Monday, July 30, 2012

Say "Thanks" to a WWII vet

I was shopping at Sam's today and was walking next to an older (than me) gentleman.  I noticed his cap identified him as a WWII vet.  I asked where he was during the war and he explained that he spent time near Siberia...in a submarine!  For two years.  Wow, two years on a submarine.  We owe a lot to the now dwindling vets from WWII.  I was thinking how most of those men signed up, volunteered.  As they diminish in number we all need to say thanks when we have the opportunity.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Olympics 2012 and the Big Question

So, almost five hours of...WHAT???  Most of it, maybe fifty percent, left us thinking, "What's going on and what in the world does GOSH and NHS have to do with the Olympics?  And texting?  You've lost me.  Voldemort, Captain Hook, what a mess.  Great spectacle, but perhaps too British for the rest of the world.  I love when the teams march in.  That's the real show.  204 countries, with North and South Korea, Iran and Iraq, Israel and Palestine.  All standing together on the 5 Olympic rings.  But the biggest mystery to me, the head scratching moment, more baffling than the Queen jumping out of a helicopter, was...
WHERE'S RINGO???

Friday, July 27, 2012

"Friends" 2012

Thought for today (got to get this off my back)...Beware of those who pose as "friends." In today's world the word "friend" does not mean what it did when I was young. Back then a friend was someone you could depend on, who would never do you wrong; who you could reach out to; who would borrow a dime and give you back a dollar. Today a "friend" is someone who reaches into your pocket and takes a dollar; who sees you as someone they can exploit for their own ends; to whom loyalty and kindness means nothing. This seems to be the way of the world these days. I feel better now...sort of.  Perhaps we need to come up with a new word.  If you think this is about you then it probably is.  The innocent need not apply.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Illegal has become glued to our lives.


We sit by as Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President make laws, pass laws, and judge laws that are basically AGAINST the law.  

Here are the words of James Madison, the framer of the Constitution...

The Federalist #45

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State." 

Notice "...few and defined."  Special attention needs to be focused on the word "defined."  Defined as written.  Yet not a day goes by that the Fed doesn't stretch the undefined.  We submit to this tyranny because we are used to it, and lazy.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Where's the GOLD?

So, this morning, March 8, 1933, Americans received the news that all GOLD had to be turned in to the Fed.  Didn't matter what is was, bullion or trinkets, you had to turn it in.  The Fed promised it would be returned to you at the time that the banking crisis was over.  Remember this is the Depression.  The banks are in trouble because there has been a run on the banks.  Banks traditionally had a 10% reserve of cash to handle customer cash demands.  But, somehow, the remaining 90% was lent out and the demands exceeded the cash reserve.  Therefore, everyone had to turn in the GOLD to assist with the emergency.  Nobody, not the Fed or the banks, explained how or why the GOLD would circumvent the emergency.  The price of GOLD meant that the cash you were given was not equal to the value of the GOLD.  Who set the price of GOLD, none other than the Fed in the person of the Secretary of the Treasury and (hold the applause) the President...Franklin Roosevelt.  How did they determine the price?  Well, maybe they looked outside and it was a sunny day so let's make it $20 an ounce.  Oh, it's raining today so maybe $25 an ounce.  So, would you want to deal with a GOLD standard that had no standard?  Essentially the value of money the very next day was not based on anything but the Fed determining value.  And has been ever since.  No GOLD was ever returned and in fact it was not until the 70's that the ban was lifted.  Today the value of your money is set at the Fed level, which is unconstitutional.  The Constitution does not allow the value of money to be set by the Fed, it only grants the Fed permission to coin money and value it.  So they just print money and nobody know or cares what the standard is.  Thus inflation is at the whim of the Fed.

Anyway, does anyone know where the GOLD is?  Fort Knox?  If it is in Fort Knox what is it being used for?  We no longer place the value of a dollar as a certain amount of GOLD.  So why does the Fed need to store our GOLD in Fort Knox?  If it really is there.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Paterno NO

Below are a few of my thoughts concerning the Joe Paterno statue at Penn State:


It's not my decision, of course, but in the name of decency and compassion for the victims Penn State needs to take it down.


