The Bog Blog
The two best commercials in my opinion were NBC’s celebration of themselves. The big song and dance number featuring all the stars of NBC’s shows. All of them singing and dancing...with the exception of the judges from the Voice (all superstar singers themselves) who get quickly passed by in a really funny move I thought. The other one was Hyundai’s demo of how fast their new coupe is by having a race with a cheetah. The car squeals away and the cheetah is released. But decides not to race but instead turns and runs down the guy that let him out of the cage. Good stuff.
Lamest commercial: Samsung. They seem to think a bigger clunkier phone with a stylus pen is some how exciting new technology. Umm, I had a palm back in the 90s. If I wanted to go back in time I would get a flux capacitor.
I think I am going to change my approach to explaining politics here. I think from this point on I am just going to call attention to politicians who try to divide America up. We get so wrapped up in Democrat and Republican rhetoric that its sometimes easy to forget we’re not supposed to all agree about everything. This is a country created on agreeing to disagree. Majority rules until someone can convince more people a different idea is better. The folks who try to sell you on the idea that one side is right only because they say they are.
Right now the Republicans are spending a lot of time saying President Obama made the economy worse when he has actually done a remarkable job creating economic growth and doing it without any help from the Republicans in Congress at all. They keep saying he is too soft on defense but who has been more successful in the war on terrorism? Real terrorism. Not fake weapons of mass destruction and unnecessary invasions. Who has been more successful at killing real terrorists? President Obama.
If your campaign is based on mistruths like this, why in the world should I vote for Republicans? If you do not have real solutions or real facts to convince me otherwise, why on earth would I vote for the people who got us into this mess?
This week Mitt Romney said “He doesn’t really care about poor people because they have a safety net in place to protect them.” An interesting thing to say, when promising to cut off most of those programs. So though he says he was taken out of context, his proposed policies seem to indicate he said exactly what he meant to say. He doesn’t care about poor people.
Meanwhile Newt Gingrich is a walking gas bag of moral contradictions. It takes a big set of balls to call the media shameless when they were just reporting on the real questions all moral people have about his marriages. Especially after calling for Bill Clinton’s head for his behavior. So sorry Newt. The rules dont go away just because they are applied to a Republican. In fact, watching two over rich out of touch guys debate each other about how they are connected to the common man is like watching Rosanne Barr sing the national anthem. It goes into your ears and sort of rots your brain.
This week the President gave his State of the Union Address. I liked the President’s speech. Well, everything except for the “spilled milk” joke. But without getting too political here, I think if you watched the speech, you witnessed a prime example of whats wrong with American politics.
In a nutshell, no matter what political affiliation you claim to be, if the President expresses a good idea during the State of the Union Address, its okay to clap. Its okay to show support for ideas you do agree with. But if you watched the speech, many Republicans sat there emotionless for most of the speech.
Now of course I did not expect Republicans to leap out of their chairs and cheer for everything the President had to say. But when the President talked about the success of our armed forces in the war against terrorism, equal pay for women, how we should find ways to keep American jobs from going overseas and how every American deserves that chance for a good education and a good job, I at least expect Republicans to act like good Americans and not sit on their hands as if they disapprove of these things. I mean these seem like good old American things we should all be cheering for right?
If our politicians are so dysfunctional that they feel they cannot express support for just plain non political good ideas, than thats a real problem. If a good idea can only be celebrated and moved forward if it comes from a particular party, Washington is broken. Really badly broken.
Its no secret.I am a middle of the road voter but I currently support Barack Obama. Mainly because he has somehow managed to make progress in this impossible political climate. And when I watch the top candidates the Republicans have put forward this year, well, they are poster kids of what’s wrong with politics today.
Anyone who suggests we take sides in America is bad for this country. Its okay for us all to disagree about some things. Thats just human nature. But for our leaders to suggest one side is some how less patriotic or “American” for having different viewpoints. Well, those are the folks we need to clear out of elected office wherever we can.
In other news...
Why do they even still hold a Pro Bowl? I mean its nice that the people of Hawaii gets to see an NFL game right there on their own island, but are they? Is this really NFL caliber football? Or is this just a glorified flag football game between vacationing athletes? I honestly wish they would lose the pads and just make it a flag football game. No one believes any of these guys are really trying. We all know they are all laying off hitting and tackling so that no one gets a bad injury. We all know this game doesn’t count for anything. So why not make it more fun for the fans and make it a no pads flag football game where we could at least all see these guys having some fun.
