The Millennials; Our Only Hope?

English: FDA poster warning against the use of the Hoxsey method. Product of the Food and Drug Administration (U.S. government agency). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have read many times how the old white men who are the base of the Republican Party are dying off and this should give us hope for the future. I do not have faith in this theory; the number of men in their 40s and 50s that support tea party goals and efforts continues to shock me.

Just last night I had the pleasure of conversing with two men in this age group. Both are supporters of Republicans and share their thoughts and feelings freely. Of course one has to give them a break; they did grow up on a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh.

One of the men said “Our government is too big.” Unfortunately I had my coat on and was heading for the door when this comment was made; a missed opportunity for sure.

Had he said this earlier in the evening I would have asked him some of these questions.

What part of the government would you like to shrink?

Would you shrink the WAR department?

Would you shrink the FDA?

Would you shrink the FAA?

Would you shrink the SEC?

Would you shrink the HHS?

These are just a few of the departments our government spends money on to protect us from both invading forces and ourselves.

Come now all you young people and join us in getting a government that protects the people from the corporations rather than the current one that is protecting the corporations from the people.

Related articles

• Rush Limbaugh: Women Are ‘Nothing But Abortion Machines’ (AUDIO) (addictinginfo.org)
• A Millennial Is Either the Savior or the Destroyer of the GOP (thewire.com)
• 5 Reasons Millennials Are Going To Save The World (We Hope) (huffingtonpost.com)

Silent Night – A Perspective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skCADm40EBE

notestoponder

It could be that Fukushima got me pondering, it could be this time of year makes me into a marshmallow, or it could be I’m simply tired of stupidity. Anyway I slice it – take two minutes to watch this video clip.

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They’re Lucky They Got a Job

St Malachy. 14115 Fourteen Mile Road, Sterling Heights, MI. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They’re Lucky They Got a Job

How many times have we all heard that phrase? Well I overheard it yesterday during a discussion at Thanksgiving dinner. The topic of shopping Thursday evening was being discussed one member of the group said she did not think it was a good thing. Thanksgiving is one day we should all spend with family and friends. It is a shame that the people have to work on this day. It was this comment that brought the “They’re lucky they got a job” reply.

I was not in the room at the time and did not get involved but, I am thinking it is a stupid statement in and of itself.

I do not think anyone is lucky they got a job; I think people have a job for a variety of reasons. They are qualified to do the job; they are willing to do the job for the pay received. And the employer hired them.

Luck has little or nothing to do with it.

Now you could say some are unlucky because they do not have a job; but this has qualifiers also.

One comment in the room I was in did get a reply. Someone said they use their Obama phones and call for help. I asked what the hell are Obama phones and are they real. Someone responded yes they are real they get them from the state. I replied “if they get them from the state they should be called Snyder phones. I am tired of everybody tying anything negative to Obama. Just like all this cancellation of insurance policies, Obama is not cancelling anyone’s insurance; it is the insurance companies that are cancelling peoples insurance.”

Then another member of the group said something about how good the pumpkin pie was. (Change topic now before this gets ugly.)

When I got home after the dinner I did a search on these Obama phones. What I found was interesting, these phones were started prior to Obama’s election. Here is a link that explains it in detail.

http://www.freegovernmentcellphones.net/faq/obama-phone

If you have the time you may want to join the people at the Walmart in Sterling Heights, Mi. ,  there will be a rally today (Friday) starting at noon.

Click here for map and more info.

https://actionnetwork.org/events/black-friday-rally-for-better-jobs

No matter what you do, do it with vigor and have another great day! And way to go Lions!

Let us give thanks

Group portrait of extended family(?) at Augusta(?), Hancock county, Illinois, by W. G. Ketchum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today we can all find something to be thankful for.

I will start it out and you all may follow if you wish.

I am thankful for the wonderful family I have, both the close and the extended family.

I am thankful for all the fine people I have met and spent time with in my life. These people have given me inspiration and joy.

I am thankful for the precious moments spent with friends and family, each moment adds to the fulfillment of my life.

Thank you all for sharing your lives with me.

Go Lions!

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just feel like agitating today ;)

Saturday in Brisbane Mall-01= (Photo credit: Sheba_Also)

Want to shock your friends and family. Want to see looks of dismay and perhaps even anger?

Say something like this at your next family gathering. “I am starting to become somewhat of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas.”

Ah yes this simple statement will bring tears to children’s eyes, looks bordering on disgust from adults and silent gestures of pity from others.

I did in fact make such a statement recently during our Saturday night BS session. While no children were there displaying tearful faces, some of the other items mentioned were displayed.

The topic was not discussed so I did not get to explain my feelings. Guess it will have to be done here.