Another thought. Imagine the kids that will now be wearing the PSU uniform this football season. Remember that these are young people and attending football games at other schools will be for them like, pardon, feeding the Christians to the lions. If PSU has any heart at all, it will suspend the football program, request of the NCAA that all players on scholarship be allowed to transfer to other schools without being penalized, and accept full responsibility for their actions, or lack of action. I realize this may be a bit much, but I pity the kids when they go to play at Ohio State, etc. They may get cheered at Not-So-Happy Valley, but terror awaits them on the road. What is the point? Suspend the program now, but don't punish the innocent players who will be ashamed to put on the uniform of a disgraced university.


In response to another post by someone defending Paterno:


Ken: You must remember that it was Paterno's responsibility to not just look the other way. I was an educator for 32 years, 30 of them in Philadelphia. I cannot tell you how many times we were instructed to report any suspected abuse. It was always to protect children, and if we erred on the side of an adult being innocent rather that than what happened at PSU. You are being a bit naive to think that it is acceptable to go to someone and take their word for it that it was innocent. Innocent or not, you have to live with yourself and the knowledge that it might not be so innocent. All the positive things he may have done no longer matter. This is enough to negate all of it. I also respect what you are saying but we will have to agree to disagree. A hideous error cost many children their normal lives. Please don't forget that and place yourself in that situation. I don't think you would be so forgiving.


I ask:  Is Pennsylvania State University a school or a feeder program for the National Football League?  Do the 80 or so players on football scholarships count more than those attending for an education rather than a place on the team?  The bottom line here is the bottom line.  Without the football program PSU would not be in the Big Ten.  Without the football program PSU would lose millions of dollars.  Without the football program alumni would not build buildings.  Without the football program the other sports would not be funded.  What would be left?  A place of higher education, that's what!  Paterno looked the other way for one reason and one reason only.  If he shouted from the rooftop the school would be embarrassed and the program would crumble and with it his reputation of being a football god.  But guess what, by not saying anything he comes out far worse than he ever could have imagined.  By shouting we would all be praising his courage rather than damning him.  He and the others not only looked the other way, they ruined it for the kids attending the university, the future of the university, and caused so much harm to those victims of evilness.


Take it down!!!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Best Buy needs to think about customer service

So off we went to Best Buy to pick up a Toshiba Ultrabook.  Nice computer for Anna; light, powerful and very nice looking.  The Best Buy Mobile store in the Indian River Mall had it on sale at a very attractive price.  I had seen it beforehand and Anna decided to go for it rather than a much more expensive MacBook Air that had almost the same specs.  We went to the BB Mobile and were approached by a salesgirl who was quite friendly, and happy that she didn't really have to sell us anything.  We knew what we wanted.  But, they didn't have one in stock and thus the trouble started.  She checked the inventory at the nearby BB store, the regular retail outlet which sits only yards from the mall.  She noted they didn't have one either, but the manager on duty suggested she call over and sure enough they said they had one.  The manager indicated that she would be happy to walk over to the store and pick it up for us.  I was okay with that, and she had the salesgirl call back to verify is that was okay with them.  She then found out that since she was the manager on duty that she could not leave the store.  So, another call.  Each call took several minutes since it seemed as though no one in the BB wanted to deal with the Mobile store.  I over heard the conversation and that the BB manager, Mark, was busy but he would bring the Toshiba to the Mobile location.  This is about a five minute walk if you go slowly.  The sales girl and the Mobile manager asked if we were okay with the plan, and we were so we decided to run an errand and then come back.  This had already taken most of an hour due to the BB store being slow to respond.  We did leave and then return within about 30 minutes.  Upon returning we learned that neither the Toshiba nor the manager had come yet.  The salesgirl then called the BB to find out why Mark had not brought it yet.  Again a long wait for someone to pick up the phone.  That someone should have been Mark, but apparently he was too busy to comply with the request.  It would now be two or hours before he could bring the Toshiba since he was busy.  This was really annoying.  You might ask why I just didn't go pick it up myself: 1) I greatly dislike that particular BB 2) I didn't think it was fair to the salespeople in the Mobile store to lose the sale after how gracious they had been 3) I greatly disliked the arrogance of Mark 4) the Mobile manager told me they really were slow that day and the sale would greatly help.  But, now we either walked out or waited for Mark to show up.  It kept crossing my mind how little respect Mark gave to both a waiting customer and his fellow workers in the Mobile store.  They all work for the same company, yet it seems this was not the first time that Mark and the BB employees acted this way toward the Mobile outlet.  What a shame.  We left!