I think the fans would appreciate that a little more than the half speed hardly hitting Pro Bowl we now have to endure.
Okay lets begin with Newt...
Newt Gingrich scored big points in South Carolina when he called the media despicable for asking him to respond to his ex wife’s interview on ABC this week. His ex says Newt pressured her to have an “open marriage” after discovering he had been in a long affair with another woman.
Whatever happened to the old saying “Don’t shoot the messenger?” Its not like the debate moderator asked him something out of the blue unfounded by facts. The facts are pretty clear in fact. Gingrich left his first wife during cancer treatment and now we learned he left his second wife after an MS diagnosis while having an affair with another women. And if we wanted to just keep the conversation to the business of Washington, we could easily bring up the multiple counts of ethics violations that got him kicked out of Congress. But wait, I think we all have a right to question Newt about his questionable relationship history because he was the biggest voice demanding President Clinton be impeached for his affair.
Sorry Newt. You kind of lose the right to be outraged when you are this big a hypocrite.
Seriously, these two candidates are the very best people the Republicans can muster? A morally corrupt pudtz whose only defense is “How dare the media disgrace this debate with stuff I actually did.” versus a modern day robber barren. Mitt Romney (and lots of right wing pundits) are trying to convince you that corporate piracy practiced by Mitt’s company Bain Capitol is just good old capitalism. As if capitalism could not be practiced with a sense of humanity for all the thousands of thousands of workers that were laid off and pensions that were raided in the process.
Yesterday I was minding my own business when a good friend of mine forwarded an chain email to me. Now I know this friend. I like the guy a lot and certainly respect his opinions. He’s a little right-leaning outdoors guy. Which made this email all the more puzzling to me. It was a chain email sent from some Conservative source meant to convince people in a viral email way to change minds over drilling for oil in the ANWR Nature Reserve in Alaska. Most of the email was written in all capitals so I suspect it came from someone who isn’t completely savvy in internet manners. But thats the least of the problems I have with this email.
The email tries to make the point that ANWR is a tiny space in the farthest northern part of Alaska that is “the most God forsaken place this side of Siberia.” An odd comparison when you consider Siberia is also famous for harsh winter conditions and has similar wildlife. Lots of it there too. The writer is trying to convince us that because its a harsh snow and ice covered place in the winter and a largely flat grassland during the summer there is not much there. And ANWR is only a tiny insignificant part of this massive barren place.
The writer than tries to make the point that if we drilled more in Alaska for oil the price we pay for gas in the United States would somehow go down. No doubt about it, I wish it would. I’ve made this point countless times but I’ll make it again here. Oil is an internationally traded commodity. It doesn’t matter where it is drilled, extracted or refined. It all goes on the world market where the oil companies negotiate with all oil consuming nations to set the price. It does not matter where it is drilled. Let me say it as clearly as possible...
Oil drilled in or near America is not necessarily what ends up in American gas stations. We do not get cheaper gas because the crude oil comes from derricks in or near north America.
While the site selected where oil companies hope to drill in ANWR might be relatively small compared to the map of all of Alaska, that’s not the reason environmentalists, or “Greenies” as the letter refers to them, are opposed to drilling there. The problem environmentalists have with oil drilling and production near protected wildernesses is that disasters happen near oil production operations and pipelines. If everything worked out perfectly 100% of the time no one would have any problem with oil drilling operations anywhere. But when things go wrong in oil production it leads to massive environmental disasters that have long lasting effects on more than just reindeer and arctic foxes.
The other thing the writer of this email fails to consider is that industrial equipment does not just magically appear on site. Roads have to be cut through the wilderness. Pipelines and harbor facilities have to be built to move the extracted oil out of the area. The actual site might be one tiny spot but the infrastructure to support a major oil mining operation is anything but small.
