For what it's worth.....

I refrain from trying to cause trouble but at times I stumble into some interesting info that falls into the 'for what it's worth' category that I feel I have to share even if for no other reason than it's 'interesting' Many times certain areas of the country get categorized as hicks, hillbilly's, inbred, backwards, uneducated and so on, so in light of that what do you think is one difference between these two groups of states. The first group were blue states during the last election and the second group were red states during the last election. Now keep in mind the blue states listed here are generally considered enlightened and educated. Well believe it or not the all of the blue States in the first group allow first cousins to marry while it is prohibited in the list of red states. I know, useless information but just saying......you can't make this stuff up and I'm not making any assumptions but I did the research myself so check for yourself.  In case you think I'm picking on anyone I will tell you I live in one of the blue states. If you are like me I bet you are surprised by a few of these on either side.
Blue States 2012 Red States 2012 California Colorado Connecticut District of Columbia Florida Hawaii Maryland Massachusetts New Jersey New Mexico New York Rhode Island Vermont Arkansas Idaho Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska North Dakota Ohio South Dakota Texas West Virginia Wyoming

Typical

I finally arrived back home after a week in the mountains, I am glad the cool weather seems to be here.
True to fashion today is Halloween and Google chooses to honor it on their home page even though it is strictly an  American tradition. I guess I should be glad they are setting a precedent and I am sure they will also honor Thanksgiving and Christmas (both Christian holidays) in the same way.
Life is good.

Traveling

I will be traveling for a few days so I don't know how often I will be able to check in . I do enjoy getting around to all the blogs and reading even though I don't always comment it is interesting to see what everyone else is up to. Hopefully I will have more to post later.
Stay safe.

Punish the Hero

I saw this story this morning about  Kristopher Oswald a 30 year old man in Michigan who was fired from his job at Walmart after he assisted a woman who was being attacked in the parking
 lot. As the story goes he was taking his break in his car when he heard a woman screaming. He thought it might be people horsing around but he investigated anyway and when he tried to pull the attacker off the woman other assailants attacked him from behind and and he defended himself and the woman. For his efforts he was fired for violation of company policy.
 Kristopher Oswald said he was trying to do the right thing and the last thing he thought would happen is that he would be fired.
 What is totally disgusting is Walmart is more concerned about the rights and welfare of thugs and attackers than their shoppers and employees, if this was not the case he would have been named employee of the month, promoted or given a bonus however this sends a clear message to the dregs of society that Walmart is a place ripe for picking. It also illustrates how sick, twisted and perverted our society has become, this would not have happened 50 years ago but we are so much better now, so more enlightened so more caring, nothing is anybody's fault anymore the law-breakers are the real victims and if we try and prevent their evil deeds we are trying to shove our moral values onto them.
Kristopher says he doesn't know what to put on an employee application now, how will he explain the reason behind his firing. Well if I could give him advice I would say use it to your advantage, you now have press coverage and there are employers who are eager to find someone like you who has a backbone and courage, you might just discover this is the best boost you could get in your job search.

So what's next ?

I am convinced that the average person has no clue how basic economics works, I say this because there seems little concern over continued raising of the national debt ceiling. I think the average person really believes it's just a matter of the government printing more money, they don't understand if you double the amount of currency out there you cut it's value in half. Why do you think gas has doubled in the last few years, it's because the sellers of oil know our money is diluted.

