displayed. What's the difference?

Acceptance. Or, the perception of acceptance. If ten years ago a fast food chain had an anti-gay or anti-anything agenda, we didn't know about it. Now it's front page news so people can know about it and argue about it.

One of the arguments is "Why should we care what Chick-Fil-A thinks?"

Because corporations are people, my friend. Thanks to the Supreme Court they are free to use their money to manipulate American elections. No, Texas can't execute one but, they are considered *people*. And they are rich people whose opinions matter more than mine or yours because they reach a larger audience than you or I.

What's really offensive is that Chick-Fil-A (which has awesome sausage biscuits, by the way) doesn't at all mind alienating a sizable portion of their market by going out of their way to alienate a sizable portion of their market. Seems like bad business to me. While its not exactly the American apartheid of the recent old South with segregated lunch counters, in almost as bad in that, they'll cheerfully serve anyone but, a portion of the profits goes to discriminating against a portion of the clientele.

So, boycott them for their bigotry? Sure. They came out of the closet and got all uppity and in every one's faces about their bigotry. They asked for it!

Dan Cathy has a *right* to his views and values as well. He's even got a *right*, I guess, to be a bad businessman and brag about his views.

We all have a right to choose a side or even ignore the whole deal. Whether gay people marry or not doesn't affect/effect me at all. It really shouldn't matter to anyone but the gay intendeds anyway. What matters to me is any group of people trying to limit another group's rights. Jesus was against that and so is Ferrerman. Someone has to take on the values of Jesus Christ if the Christians are not willing to do it. Jesus just might have been the founder of the liberals.

And besides, now we're stuck with the dilemma of debating whether corporate bigotry is instilled at incorporation or if it's a business model? I wonder what the Bible says about that.

Business as usual

Foxnews and it's political arm- the GOP- think that it's not a good time to talk about guns, so soon after the murders in Aurora, Colorado.

Every moment prior to the killings was an excellent time to talk about how Obama plans to confiscate guns in his second term and that the ill-advised "Fast & Furious" gun-walking scheme was actually a grander scheme to give *reason* to revoke the Second Amendment but- for fuck's sake- let's NOT discuss gun control with gun-induced mayhem so freshly on the nation's minds! Let's wait until the ironic smoke clears. If people still want to talk about it then, well OK. Unless football season has started...

Gun sales are up this week in Colorado and elsewhere in the US. This is typical after these shootings we've become so used to. People suddenly want to protect themselves or want to buy up more guns and ammo in case Barack Obama suspends the Constitution. After all, he rammed that Healthcare down our throats- something Hitler or Stalin would have done...

But, I digress. Guns are here to stay. There are more guns than people in the US. I garaunfuckingtee that this country will not be disarmed until after the revolution. Regardless of who sponsors the revolution, the *winners* will not want a bunch of folks running around with guns like it's Somalia or Arizona. You can fill people's heads with the notion that bloodshed equals freedom but, if they still have that notion plus guns in their hands after they realize they've been played, you've got trouble on your hands. That's why swords are beaten into plowshares. It keeps the people from rising up again.

The victims in Colorado took one for the Second Amendment team. They took rounds as fast as that nut could pull the trigger from a magazine that held 100 rounds. They "took one for the team" because, for the gun nuts to retain the right to have such weaponry, we have to be victims of others who have the right to have such weaponry. I'm sure many gun nuts felt sad for the victims but, they felt sadder that the movie theatre deprived the victims of their right to defend themselves. That's what I gather from various idiots on TV and the internet. A ridiculous amount of heroes believe they personally could have stopped the armor-clad bastard with their pistol. Well, that is just insane. And, given that Colorado is gun country, we'll never know how many patrons WERE armed that night but did NOT pull their weapons out of wizened knowledge or outright frozen fear. A dark theatre, lit only by the screen, a smoke grenade explodes, SOMEONE starts shooting...what do you do?

A study after WWII claimed that as many as 25% of soldiers in that war never fired their weapon in combat. Fear would be a factor, as would not wanting to kill another human being. Despite training, one out of four combat soldiers would not fire their guns and X number more might shoot but, not exactly aim at anyone. Who knows?  Yet 100% of internet commandos could take down an assailant armed with superior firepower and body armor. Idiots. They often talk about the foolishness of bringing knives to gunfights yet can't see how under-powered they are up against rifles or shotguns. Amazing.

I like guns. They're dangerous as all get out but, they can be a lot of fun! Gun nuts like to make the specious argument that people die in car accidents so, why don't we ban cars! Well, because that would be silly, that's why! The thing is we regulate cars for safety and try to keep people from misusing them but, despite our best efforts, people still speed, drive drunk and are just plain careless.