The writer has pictures that he says shows how content the local wildlife are with other oil operations in the area. He has one shot of herds of antelope feeding around some oil derricks and another shot of an Alaskan Grizzly Bear walking on top of a oil pipeline. The writer sees this as proof that animals dont even care if we develop these sites. Um, what choice do the local animals have but to adjust to the pipelines and buildings? I mean were not going to find photos of animals with protest signs. Animals dont have the ability to tell us what they think one way or another. And animals are going to do their best to adjust to whatever you introduce into their environment, whether they like it or not. Where I grew up in Minnesota, developers started to cut neighborhoods into the woods not too far away from my house. And almost immediately the folks who moved into those new neighborhood had to deal with black bears and raccoons raiding their garbage cans. So by this same logic I guess we could deduce the bears are better off because of these new neighborhoods being cut into the woods because they clearly enjoy eating all the garbage. Nonsense.
Then after trying to make the point that ANWR is a vacant desolate place, though they just showed us photos of all the animals enjoying the area, the writer shows us shots that “Democrats” use to show how rugged and beautiful the area is and how it needs to be protects, but those Democrats are lying (says the writer) because ANWR is really just barren tundra. Nothing majestic there. Just flat grasslands interlaced with melt ponds and waterways. The writer calls Democrats and Greenies liars for trying to tell us this is a beautiful place. Um, just a paragraph prior there were shots used in this same email to show how happy the animals really are and now the writer is trying to tell us those animals aren’t there at all. Which is it? And I could fly over marshlands with a helicopter and you might not see any life. But put on a pair of boots and get into those grasslands and guess what? Its teaming with life. But again, even if it were not. The reason this land should be protected is because it connects to the sea. And its the devastation of infrastructure and the danger of an accident that would cause far reaching problems beyond the tiny site up there in northern Alaska.
Lets think about the disaster that just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. That was one oil rig. One tiny spot on the map in the massive Gulf of Mexico. And look at the problems it caused to the entire gulf region when something went wrong.
There is no “Greenie” conspiracy to keep gas prices high. If anything thats a plot hatched by Oil companies and oil commodities traders. If the “Democrats” and “Greenies” just want to make sure there are wild places left in this world. Is that so bad? Where are all the hunters and fishermen who used to speak up for wild places? Many of these people are Conservatives. How come they don’t see the bigger picture here. All your places to enjoy the great outdoors are threatened whenever industry wants to move into wild places. Where is that voice of Conservation?
The writer ends his note saying “Democrats are lying to you about this! Tell them you support drilling in ANWR!” Isn’t it interesting that I could debug just about every point the writer made with common sense and logic? Yet its the evil Democrats doing the lying here? Not so much.
Normally I would just move crap like this to my junk email filter. But when someone sends out something that calls people who care about the environment liars and then they use lies to make their points, well that needs to be called out and exposed.
Its happening a lot right now. The Republicans keep saying President Obama is raising taxes when in fact he has lowered taxes dramatically for most of us. They keep saying he cannot grow the economy but he has grown more jobs during his watch than anything developed during 8 years of Republican rule. They love to say he has been soft on terrorism when in fact more terrorist leaders and cells have been destroyed under Obama’s watch then during two very costly wars under Bush Jr.. in fact when you consider all the opposition Obama has faced from Congress, its quite a remarkable Presidency. Of course you would never know that if all you watch is FOX. But facts are facts. They are all out there to find for yourself. I know its hard to accept when someone you trust is caught lying to you. But geez. Time to turn the channel FOX viewers. Its just not a healthy relationship.
Welcome to another fun
filled week in Bogworld. I’m afraid I am still struggling with some technology upgrades I made over the holidays which is slowing up the comic production here a little bit. But I expect the cartoons and blogs will be posted a little more regularly in the weeks to come. Thanks for sticking with me. I’m trying my best.
Okay onto the some of the things that are on my mind this week...
I know there are a lot of Conservatives out there who don't like Rachel Maddow. I like Rachel Maddow a lot. Rachel is a commentator for MSNBC but she is remarkably fair. And she is remarkably smart. And she gets her political points across better than I ever could...
Tonight, the Green Bay Packers lost to the New York Giants in the play-offs. Being a Minnesota Vikings fan who lives only a few miles from the Wisconsin border, I can tell you its been insufferable listening to the taunting of the Packers fans at work, especially since the Vikings had such a terrible season this year.
I guess there is justice.
Its going to be a very very quiet Monday at the office tomorrow, I bet.
For the record, I don't hate the Packers and I love my friends. Even those Packer backing friends. But lets me honest. The Packers were letting opposing teams score 20 and sometimes 30 points on them during the last couple of months of the season. Even some mediocre teams. Heck, their "perfect season" was ended by the truly average Kansas City Chiefs. And that's just not a team that would survive the play-offs. And they didn't.
