Things that piss me off.... today.

1. Octo-mom. No one has business bringing 8 children into the world when he/she cannot support them. And by support I don't mean "depend on others to pay you money to keep your children fed and clothed" - I mean YOU make/have enough money to take care of their needs.

2. Guvernator Schwarzenegger. You got elected because you said you were better than the "girly men" in government and you would balance the budget. Well here it is 2009 and you've done a damn crappy job. In fact, now in addition to furloughing employees and cutting their already scarce paychecks, you're going to send out 20K pink slips. Do you have a tumor or something?

3. Law suits against tobacco companies. Don't get me wrong - I think what the tobacco companies did for years was despicable. But seriously... no one FORCED people to go buy cigarettes and smoke them. So when your relatives file a lawsuit, and the tobacco company gets forced to pay out 8 or 10 million dollars, all I can think of right now is how many mortgage payments that would make for people who can't pay their bills because they got laid off (by the Guvernator and the like).

4. Madoff and his cronies. Like the world isn't a hard enough place to live in now that the bottom has fallen out of the market and people don't know how they're going to manage to eat and keep a roof over their heads. I don't really believe in hell, but if I did, there's a special place in hell for people like that. Ditto for Stanford, the Enron folks, and anyone else who has reaped huge profits from intentionally duping the average American.

5. The peanut thing. I almost don't have words for this. Despite numerous health code violations and POSITIVE SALMONELLA TESTS, one company knowingly shipped tainted and unsanitary products. This is a lesson in ripple effects. Not only did the company have to close it's doors and layoff employees, OTHER companies are now going bankrupt trying to recall their products (that used the tainted products in some way), and keep consumers safe. Please send these folks to the same place that Madoff goes.

6. The general state of the world. I am INCREDIBLY lucky right now to have a job, a home and a wonderful spouse. But it pisses me off that we all live in a world where people who could afford to retire last year now have to work longer, where those of us who made the time and financial investment in education are working low paying jobs and forced to be grateful for them, and where hard-working people in all stages of their careers are getting laid off left and right. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a very long tunnel.


/rant
Check back for knitting content tomorrow.