Anna called the Melbourne, Florida BB and they indicated they had the Toshiba in stock.  We decided to make the 60 mile round trip and get it.  When we arrived at the store the salesgirl was quite friendly, the Toshiba anxiously awaiting our arrival.  I told the salesgirl why we were there and of course the usual "wow that's terrible" reply came.

This reflects very poorly on Best Buy.  I posted on their customer service site and one of their trollers replied with a "that should never happen blah blahs."

It has a happy ending in that Anna loves her new Ultrabook.  It's name is Vespa.  Don't ask.

Zimmerman, Martin and Gardner

No, they are not a law firm. No, they are not a rock trio. They are "news" of a sort.

First, there is Zimmerman. His guilt or innocence is not what I will write about. What concerns me about him is why he would feel the need to arm himself, because if you carry a gun and are a community watch person then surely something bad will eventually happen. Obviously I was not there the night he shot Mr. Martin. Are we to believe that Zimmerman just randomly walked up to Martin and shot him in cold blood, or did he feel the need to defend himself against an attack of some sort? The jury will decide. The Fed is looking into this as a racial conflict. Give me a break.

This leads into my next rant...

A few days ago in a place called SCHERERVILLE, ILLINOIS, three thugs murdered a young mother named Jacqueline Gardner. They stole $85 from her after following her home. They shot her in cold blood. Have you heard about this on the news? Have any politicians called her family to express their condolences? Has Al Sharpton shown up to express his sorrow over this heinous crime which has left two small children without a mother? Has the White House spoken to her parents? Is the Fed going to investigate this as a racial murder, a la Zimmerman? No? Why not? Maybe I'm naive, but Ms. Gardner was white. The three thugs are black. Could that be why Mr. Sharpton has kept his mouth shut for a change? Could that be why we don't see a memorial popping up at the site of her murder? Could that be why there are no comments on CNN, USAToday, Fox, etc crying for justice? In a colorblind America the reaction to her murder would be just as vocal as that which we heard from the Martin killing. Dead is dead.

Here's the heads up on one of these fine gentlemen: "Stephen Lee Henderson, who is still at large and considered armed and dangerous, was arrested by Hammond Police in 2007 for cocaine dealing. He pleaded guilty in 2009 and received a six-year sentence. Typically, Indiana offenders serve half their sentence."

So, he deals cocaine, gets six years, serves three, then murders this young woman. Has anyone EVER heard of someone killing a person, robbing them, and being a first time offender? I haven't. They usually, or probably ALWAYS, have an arrest record that is downright frightful. Maybe what we need is jails that are punishment instead of recreation.

Or am I politically incorrect?

Speaking of which: Have you been to an airport lately? I mean since September 11, 2001? I have. Let me tell you what I saw. As I entered the Orlando International Airport I was immediately struck by a very odd scene. There was a large group of ducks going through security. Each duck had to take off their shoes, empty their little wing pockets, and go through tight security. And they were no longer ducks. They were now "animals" as described in the latest TSA Manual of Political Correctness. And all animals were subjected to rigid security just as though it was a Great White Shark. Why? Because, Ducks and Great White Sharks are indeed animals. And all animals are treated the same. Thus, Ducks and Great White Sharks are lumped together as potential threats to both the airline and national security. Both the Ducks and the Great White Sharks have relinquished their Fourth Amendment Rights of probable cause in the name of national security and airline safety. The Ducks asked for a warrant but were warned that they might lose a few feathers if they did not submit (they were not told they couldn't get on the airplane since they could already fly). The Ducks then asked what was the probable cause as mentioned in the Fourth Amendment. The TSA agent was becoming annoyed, since he just had lifted a 90 year old lady out of her wheelchair so he could check the seat for dangerous weapons like false teeth or maybe a bootleg copy of the AARP Monthly. So, he mentioned that his favorite meal was Peking Duck and that shut them up.

Now I am sure you are aware that both Ducks and Great White Sharks are equal in the eyes of the TSA. But, even the TSA cannot stop a shark from being a shark.