The thing is, we're not trying hard enough with guns. 100 round drum clips???!!! Who but a deranged asshole with dyed red hair needs that kind of capacity? Never mind hunting as I don't think the NRA bothers to make that argument anymore. The founders, with the 2A, weren't thinking about hunting with the right to bear arms. Hunting was how you got meat back then. As far as they envisioned, it would always be that way. The Founders could not imagine supermarkets.

And, given the muskets of the day, they certainly could not have envisioned AR15's with 100 round drum magazines. What they did envision- I believe- was the necessity of militias to protect the country as the new country was not fond of standing armies. Back in the day, you could still rally the townsfolk in times of crisis. It hasn't worked that way since. The world has changed a bit.

The second Amendment has to change too. It's like following the Bible. We don't sell our daughters into slavery or  stone people for working on the Sabbath anymore despite that having been the word of God. I don't think he's actually come off that edict- not publicly- yet we don't do those things anymore. And we don't rally the townspeople when Japan attacks and threatens us and the world. We have standing armies for such eventualities and it's been that way for a few hundred years. Women can vote and the slaves that were 3/5ths of a person at the time of our founders are now African-Americans, citizens and 100% people.

Yes, we'd all be better off if there were no guns left in the valley, but, that's not going to happen, not in a good or easy way. Ironic but, the very people looking to enslave us are the ones who scream the loudest about having NO gun control. They are the ones we should fear. Eventually they will fear themselves.  

IRONY ALERT!!!!!

I received this message from Topix this morning:

This is a warning from the Topix moderators. Failure to comply with the Topix Terms of Service will result in your forum posts being removed from the system, and a ban on future posting. (click here to acknowledge this warning)

Can't you at least play nice on the Shooting threads? Stop all the insults immediately! admin@topix 

The irony is, I was just about to reply to some asshole who was complaining that gun control only restricts law-abiding citizens, that criminals don't have to abide because, well, they are criminals. Further irony is, I was going to respond to an unregistered poster. How ironic that Ferrerman, as a registered poster, has to abide by the TOS but, the graybox asshole doesn't have to.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: "Why is Ferrerman posting in italics???" This is a good question. The easy answer is, Blogger is extra wonky today. It usually italicizes the wrong words about the sixth or seventh time I use it in a post, for no good reason. I use italics for emphasis A LOT. I DO THIS SO I DON"T HAVE TO CAPITALIZE LIKE I"M FUCKING SCREAMING WHEN I"M NOT SCREAMING... just EMPFascizing....

You were probably also thinking; "Didn't Ferrerman quit Topix or get fired or something?"

If you're scoring at home, I don't remember myself. Topix is pretty bizzarre. Hard to keep up with. I think the mods like me cussing them out so they threaten to ban me everytime they get to wondering if they are motherfuckers, or sanctimonious do-nothing cocksuckers. Those over-paid assholes must get lonely, I guess.

Anyways, back to the irony. Yes, criminals do not follow the rules. That's one reason why they're criminals.  The price they pay for not following the rules is jail and prison. I shouldn't have to explain this to grown ups but, I do. Conservatives think the solution to EVERYTHING is deregulation. They really don't think there should be ANY restrictions on guns because it clearly says THAT in the second amendment even though it doesn't say THAT at all.  

"TOO MANY RULES!!!" the law and order crowd says! THAT'S some irony there!

In a nation of laws, suddenly we crave anarchy?  How Topixy...

We hold truthiness to be self-serving...

Willfully ignorant people really piss me off.

"Really, Ferrerman? Is this a new development?"

Check this out:

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/07/16/525181/conservatives-selectively-edit-obamas-speech-to-claim-he-hates-small-businesses/?mobile=nc

You know, folks, there's politics and there's fudging a bit here and there in the name of politicking...and then there is willfully fucking stupid.

I was thinking earlier today that you could forgive somebody for being fearful or leery of Obama four years ago. I'm using *forgive* loosely because they said some really, really stupid stuff back then. It's one thing to be fearful of FEMA camps and communism four years ago when there was the slimmest of possibilities that Obama *could* do these things but, it's just fucking stupid to STILL be saying these things now. Look at that senile old sherrif, Joe Arpaio. He's concluded Obama's birth certificate is a forgery. Oh. The guy was relevant for 15 minutes once upon a time for serving green baloney sandwiches to low-risk inmates he housed in tents in Arizona. He was such a fucking genius of a Criminologist that he cured crime in Arizona and was able to devote time and state's money to uncovering the massive conspiracy that was the birth of president Barack H. Obama. Oh. Well, Joe, good luck getting the POTUS into a pink jumpsuit and into one of your tents.