Looking at the people camped out at a big box retail outlet waiting to get the best price on an electronic gadget made in China causes me to pause and question the values of these people. Come on friends; take a week of unpaid vacation to save a few bucks on an Xbox?

This time of year people spend money they do not have to purchase items that are not needed.

People have been killed in the rush to get the flat screen tv for only $XXX.XX versus paying $YYY.YY.

People have threatened bodily harm to any clerk that wishes them “Happy Holidays”.

The lady leaving the store with arms full of goodies, bruises from the battle and a credit card full of debt stops for a moment and says “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Bah Humbug!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah to all.

Doors open at 8: PM, don’t be late. 😉

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• Oh Please, Not The Whole “Happy Holidays” Thing Again (kimcourtblog.wordpress.com)

Late night sillness

Battery (Photo credit: Sh4rp_i)

So I’m having problems with my tv reception. Satellite server, I call for help and tech tells me I need new batteries for my remote. Tell him I will install same and if that does not work will call back; did not have batteries available. He suggested I could use chat on internet to get help.  Installed new batteries and still no reception.

This time I went to chat help on the internet. Quickly I got connected with someone called Reynz.i387. Reynz.i387 stepped through the process and determined that I needed a new remote and would send one to me expeditiously. I thanked Reynz.i387 and got a reply. You are welcome, is there anything else I can do for you? I replied… Well I don’t know where you are located but, if you are in the U.S. vote straight Democratic.

Reynz.i387 replied….  🙂

Have a nice day everyone.

Diplomacy? MSM BS? and more.

President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have just worked out a diplomatic deal with Iran. This is a start at stopping Iran’s work on getting a nuclear weapon. This deal has the war mongers all up in arms; (pun intended). The diplomatic solution has the support of many nations including both Russia and China. Benjamin Netanyahu one of Israel’s war mongers has expressed his dislike of this deal as have more than a few U.S. war mongers.

Using diplomacy versus using warfare would mean a negative impact on the military-industrial complex’s bottom line. Heaven forbid that the mighty military manufactures may see a drop in revenue; ever increasing profits are in fact, the corporate way of life. Collateral damage (dead people) be damned we want more money!

Imagine the tragedy if the world were to start settling their differences by talking them out rather than blowing the hell out of each other.

The MSM seems to have let this major accomplishment in international relations go by the wayside. They were still working on destroying the affordable care act and despite positive reports coming in on the program; they have not yet accepted the truth.

Not accepting the truth should come as no surprise after seeing how 60 minutes and Lara Logan issued such a timid response to their totally BS Benghazi report.

Interesting fact not disclosed by CBS, Logan’s husband was employed by the U.S. military in Iraq. His job was providing BS news reports to the Iraqi people to gain acceptance of our invasion.

May be time to send another email to CBS asking why Logan has not been fired yet, don’t you think?

Go here http://www.cbsnews.com/ scroll to bottom of page to send your request.

Sequester two on the horizon with massive budget cuts to WAR department on schedule. Stay tuned for further updates.

 

Related articles

• Iran nuclear deal: Israeli press pours scorn on Benjamin Netanyahu (telegraph.co.uk)
• UPDATE 2-Obama takes on critics of Iran deal, praises diplomacy – Reuters (in.reuters.com)
• The military-industrial complex and the establishment media reject diplomacy with Iran (blogforarizona.com)
• Party that likes to use bombs unhappy that Obama is using diplomacy with Iran (dailykos.com)

Saturday Night Chatter

United States (Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn)

Smaller group last night and possibly some progress made?

We touched on almost every topic. Gay rights, Religion, Affordable Health Care and Mid-east policy.

Many topics in a short span of time so I don’t recall the exact sequence of discussion but, I do recall some highlights which I will share here.

I mentioned how I liked some of the stuff coming from Pope Francis and added how a guest on Bill Maher said “this is good but the American bishops have not followed the pope’s direction.” He gave an example of a bishop that had just professed anger over his state approving of gay marriage. The guest suggested that the bishop would be better off repairing his own flock rather than trying to change the behavior of others.

Another member of our group agreed and said “he knows of many that have left the Catholic Church and were now attending services at Lutheran churches.” This was followed by some light banter about various churches and their radicalism. The religious discussion ended when the third member of group said.

“What really bothers me is the fact that bishops can only move diagonally.” Think about it for a minute….

Got it? Checkmate 😉

The conversation continued with the same guy comparing cable tv to the affordable care act. His theory..

The government made us go to digital tv which for practical purposes requires some sort of paid provider; Cable, satellite or something like that. Adding insult to injury they do not allow us to pick and choose what channels/stations we want to buy; we have to take one of the packages offered.

He compared this to the government making us buy health insurance with no options.

This was corrected by the third gentleman who said “there are in fact 4 different options available for you to pick from.”

