Monthly Archives: May 2024

Which is Worse?

Posted in Uncategorized by

Voting Democrat is a disaster. Voting Republican can be almost as bad. So, what are we to do?

  1. Never ever vote democrat. It will encourage them, which is the last thing we need.
  2. Mostly vote Republican. There are a few exceptions. When they are democrats who call themselves Republican just to win, write your own name in. It will send the winner of the contest a message regardless of their party. If the republican loses, no big thing. Even if the rino wins, we lose.
  3. Never send money to the republican party. Send it to candidates that you like instead, even if he does not represent you. It sends a message to your representative as well as the other. Also, it will help to reshape the Republican party. The party supposedly ran as hard on border control but it wasn’t until Trump got in there before anything happened. Of all the so-called Republicans running against Trump, only 2 ran on border control. That should tell you something about the rino branch of the Republican party.
  4. In the last senator primary, I donated to a contestant of the incumbent as well as voted for the challenger. Sen. Wicker got the message I am sure. He was almost forced into a runoff. A good Republican Senator should not have to fight for his reelection in Mississippi that hard. I would have preferred Wicker lost or at least was forced into a runoff. However, at least he and his friends received a message. The question now is, will he pay any attention to it.
  5. Organize. I wish I could, but there are 3 reasons I can’t right now. The thing is, politicians of both parties pay attention to organizations far more than individuals. You really want to get the attention of that rino, speak for a thousand or two thousand. You might not change minds, but it will make them listen. Nothing will change anything until they start listening.

Just Finished Mowing the Front Yard

Posted in A Little About me, Driver-less cars, Elections, experience, Lawyers and Representation, Politcal Opinion, Robots by

I know. You could care less. However, have you not heard the saying, Laziness is the mother of invention? I know. Not accurate. Same thing only different.

I look at these kids with these R/C cars running them up and down the street at breakneck speeds while the kid operating the $40 toy car stands in one place.

I look at it and I shake my head. Why can’t I do that with my lawn mower? I mean, all that is missing is the R/C, right. Then I can sit under my porch on an elevated seat in the shade. Without even working up a small sweat, I can watch as my modern day mower makes short work of shortening my grass.

My first consideration is my doctor. He wants to make sure I get some good exercise once a week. [Now that is almost an oxymoron. How can exercise be good?]

On the other hand, it might be a conspiracy of the lawyers. It’s something of a disorganized thing. The word might already be spread that the lawyers will all be ready to jump on that lawsuit after the first accident. It ought to be worth a few thousand, even if the manufacturer is not at fault. I mean, the manufacturer will need a well-paid lawyer to explain why the machine is not at fault whilst the other is paid big bucks to prove it is.

So, while laziness might encourage invention, it provides no competition to the discouragement of the legal system.

It does cause me a little curiosity of how much more advanced civilization would be without the legal anchor we must drag behind us.

Do you suppose I could mount my own R/C on a mower. Sitting on my porch in the shade with a Diet Coke while the mower gets the exercise my doctor insist I have would be good, right?

Now I ask you, who else do you know who can write a humorous, interesting post about mowing lawns? This while arguing that our society has too many laws and lawyers.

Extortion Is Illegal

Posted in Uncategorized by

To the best of my knowledge, extortion, that is demanding payment for silence, is against the law. I guess it is an example of a law not stopping something. Successful extortion takes place on a pretty regular basis.

Many times, for various reasons, people resort to non-disclosure agreements. It doesn’t change the fact that the blackmailer is a criminal.

Stormy Daniel is an admitted criminal. Moreover, I would suspect that she has come forward for profit and threat. All of her testimony should be disallowed.

In addition, she should be prosecuted for extortion. I would suspect she won’t be. The dems will see to it. I am sure agreements were made. I would expect that the dems have been practicing extortion on her. Refuse to testify and go to jail. Testify and she’ll receive a big bundle of cash, which she has already received.

So it is the guilty will go free and the victim is being prosecuted. As usual, the dems are busy turning the legal system totally down side up.

Follower, Definitely

Posted in Uncategorized by

I’ve actually written on this before, without the prompt. It took me about 7 years in the Marines to figure this one out. I mean, for years, I thought I was a good leader.

Then I was promoted to staff sargeant. Then my eyes were opened over the next few years. The problem, you see, is that leaders must make decisions. Leaders must be good at organizing a staff. And yes, sometimes leaders must say or do things that are not popular in order to accomplish goals that some don’t like. Moreover, the leader must make it appear that decisions coming from above are his.

Finally, when things don’t go right, no matter who is at fault, the good leader steps forward and completely takes responsibility.

I have seen bad leaders quickly point the finger and say, “It’s not my fault. I didn’t do it. Old Joe must be at fault.”

Then again, if someone were to give me that excuse today, I’d believe him. In this case, Old Joe’s always messing up. And, by the way, he’s always quick to point his finger at someone else.

There are many characteristics of a good leader. Truly, objectively, I just don’t see any of them in Old Joe, certainly not honesty, the very most important one. Certainty not knowledge, another one of those big ones.

While I do have some of the characteristics, I lack one thing. I hate making decisions, especially one that effects others. Since leaving the Marines, I have avoided positions of leadership. I learned my lesson.

Daily writing prompt
Are you a leader or a follower?
View all responses

Gold or Land

Posted in Uncategorized by

If one one day, suddenly I had a million dollars to invest, just which would I invest it in, gold or land?

First, let me say, I am not a professional advisor. However, I think the wise thing would be to buy land, though neither desert nor swamp. I would be careful to select it closely.

The thing is, this is my reason. Land has utility. That is to say, I can use it to make money. If nothing else, I can farm it or rent it. I can realize a return on the land without selling it.