Where do we get these people??!! Where is their sense of shame? Is being famous or getting on TV worth being willfully stupid? People used to giggle about the idiots who went on TV shows like Jerry Springer and confessed to doing often obscenely embarrassing things. Now people go on Sunday morning news shows or have their own segment on Fox, spew whatever comes to mind as *fact* and people are OK with that. Willfully ignorant idiots are just part of the culture now. Oh- it would be bad if they are liars. But, they are NOT liars. Nope, they are idiots! That's OK.

Four years later, people saying the same shit about Obama is stupid. But, as long as you believe it, you're not a liar. You're an idiot but, not a liar.

A lot of people these days have no problem being stupid. For the current newscycle they will have no problem believing that Barack Obama hates business and yada-fucking-yada. You just never mind that it doesn't make a lick of sense. If you can get other idiots to believe it, then it's really, really not a lie!

Mostly, lacking shame, they cannot admit that they were wrong. So, they keep pressing. That square peg WILL go in the round hole, one of these days! I'm a Cub fan. I *know* they will win the World Series some day. I'm just not a fucking idiot about it. Me declaring that the Cardinals suck or are Marxists (red uniforms....) isn't going to help the Cubs win. It usually takes pitching. Anthony Rizzo looks like the real deal....

Believing, is not enough. Willful ignorance is not enough. The pundits on TV are sounding exactly like Topix posters these days. Is the tail wagging the dog? It's one thing for a troll like my stalker, Sam, to be stupid. We've come to expect that from imaginary people on the internet. But, when politicians sound like Sams, we've truly gone through the looking glass.

I wonder if Jerry Springer is still on? Maybe he's got an hour on FOX?

Business Model

Let's face it: conflict sells. You don't watch the local news to hear and see how wonderful things are in your city. They'll do stories about that but, if it bleeds it leads is the local affiliate mantra.

It's the same with Topix, whose business model I recently pointed out is assholes. They're in the asshole business. They are all about assholes, specifically the care and feeding of assholes. THEY LOVE ASSHOLES!

That's not really a secret. Though there is a social aspect to the threads on Topix where people spend an inordinate amount of time exchanging pleasantries, even those threads are doing it as a formality. They give niceness a perfunctory ol' college try to get it out of the way so they can get to fighting. It's human nature, I guess and, it's what pays the bills at Topix.

Though I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that Topix employs paid posters, I doubt they need to. There are billions of people in the world and maybe half have internet access? Conservatively, how  many millions are assholes? You don't have to pay people to be assholes. They'll generally do it for free. On Topix or similar chat rooms/message boards that don't screen people, one finds out pretty quick that assholes are welcome. The more the merrier. When you post on Topix you might quickly notice the abundance of assholes. This could be a turn-off or it could feel like a huge, family reunion.

Elsewhere on the internet, I'm sure there are paid posters drumming up conversation for political parties or other agenda-driven political entities. Duh! Rush Limbaugh and shows like his have fake callers with prepared questions phoning in. Rush doesn't want anyone mucking up his agenda. In a way, aside from control it's,  well, control. I kinda understand that. Idiots love to grieve the president about reading prepared speeches off the teleprompter but, the reason he does this is so he doesn't sound like GW Bush. Thus, when a politician is doing a *town hall* type presentation, s/he's winging it with screened questions from pre-chosen people. Again- so they don't sound like Bush. So-called *reality TV* is scripted as much as possible too because, it makes people more interesting than they really are, or at least more articulate. Control.

So, no one is being paid to post on Topix. The lifers like Kevin, Sam, A770 and others just do it because, well, that's what assholes do. Topix loves them because they are good for business. And, since they work for free, the price is right! Individually they each make several hundred posts every day, most of the provocative variety. They literally provoke people by...wait for it...being assholes! Other assholes see them posting and feel a kindred soul attraction. It's like they belong to a fraternity or, a clique... Most any of the Forums are like asshole conventions these days, particularly the political ones. For advertising purposes, a post saying: "Obummer sux!" counts just as much as a finely crafted Ferrerman-type post that is actually about politics. Topix doesn't care a bit about quality- just quantity. Quantity pays the bills.

To that end, they do coddle the assholes because the assholes bring quantity. They give the assholes a lot of rope, moreso than they give folks like me. For example, Sam has a history of frequently posting my real life name whenever I've so out-witted him that he gets mad. That happens a lot. I complain and, using every minute of three business days, Topix very often sometimes removes the posts, long after the damage has been done. Sometimes, it's very easy to track someone when they are following you. It helps if, like Sam, they aren't very smart. While it's offensive to me that Topix would protect an asshole like Sam, I do get the part where they have to look after each other. There is safety in numbers in the asshole community and, a vested interest in combating non-assholes.  Especially the assholes like me who don't post enough to keep Topix in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to...

We're out-numbered folks. It's us against them. At least Topix keeps them in one convenient location where they can be ignored as necessary. Some of you folks now know exactly what you're missing. You're welcome!