I then asked them “Why do you suppose the government wrote those laws?” The eye-opening answer from them was. “The lobbyists”

Great at least they have recognized the villain in this mess, now to get them in line to fight the correct villain.

IMHO both of these gentlemen feel the federal government is the enemy and Republicans are their only chance of having less government interference in their lives. They have not grasped the fact that these are corporate lobbyists that are writing these laws that do in fact interfere with our lives.

They have not connected the dots yet but there is hope.

One guy said there is no difference between communism and socialism. I told him both Sweden and Finland are socialist countries and they are reportedly the happiest people in the world.

I did also introduce them to ALEC of which at least one had never heard of.

There was much more but I am running long so will end it here.

Go Lions!

Related articles

• On Maher Show, Dan Savage Unleashes Hate on ‘Catholic-F-ing Bishops, Priests, Cardinals’ Over Gay Marriage (newsbusters.org)

The War on Social Security

Social Security (play) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ere it is nearing Christmas and again we have a re-run of Bill O’Reilly’s annual “War on Christmas” diatribe. Seeing another opportunity to sweeten her pot, the opportunistic Sara Palin has joined in this enrichment ploy this year.  Well good for them, if they have circled in on a method to increase their personal wealth using fear and anger, tally ho I say to them.

But while we are talking about wars on… what say we discuss the war on Social Security?

Did you know there are two groups the “Business Roundtable” and “Fix the Debt” that are the driving forces behind Paul Ryan and his desire to cut Social Security?

Did you know the Business Roundtable group is made up of approximately 200 CEOs?

Did you know that these CEOs have an average retirement savings of $14.5 million?

Did you know that the top 10 of these CEOs will be receiving pensions in amounts ranging from $350,000 to $850,000 PER MONTH?

Is it any wonder that these groups see no need for Social Security and seek reductions in it?

Are we going to let these 200 people dictate how our government spends our tax dollars?

NO! This year rather than joining O’Reilly and Palin in their fictitious War on Christmas why don’t we all join together and fight the War on Social Security?

Links…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/social-security-ceos_n_4297606.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/18/elizabeth-warren-dont-cut-social-security-expand-it/

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/11/sherrod_brown_lends_support_to.html

Snow flurries today and cold. Enjoy the day friends.

Related articles

• Filthy rich CEOs are lobbying to cut Medicare, Social Security and push the retirement age back (sott.net)
• Platinum-Plated Pensions (ips-dc.org)
• Meet the Uber-Rich CEO’s Pushing to Cut Social Security (publichealthwatch.wordpress.com)
• Expanding Social Security (ivoter.net)

Personal Memories day.

English: A mooring man putting a line on a bollar during mooring operations in Rotterdam. Français : Un lamaneur plaçant une ligne sur une bitte, à Rotterdam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Memories

We all have memories, some good some bad. Walk with me if you wish while I share a couple of each.

First, a recent bad memory.

Lovely wife, her brother, his wife and I were spending a week at youngest daughter’s cabin on a small lake up near Tawas.

A few days in we decided to take the pontoon for a cruise around the lake. After calling Steve to find out how to start it, he had installed a battery lockout to avoid draining the battery during times of no use, I sat in the captains chair revved it up and backed off shore. A few seconds into ride Ellen said “Oh we are taking the dock with us.”

Damn! I was backing into lake without untying the mooring line to dock. I was really angry with myself for having pulled such a stupid tactic. Fortunately brother-in-law had enough strength to wrestle the dock back on shore. But with no help other than the ladies and myself re-setting the dock was out of the question. I called Steve and confessed to my blunder, he reacted as I had expected him to, he laughed. A bit later Tricia called me and told me not to worry about it, Steve and the boys would come up next weekend and if the dock hadn’t drifted off to parts unknown, they would sit it back on its posts. Truth be known, I was more angry than worried.

Now for a pleasant memory.

Fifty some years ago men were relegated to the waiting room during childbirth. Considering that today’s births are posted on youtube almost as they are taking place this sounds strange but that was the way it was. So, it was untold joy that I experienced after spending a night in the waiting room when, in the early morning sunshine I first laid eyes on our firstborn child. Words are not available to me that would describe the pride, happiness and love that I felt at that moment. A real live human was now a member of the world; a newborn baby girl with no preconceived notions or opinions on anything; Innocence at the purist level available to mankind.

And another bad.

It was 50 years ago today, I was working on a house I was building for myself and my family. A man working next door came over to me and said. “Hey, it just said on the radio that President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, he is dead.” Personally I was not a supporter of the President, but still found this to be saddening, hard to believe and disgusting.

And another good.

It was 54 years ago yesterday that lovely wife and I became husband and wife. I think Dean Martin does a fair job of telling our story in this video. Sorry about the commercial but that’s all I could find.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17lln_dean-martin-memories-are-made-of-th_music

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