For one moment forget about being liberal or conservative, forget about being republican or democrat, forget about being rich or poor and look at this chart here. Lets pretend this is your household debt. Instead of being $9 Trillion lets say it is $9 million, would you already be bankrupt, would the bank still be loaning you money to stay afloat. Would you have the ability to loan money to yourself ??? how crazy is that?
Let me tell you what drives politicians and everything else in the business world, money and power do you really believe they are concerned about the little people, the pawns, they all cater and promise anything to get our votes and don't care if they follow through on their promises. I could sit here and write volumes of indisputable facts about promises made from 0bama to the newest congressman and show they were all bold faced lies. They all promise what we want to hear and then throw us away like garbage when they can't use us anymore. It's all a big switch game to them. Martin Luther King was a registered Republican because they had been championing civil rights in the 50's and early 60's. Democrats were violently opposed to civil rights now they say they champion civil rights. Groups like the 'Moral Majority' promoted the Republicans in the 90's only to be abandoned after they got what they wanted. The Tea Party now has much the same story. I tend to think it is much like pro wrestling, they get up there and fight in front of the cameras but behind the scenes they slap each other on the back and laugh at us for being fooled.
This may seem a little disjointed but I will sum it up as I see it. The United States 'invented' the middle class. Before that you only had rich and poor but that does not bode well for politicians hungry for power and/or money. I won't even try and lay out all the things done in the past few years to weaken the middle class but those who consider themselves middle class (like myself) know how your financial situation has been weakened considerably. Just in the matter of so called health care they are trying to siphon money from the private sector to the government which is about 15% of the economy. They drive the up cost of private insurance through unreasonable conditions like per-existing conditions (although I do wish they could do that with my auto insurance) so people will be forced to buy government insurance. Who has to have the insurance? the poor and the middle class (who they want to make poorer) The rich have exemptions, and the penalty ? that is directly focused at the middle class, no rich person will pay it because they have insurance and the poor will be exempt.
So what do I think is next, well whether you believe any of this or not the fact is we can't sustain the debt forever and keep raising it. It's kind of like giving beads to the American Indians till they figured out they had no value and stopped taking them. One day the rest of the world will wake up as well and when that happens hyper inflation will hit like it did in Germany before WWII.
You can use your imagination how the civil unrest will play out but bottom line is those in power will be set to take total control and remold the economy to suite them and trust me they will NOT be giving power back to the people.
Oh, by the way, there is one big problem they have to figure out in the meantime, how to disarm the public, you see you can't have total control if the peasants are armed.........but they're working on it.

Starving the children.

It's been a while since I purposely tried to tick off as many people as possible so this is overdue.
 I keep hearing about the Tea Party wanting to starve the children and not pay for their lunch or breakfast so I will sum it up as I see it. I consider myself a Tea Party person at heart but I am not starving children or advocating anyone who wants to, the persons mostly responsible for starving kids is primarily their sorry parents. This may infuriate some of you but try and follow my reasoning, I know there are people who are truly in need and some who are just plain lazy nevertheless we give them aid in the form of food stamps or EBT cards and welfare payments  so these people can take care of feeding themselves and their children so why are the children going to school hungry? Are their parents selling the EBT cards for half their face value to buy beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, drugs, I know not all do (theirs are the kids who get breakfast before going to school) but a great number are and I would be willing to bet this is one 
reason they squeal like a stuck pig when you suggest welfare recipients should undergo random drug testing, and why not I had to endure this on my job for over 30 years so it is more than reasonable for them as well.
So what do I suggest, arrest or fine parents who get aid from the government and fail to properly feed their kids. Don't give me any garbage about that being cruel and uncaring, you would arrest the same person for neglecting or mistreating their dog or cat without a second thought and we don't give them any funds to care for their pet, are their pets more valued than children ? (don't answer that, I don't want to embarrass anybody) The fact is we could double spending on welfare and the problem would not change so the only answer I see is punishing the parents till they shape up, maybe some will be inclined to get a job, I'm tired of paying for their cell phone, big screen, food stamps, car and apartment and then getting labeled as a bum trying to starve their children. I happen to believe anyone who won't provide for their own family is worse than an infidel, seems I read that somewhere.

On the road again

I had planned on getting on the road Friday to help my son and my daughter-in-law move up to the Ft. Bragg area. I had a bad stomach bug but was feeling good enough to leave Sunday to drive up their extra vehicle.
 My son is finishing up his officer training in Texas so his wife was on her own. The Army had movers come in and pack all their gear and move it but there is still a lot to do at the new house and with 3 little kids to boot it is a chore but I'm glad to help.

Checking in.

Sorry I have been silent the last few days but I have a horrible stomach bug and haven't felt like doing anything. Hopefully all will be better in a few days.

I finally have an answer.

