God and Guns

That picture to the left is from the website defeatobama2012.org.  Go figure.

I have now read (and responded to) more than one post on Facebook suggesting that guns were not the reason for the murders at an elementary school in Connecticut, but rather that it was caused by insufficient religion in the United States and in our schools.

Well, bullshit.  That's just stupid, stupid, stupid.  Three "stupids" may not even cover it.

First, it's offensive.  This is Christians once again assuming that because they believe in God, they are morally superior.  This is simply not true.  Studies have consistently shown that religious people are just as likely to commit crimes as atheists.  The assumption that people who don't believe cannot have their own moral code is ignorant and offensive.  In fact, if the reason you try to lead a good life is because you think that God wants you to, or worse, because he is watching and has a naughty-and-nice list like Santa, then something is rotten at the core of your being.  If decency isn't internal to you, with or without God, then you are worthless.

Jonestown.  Al Qaeda.  The Taliban.  September 11, 2001.  The Inquisition.  The Crusades.  Shiite versus Sunni.  Abortion clinic murders.  The KKK.  Westboro Baptist Church.  I don't know how much hatred in the world is caused by atheism, or how many murders, but I do know that religion has caused millions of deaths and much of the world's violence.  You believe in magical things without evidence because it makes you feel good to do so.  Fine.  That does not make you morally superior.

Second, guns are the problem.  No, they are not the only issue.  But mass murders are committed by people who have mental problems, and making guns available that can kill 50 people at a time is just crazy.  No one needs high-volume cartridges or automatic weapons to defend their homes, hunt, or use on a farm.  These weapons are used for recreation, and to commit mass murders.  It's time to take them away.

Third, if you are a person that posted a comment in response to the shootings in Newtown indicating that guns are not the problem, you already have the blood of those children on your hands.  Yes, that's a nasty thing to say, but screw it, I'm tired of you.  We have been through this before.  Remember Columbine?  I do.  Why didn't we do more to put reasonable limits on gun ownership after that tragedy?  Why have we in fact been moving further and further toward putting as many weapons in the hands of as many people in as many places as we can since then?  Because of people like you -- people who made it possible for the gun lobby and the lunatic politicians who support them to push for more and more guns everywhere.

You need to quit.  People are dying.  Stop being stupid.

Unemployment Chronicles: Semi-Retirement

This year has definitely not gone as expected.  I could have guessed at the beginning of the year that I might not work at Farmers all year, but by the time December 31 comes to an end, I will have worked less than 6 months of the year 2012.  The trick is getting used to a new reality and adjusting to it rather than panicking, although panicking is very tempting.

Up until this year, the plan was to retire sometime around my 62nd birthday, which is when I can start taking Social Security, plus close enough to 65, meaning Medicare and full pension, that we could bridge the gap.  However, even then, with Jarrod turning 20 the year I turn 62, we figured that I might have to keep working, but maybe at something a little less demanding and lower-paying.  Besides the possible college costs, our savings are not everything they could be.  I have read that you should save 12 times your salary for retirement, and that probably assumes that you won't retire until at least 65.  For us, that means over $1 million, and we are not close.  Fortunately, I think the 12x guideline is nonsense, but still, we don't have oodles of extra cash.

Anyway, it seems that I have come upon this semi-retirement thing sooner than I wanted.  I don't think that I will do this for the next 10 years, but it's what I am doing now.  Technically, I have only been unemployed about two months this year, but in reality, contracting so far has resulted in 5 months off, 10 weeks working, and 7 more weeks off and counting.

The challenge right now is to use these days well, which I have not been doing as much as I should.  It's difficult for me because it seems like these days are just filler between work, with no real purpose other than to get the next job.  I'm not really retired, or even voluntarily semi-retired, but I'm not working.  Today I took a walk, and I'm writing a blog post, so that's better than most days.

I knew that entering the job-seeking world might be a challenge, but I tend to have faith that the economy is efficient, so someone with better skills than most of the accountants I have seen will find employment in time.  Perhaps this is so.  Or perhaps it is stupid to believe that the economy is really efficient.  I know that this is what I believed for more than two years would be my salvation at Farmers, but the end solution there was irrational, clearly not best financially for either me or Farmers.  The economy may be reasonably efficient on a large scale, but on a small scale, not necessarily.  In any case, being older and highly paid and wanting to move down the ladder rather than up puts me in a tough position, tougher than I would have thought.

So semi-retired at 55, hoping to become less semi-retired as time goes on.  My best guess now is that at some point I will find something permanent, maybe through my contacts, maybe through contracting.  Until then, life is unpredictable.