The only way I can realize a profit with gold is to sell it. Then, whatever gold I sell, I no longer own it. The same can also be said about selling land, but I don’t have to sell it to make money from it.

If nothing else, I can live on the land. If I buy gold, it just sits there. I can look at it. I can display it. I can weigh it. However, until I sell it, I won’t make a dime from it.

Certainly, one thing land shares with gold is that it will most likely only increase in value. However, they keep mining gold. Conceivably, a big find is possible, which will drive the price of gold down. Other than reclaiming a little land from the sea, the amount of land is fixed, while the population keeps growing.

Apparently, I’m not alone in this belief. It would seem most of the billionaires are buying enormous amounts of land. They would not do that if gold and silver were the better investments, would they be investing so heavily in real estate?

Abduction and Abductors

Posted in Uncategorized by

As near as I can tell, Israel is dealing with those who abducted the hostages with the only logical way. They need to continue going after the abductors until they give up the hostages.

If the hostages are dead, it is all the more reason to go after the abductors. If the hostages are still alive, how do we know. How do we know if they will remain alive.

Better to make sure the abductors never abduct anyone else. Better to let everyone know what happens to abductors. That way, the abduction stops.

It is horrible for the hostages to die. However, if it was Always the way we did it, we would not have to to face all the abductions. It was the way it used to be. At one time, an American citizen could travel the world safely. People feared the retribution of the American government. Not so much anymore.

Voluntary & Involuntary Contributions

Posted in Uncategorized by

On or about June of 1968, when I was a private in the Marines, a sergeant basically told me that if I didn’t contribute to United Way, I would be put on mess duty.

It was against regulations for sure. I might have even been able to get him in trouble. However, he was a sargeant and I was not looking forward to washing a heap of pots and pans.

In theory, it was a voluntary contribution. However, logic tells the simplest that it was really involuntarily. By the way, as a private, that little bit I was forced to cough up meant quite a bit to me.

Even after I left the Marines, the United way drives continued. I am personally convinced I unofficially paid for the times when I said no to United Way. And so it is that even today people either involuntarily contribute or they are penalized under the table.

Recently, it came to my attention that we actually make billions of dollars of contributions against our will. We contributed to Iran, to HAMAS, to Palestinians and, of course, illegal aliens by the millions. Many of these aliens, legal or not, openly admit they hate the very country providing them a place to live, food to eat education and medical help.

Are we electing people that really are crazy nuts?

There is no longer a need for charities. The federal government has taken over that task and everyone is obligated to contribute, like it or not.

How to Succeed in Business….

Posted in Uncategorized by

I have no earthly idea why, but the old musical-comedy came to mind, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” It is, something of a genius comedy, though certainly not my favorite. I say genius because it is something of a miracle how it all worked out for the good at the end.

Thinking back over it, I am not sure how that happened. I guess I was too busy laughing to to remember it.

The main character is J. Pierpont Finch who starts out in the mail room and finagles his way to the top of the company by some rather irregular methods.

Thinking back over it, it makes me wonder. Maybe what some of the businesses in this country need are few more Finches. In the movie he certainly straightened out the one corporation.

I know. Just wishful thinking. Old Joe has infected so many of them with his communist ideas it just might have made it hopeless without a miracle.

If you haven’t seen the show, see it. It is well worth it even if you don’t musicals. You might even like 1 or 2 of the songs. Besides, we do need to cheer the real Finches on if they are to straighten anything out.

It’s All Important

Posted in Uncategorized by

When I was in high school, I noticed the first 15 to 20 minutes of every class started the same, more-or-less. The math teacher told us that the world would nearly come to an end, if we didn’t learn math. Of course, all communications would cease if we didn’t learn English. It was a little more difficult for the chemistry teacher, but he did manage to open with a convincing argument for us to all learn chemistry. Finally, of course, the history teacher had to come up with the impossible task of making us realize the importance of learning about what the Egyptians did thousands of years ago.

In all honesty, I wish I had paid a lot more attention to my history teachers. Believe me, if you are in high school, pay attention to history. I know it is hard to believe it, but it really is important, boring as it may be.

When I was in school, I wondered why all the teachers wasted all the time. The fact is, I for one would have much rather been playing baseball. I’m very sure I had company. The reason we were there was that we had to be there. It was kinda senseless to explain why I should be there.

Then I went through instructor training while in the Marines. The first thing the instructor taught us was that students learn better when motivated. One way to motivate is to explain the importance of the subject.

Voila! The light was turned on. I finally understood why all those teachers wasted all that time trying to increase my interest, which, by the way never worked. I mean, the reason I was occupying that desk instead of trying to throw a 90 mph fast ball was entirely because it was required of me.

Nonetheless, I did learn very much in that first day of instructor training. I learned that everything is important to special people. Some folks get horribly upset when I use rather instead of whether. To them, proper English is all important. To a mathematician, knowing when to use a sin or cosin is all important. Hopefully, I don’t need to go through the whole list. Maybe you get the idea.

My point is this. It’s all important, depending on who it is.

I have noticed, from time to time, some will take this to an extreme. Some teacher or professor put the idea in someone’s mind the importance of the subject is all important, and they just might have a tendency to think too highly of himself.

Some doctors do have a tendency to think heart surgery is more important than everything. On the other hand, that doctor might not think so if there is an area power failure and someone needs to get out in the ice and cold to restore power to the hospital.

The computer wiz might like to think how extra important he is, until he is suffering heart pains and he is waiting for an ambulance.

Then again. There are those as me. I walk into a place where they make a wonderful sandwich for me at a reasonable price and I am very much impressed. Believe me. I know how hard they work.

It is the way our economy works. When there is an important need, someone will do it, even the thankless ones, as like garbage collectors. They, too are important