I have always branded liberals as being closed minded and unable to see rational thought mainly because if they were ever engaged in conversation and after all their irrational views were dashed on the floor they would come back with classic lines like, "you just don't care if children starve" or "we all need to get along" (translate, why don't you cave in to me) or they simply resort to name calling. 
This has always puzzled me because usually people want to argue their point in hopes they can persuade someone to change their view a little but it hit home to me this morning as I was watching some early morning news clips from yesterday. On one hand you have the Speaker of the House saying, "we are willing to talk and try and resolve this issue" and "we have passed bills which will get the government working again" and on the other hand you have the leader of the liberal side saying "I will not talk or negotiate until you meet all my demands" which in itself is absurd and further proves my theory, it's like one football team telling another we will only play you if you concede victory to us first.
So there you have it in a nutshell, the difference between liberal mentality and rational thought. This should remove any and all doubt about who is closed minded and who is not.

Where are the liberals ?

They say they want to discuss ideas but I'm starting to think they just want to spout their beliefs and not be challenged, am I wrong ? please see the post below, I am opening the door to discussion.

Honest Question

I am not trying to beat a dead horse here in regard to the government shutdown but I have an honest question.
In light of the fact when George Bush was in office regardless of  who controlled the Senate or the House EVERYTHING was totally Bush's fault. It didn't matter if it was the economy, the Iraq war, government spending etc it was all Bush's fault.
So, now we have a government shutdown, high unemployment, nation spending skyrocketing, gas prices doubled (the list goes on) when does this start to become 0bama's fault?
I want some intellectual honest, clear thinking, compassionate liberal to explain it to me, this is not a trick, I'm open minded here, I really want to know.

 BTW don't EVEN try and blame the Tea Party, they don't control any branch of government.

Free Health Care ? Boiling it down.

With all the debate of late I have heard statements like why shouldn't we have free health care like Canada or England etc. Now these comments come from supposedly educated people who should be able to think for themselves. Do the doctors in these countries work for free? do they get medicine donated by the drug companies ? do they build hospitals for free ? do workers

donate their time to keep these medical facilities operating? The obvious answer is no, somebody has to pay for it so the short answer is there is no such thing as 'free healthcare' anywhere in the world. The next reasonable question should be then where does the money come from? In the case of public health care (AKA socialized medicine) the money comes from the government. So where does the government get the money from? They get it from us, the taxpayers and in the case of England (and other countries as well) the top effective tax rate (if you total them up) is over 50% now I know some of this goes to other government functions but that is double what we currently pay here in the United States which begs the question how good an insurance policy could you have if you were willing to spend 25% of your income on it. But (some of you are saying) I don't make a lot of money so the rich people will pay for my insurance. Now aside from the fact I don't believe anyone should owe you health care no more than they should owe you a car or food or anything else lets just supposed that is fine with me, lets boil that down.

If Walmart (I pick on them because a lot of low income people shop there) has to pay more taxes in the form of payroll and corporate taxes and shipping costs (due to higher tax rates of their employees) do you really think they are going to eat it, no if their operating costs go up 25% then the price of goods in the store goes up 25% Walmart can't, or won't borrow money to cover the difference if they did they would be hopelessly in debt and eventually go bankrupt (also see our government)  so there goes your theory of the rich paying for your health care, I call it trickle down poverty.

I will also let you in on a dirty little secret nobody in this country, I repeat NOBODY is without health care, there may be millions who have no insurance but by law everyone who shows up at an emergency room has to be treated. Now I admit the system we had prior to zero-bama was not perfect but in my opinion it was one of the best in the world, why else did people with means travel from all over the world to come here for life saving treatment? So in closing don't insult my good friends in Canada or any other country by telling me, or them, they have free health care, they pay good money for it.

Missing the point

A lot of people seem to be missing the point with this so called government shutdown especially in regard to National Parks and National Monuments.
Who is the government? It is not 0bama or the Senate or the Congress or the cops or the FBI or military it is 'we the people' all these others are our employees, they work (or don't work) for us.
Blocking off a wide open park is grandstanding pure and simple, maybe next they can block off all federal interstate highways, which they won't do but it proves my point exactly. The white house is picking and choosing which things to fund and stay 'open' to further a political agenda. Disabled vets are low on the totem pole.  I wonder if our enemies overseas are still getting their foreign aid ?