So Packer fans. Rejoice that you got into the play-offs and you nearly had a perfect season. Better luck next year.
I watched another round of Republican debates this week. I really just cannot find much to like about any of these guys. I am trying to keep an open mind. But I still like President Obama over any of these schmoes simply because Obama has faced near impossible barriers to overcome; Inheriting the worst deficit in US history, two wars, and a completely uncooperative Congress. Yet still he has managed to make some progress. I know thats a tough pill for Conservatives to swallow, but it is true. We’re finally seeing the first economic upturn in eight years, we’re bringing our soldiers home from Iraq and Afghanistan and...oh yeh... Obama gave the very bold orders that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the capture of enough intelligence information to bring down his organization.... All without the help of the Republicans in Congress. Its a pretty remarkable feat.
Meanwhile, I listen to the collection of Conservatives that are supposed to represent the best their party has to offer and I just see people who are intent on getting us into another war and continuing policies that got us into the economical mess in the first place.
Its hard for any of us to get excited about an election season like this.
But it fuels good political humor.
Me? Well I plan to write a new novel... One is already underway. I should have the first draft done in a few months and then begin the long process of rewrites and revisions. The audio version of The Prank (my first novel and winner of the 2010 Indy Award for Best Young Adult Fiction... Available on Amazon, Kindle and iBooks) is being recorded right now. So hopefully soon you can give it a listen off of Audible.com.
I hope to continue to produce fun comics and thoughtful commentary here in Bogworld. Hopefully you will all show your appreciation for all this free entertainment by checking out the sponsors that appear on this site now and then. Thats how this website stays alive.
Obviously with all this going on, I do not see 2012 as the last year of human existence as the ancient Mayan’s and the History Channel might have you believe. I am more of an optimist than that.
I believe people can change things. I believe people can devise incredible means to overcome and survive just about anything if we all get past our petty differences and work together.
Of course hoping people will overcome their petty differences in the face of a global crisis might be a bigger obstacle than the global crisis itself. But I think were getting close to a tipping point in American history. I think a lot of us are all getting really tired of political nonsense. Not just Republican or Democrat, but ALL political nonsense. And we are all going to start demanding more from our media outlets and our leaders to do whats right for people... not for their own financial gains.
Why am I optimistic about this?
This week there was one example of the power that still remains in our hands. This week Verizon announced they were going to start changing “convenience fees” to folks who do their transactions with Verizon over the web. There was an outcry of Verizon users threatening to end their contracts and go to a different carrier if Verizon was really going to charge them for... well.. really just charge people for nothing. The topic spread like wildfire across the internet and Verizon was flooded with calls from customers threatening to drop them. By the end of the week Verizon changed their minds and the convenience fees will not be added to anyone’s bills.
What does this customer uproar over a fee have to do with the rest of the world?
It means something good is happening in this country. It means the people are taking back the power from corporations and government. It means were using the new tools we have like the web and social networking in a positive way to call out scams and to let people know about bad service. This is the first step towards demanding our media outlets are held to a higher standard of truth. We’re able to tell our governing officials in big powerful ways that we are their bosses and not the other way around.
The one bit of truth that seems to get glossed over in all the extreme right or left wing dialogue is that MOST of us live our lives in the middle. The vast majority of us have opinions and beliefs that straddle both sides. And the middle majority has all the power if we start flexing our muscles and showing our numbers. Extreme right and left wingers tend to be really loud minorities. And by being so loud and controversial they get all the press. But the majority of us are in the middle and we are starting to discover the real issues that we really care about: Namely finding a way to support and rebuild the middle class in America. Strengthening communities. Safer neighborhoods. Better schools for our kids and better employment opportunities for our adults. Reinvesting in infrastructure. This isn’t rocket science. We all want basically the same things.
I hope we see Americans stop being pitted against other Americans for believing different things. America was built on the freedom that we should all be able to believe in different things. Its time we start focusing on the things we all really need. Not the things that divide us.
I do not believe 2012 is the end of everything. I think it will be the beginning of some long overdue changes.
Happy New Year.