Real hero's of the week

Miriam Carey

Amidst all the hype over the government shutdown we have some poor woman (Miriam Carey) suffering from postpartum depression driving in DC and apparently being confused over the new barricades which by the way I don't know how they afforded to erect if there was no funds (but that is beside the point) anyway she drives around in circles before she runs over a police car, the cops are chasing her around in circles and waving their arms trying to get her attention. Meantime the police are struggling to draw their weapons which takes them over 30 seconds to do so and shoot her dead but at least they spared the life of her 3 year old in the back seat. In the hours that passed we had politicians and the police chief praising them for being hero's and saving the city.
At least we have one less dangerous terrorist running the streets. I just hope the cop that killed her was not white as I would hate to see a replay of the Trayvon Martin trial.
Anyway if you missed the coverage here is a new 16 second video which just surfaced which sheds some light on the whole event.

 

Good Advice

When I was a young person my grandfather used to tell me, "If you believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see you will get along just fine" I have thought about that many times over the years and especially the last few days with all the government shutdown coverage,  DC woman gunned down with toddler in back seat, Navy yard shooting, 0bama blaming everything on the Republicans and the Tea Party, The news media having no clue or just regurgitating the White House views. It is enough to make your head spin. As I was flipping

around the stations last night trying to get some information and getting more and more frustrated with the whole situation I ran across a Pro Wrestling show, talk about refreshing, FINALLY something to watch that is more believable than anything else on TV
I never thought I would see the day that pro wrestling would have more credibility than most of the so called news services. It without a doubt has more credibility than anyone in the current White house.

How stupid people think.

I was watching the local news for a few minuets the other night and they were interviewing a woman
who had tried to visit some federal building only to find it closed due to the shutdown. This woman who was without a doubt a democrat was crying, tears in her eyes and she said "I had heard about it on the news but I didn't actually think people would not be at work, how can we
live our lives if the government is shut down ?"
This mentality is so wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start but that my good friends is how stupid people think and why we are in the mess we are.
Don't be fooled though, the government is not totally shut down, the enforcement departments are operating in full force because they don't want you to taste real freedom in case it becomes addicting.

You know what I really want to see ?

Yesterday (for a short while) the federal government shut down the national parks because of the federal budget. Now I don't really understand why the park service would barricade off national memorials and monuments which are normally wide open parks with no fences except to make a political statement however they did so yesterday.
WWII vets from around the country had traveled to DC to visit the WWII memorial and consequently found it barricaded off.
Which lead me to think, I would dearly have loved to seen those hundreds of WWII vets tear down the barricades and storm the monument much like they did the beaches on D-Day  and defy the park police. I would love to see one of the vets on a bull horn announcing to the police and the media that this monument does not belong to the government but to them and they have no authority to block it off. I would have loved to have seen jack-booted thug riot police arresting hundreds of vets on crutches and wheelchairs in front of the news media and then some government official on TV explaining why these vets who bled and sacrificed so much for their country were being treated this way. I would loved to see the PR nightmare this would be for the 0bama tribe.
This also begs the question, why have we let the government come to control us so much, why do we think we need permission from government to access a public park which belongs to 'we the people'
Is it strange to anybody else that if the national park department was unfunded and shut down then who barricaded them off.  Did employees come in on their own and volunteer their time to do it ? or did 0bama order police (if you look closely at the tape on the barricades it says "police line, do not cross") to block them off to show the public he was the supreme ruler ?
Oh well what you gonna do, this is what everyone wants, a nanny state.

New FY, 0bama Care

This is a new fiscal year and part of the issue is the implementation of obama care.
I always try and look on the bright side and I think this will actually save me a lot of money.

I get all my medical care through the VA however my wife has a very high health insurance bill, but the deal now is insurance companies can't deny coverage on preexisting  conditions so I'm figuring just drop insurance till she gets sick, I am sure rates will double or triple overnight but if you go for years without having to pay premiums what a deal and even if you go to the doctor for the flu and pay out of pocket maybe $200 it's still cheaper than one month premium.
I am also sure it will wreak havoc on the whole health care industry if everyone did this but they have been wreaking havoc on my finances for a long time so turnabout is fair play.
And you know the bottom line, I'm not going to worry over it. The government has been screwing us over for a long time and not caring how we feel about it so it's about time we did what's best for us and not worrying how they feel about it.
Maybe we can get the government to drop preexisting requirements on car insurance companies, that would really save me a lot of money, I could just get insurance when I had a wreck........I like that idea.