Lets just get to it. This movie absolutely rocks. Its that rare perfect blend of action and humor. This movie was produced by JJ Abrams and Directed by The Incredibles director Brad Bird. This is Bird’s first stab at live action movie-making and boy did he hit the mark. He not only mastered that near perfect pacing needed to make a thriller work, but he also perfectly employed the IMAX cameras to greatly amp up the action sequences and literally find ways to pull the audience into those skillfully crafted action sequences.
I know I tell my readers to see movies in IMAX all the time. In my honest personal and professional opinion, its the best way to experience ANY movie. But MI was shot in large part with actual IMAX film cameras. Its literally shot from the ground up to be shown on the giant IMAX screens. If you live near a real IMAX theater with a real giant IMAX screen, you owe it to yourself to buy your ticket at that theater. MI absolutely comes alive on the giant IMAX screen.
Whats so great about IMAX? Well there is more to it than the big screen. Other theaters boast about mega screens and ultra screens. But they are not IMAX systems. They are just common movie projectors lensed up a bit to fill a bigger screen. What they offer is often a big dim blown out image and unbalanced under powered sound systems . A real IMAX theater features a six story tall screen treated for optimum light and picture quality. Paired with a multi-million dollar projection system that uses the world’s best optics and 15,000 watt lamps to push ample light onto those giant screens. IMAX theaters have specially designed six channel spacial directional audio systems. Plus IMAX auditoriums are treated to optimize the acoustic performance of the presentations. And if that were not enough, IMAX theaters are “tuned” regularly so that picture and sound are always at their best.
About two decades ago IMAX set out to be the best possible movie experience but because of the nature of IMAX films (four times larger than standard cinema films) it was difficult to show more than 45 minutes of film at a time. But only a few short years back modifications were made in many projection booths that allow these mammoth projectors to run Hollywood length films. Quite literally six and seven foot metal platters spooling out nearly a half ton of film. Its quite an operation behind the scenes that provides this awesome movie experience.
When you marry the IMAX system with an exciting film its like mixing fire and gasoline. Its explosive. More specifically, since the screens typically are bigger than your natural field of vision, its immersive. Much more immersive than 3D. And since no glasses are required it feels more natural to your eye to experience the high resolution IMAX images.
Brad Bird and JJ Abrams has matched up this amazing presentation technology with a story thats worthy of it all. MI is big in scope but somehow manages to stay character driven. This movie works so well because we, the audience, are allowed to almost feel like were part of the team of spies. We learn their human sides. And we learn their sense of humor.
Lets face it. Past Mission Impossible movies just took themselves way too seriously. Where is the fun in that? This new MI gets it just right. There is plenty... and I mean PLENTY... of fingernail-biting edge of your seat tension.
Its not a flawless movie. It has a few “spies would not do that” moments and a few leaps of faith you need to take to keep the plot moving along. But who cares? This movie is so much fun that its like complaining about a scuff on a tire of a BMW sports car (featured in the movie). Who cares? The ride is still amazing!
Mission Impossible is NOW PLAYING in select giant screen IMAX theaters along with the Dark Knight Rises prologue. It opens everywhere on Wednesday.
Are You Ready For The Holidays?
I am a procrastinator of epic proportions. No where is that made more clear to the world than the week before Christmas. I have not completed all my shopping yet and I honestly dont know what I am going to get everyone. My travel plans are not completely figured out. And this week ahead at work is bound to be non-stop craziness because I work for one of the busiest retail operations in the world. Through all the logistics of preparing for the holidays its sometimes easy to forget what the holidays are supposed to be all about.
For that reason I am very pleased with the annual appearance of Yule Bog. The Bogworld Christmas story. I think it tackles the topic of holidays being lost in the rush and rediscovering the meaning of Christmas just in time. I think thats how it works for many of us these days. Its really not until were in the moment of Christmas itself. Amongst family. Exchanging gifts. Watching the kids take in whatever Santa Claus brought them. If you take a breath and take in the small moments. Appreciate them for the snap shots of all that is good in the world. It sort of brings it all back. It reminds us of why we put ourselves through so much for months before the day arrives.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah to you all.
Welcome to another week in
Bogworld.com. I hope you noticed Yule Bog is back! And the cartoons have mostly been holiday themed lately. I love re-reading Yule Bog every year. It always reminds me to the little crusade I staged back when I actually did work at a major metropolitan museum fighting the non-sense of political correctness.
If you work at a place that is trying to resist acknowledging the holidays because of political correctness, try what I did back then: I want to the boss and explained that real political correctness is allowing EVERYONE to express what they believe. Not restricting everyone from expressing anything. In the true spirit of political correctness a place of business should acknowledge and celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza and whatever other religious or seasonal celebration there might be all together. Who would be apposed to that? How cool would that be?
Everyone wins. Everyone gets to celebrate the holidays they wish to celebrate. And for those who do not celebrate such things. Shut up. Enjoy the holidays with the rest of us. We can celebrate whatever you believe in later in the year when you do your thing. Or you can choose not to do anything. But you don’t have the right to block the rest of us from having fun. Because you’re welcome to do your thing too.
God Bless Us Every One.
I want to keep with the warm holiday theme here but there is a Bah Humbug message coming out of Republican front runner Newt Gingrich that needs to be addressed.
Newt is playing to something from the more radical part of the Tea Party. That we should end social programs and let the less fortunate people in America get off their butts and just get a damn job already. Newt has been saying how inner city kids should be taught the value of hard work by replacing unionized janitors in schools. Of course if you think about that sentence for even a second you can see the problem with the theory. That janitor probably has a wife and kids and a mortgage. I dont know if you have ever done the work of a janitor but its not easy work. It involves working with hazardous chemicals and dangerous biological materials. Its hard physical labor and often the work has to be done dreadfully early in the morning or late at night. Just when would kids be able to do this work and keep up with their studies, Newt?
This is just one of many short sighted opinions coming out of Newt and others in the Republican party to send a message that poor people choose not to seek jobs and everyone who is unemployed or under employed is just a whiner who is too lazy to get a real job.
Having been unemployed and under employed in my life I think I can bring some clarity to this issue. Yes, there are people who abuse the systems. But if you think the majority of the millions of unemployed folks in this country are just lazy and living off the easy flow of unemployment benefits and support programs out there because they feel entitled to this easy life, you are dead wrong.
If you think you can comfortably feed a family on unemployment benefits you are sadly mistaken and completely misinformed. When I was unemployed, the money coming in to keep me from being homeless was a fraction of what I earned at my previous career. Had it not been for my severance pay when laid off, I would have been homeless in a matter of weeks... and I am a single guy with no family to care for.
The one thing that is so easily overlooked by these politicians is that most of us... Nay... virtually all of us... are one bad moment away from losing everything. Yes, even you Conservatives. You might not want to admit it to yourselves but someday you... or someone you actually care about... will probably have to face this. One bad divorce. One serious car accident. One unexpected illness. One belt tightening decision by the company you work for. All it takes is one little tragic moment that you really do not have any control over and suddenly you will be relying on these flimsy little safe guards that might keep you in your home and keep your children fed or help you with your hospital bills.
And you will be damn thankful to have that little trickle of money to give you a moment above water to try to rebuild your life.
A few months back there was a debate question asked of the candidates. The question asked “Lets say there is a healthy young man who decided, under the Conservative sponsored approach to health care. to opt out early in his life because he was young and healthy and didn’t foresee a need to pay hundreds a month for medical insurance he wasn’t using. Then he has a terrible car accident. His life is on the line. Because he did not opt in to an insurance plan should we let him die?” Someone from the debate audience yelled out, “Yes!” and Ron Paul answered that freedom can come with risks and the rest of us should not be held financially responsible for the short sightedness of this young man... he was basically saying yes, the young man should be allowed to die.
And this is precisely what’s wrong with the Conservatives when it comes to this issue. Its so easy to say “Let him die.” when its a faceless, nameless hypothetical character. But what would any of these people say if this was their own child? Or their parents? Or their spouses? And they easily forget that we are all moments away from the possibility of a life changing event happening to us.
Funny thing is, these are the very same people who said Obama’s health care plan was going to put your grandparents in front of death panels to decide if they get the care they need... which was always a bald faced lie... But by their own admission, their own policies would let people die simply because they could not afford care.
If you think for a moment most unemployed people are just being lazy. You’re wrong. You have no concept of reality. Just because you make a living wage does not mean there is an abundance of living wage jobs available out in the world. Just because you have a nice meal on your table tonight, do not just assume everyone can afford to eat tonight. And don't you dare think for a moment those poor people aren't doing everything they can to change that.
If you can afford to give to a charity this holiday season, please do.