Old Joe was careful with his words. He carefully said he had no knowledge of his son’s business doings. He really should have finished the thought, “I am always careful to keep all his illegal activities at arm’s length.”
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Absolutely Not!
It is one of the bigger things I learned while in the Marines. I would make a very poor leader. In fact, I did make a bad leader.
It takes a special person to deal with subordinates and I am not one of those people. Try as I might, I failed miserably. Every since I left the Marines, I have made it a point to avoid positions with authority. It doesn’t pay nearly as much but it worked out better for me and those I worked for.
Want to Stop Crime
- Stop drug abuse. Truth be told drugs are involved in close to half of all crimes: murder, robery, auto accidents. I am sure there are some I left out.
- Close the border. We have enough criminals already. We have no need importing any. We have no need of more illegal drugs. We certainly have no need to import any terrorists.
- When criminals are caught, put them in the big house. If they aren’t on the streets, that makes the streets safer.
- Permit prayer back in schools.
- Teach respect. This applies to parents as well as school teachers. This means respect of law, enforcement personnel and other people. I learned to wait in line when I was in school. Obviously, some have not. Many think of themselves as special. They need not wait their turn, they are oblivious to common courtesy and stop signs are for the other guy.
If any of this angers you, it very likely applies to you.
Inflation?
The dems are touting that inflation is only 3%.
They can quote their stats all day long. I have my own stat. It Before Old Joe occupied the Oval Office, my groceries were about $100 a month. Now, it’s about $220. I might not be the greatest mathematician, but I think most will agree that is not 3%.
I Don’t Know Any
It’s true. I have met a few. When I was 12, I met a few Dodgers. Frankly, I don’t remember any of the names. It is one of those times I wish I had pen and paper. I am sure they were all famous. I just didn’t know any better.
I also spent some time with some double A players. I’m sure they were on their best behavior at the time but they all seemed nice. I mean they put up with the four in my family and seemed pleased to do it.
However, over the years I have been disappointed one time after the next. I’m sure, they, most of them are one person in public and another in private.
Then from time to time the private life becomes public. I can name them by the dozens. Most others can too. I guess if I had to make a decision I’d have to vote for Sandy Kofax, Dodgers pitcher. I’m hardly in a position to say much about him one way or the other.
I did remember him in interviews. Moreover, I don’t remember much of his private life going public. Then too, I don’t recall anyone saying anything but good about him. From what little i know of him, he seemed a man I’d have liked to know, if even for a short time.
Speaking of Exercise
A thougt came to mind this afternoon when I heard a character in show suggest, ” Come on. Let’s go bowling.” It broght back memories. Another guy and I would get off work about 1 in the morning and go bowling.
It was inexpensive at that time so we would bowl six games and then get a hamburger and fries. We kept score but it didn’t mean a thing…other than trying to improve our skills.
However, the reason I took note of the line in the show was that, well, does any try to get a bowling lane around 8 or so in the evening. Most bowling alleys try to fill the lanes with leagues so they can make more money. Hence, our friends in the show, if real, might not get much bowling done.
There are 2 ways you can bowl. In a league or in the early morning. Even to this day, it irritates me.
Well, that might not be so true these days. That China virus has thrown a monkey wrench in a lot of businesses. Still, I imagine they are still pushing the leagues as much as they can, essentially with the big financial hit everyone has taken.
I guess the one place it bothered me most was while stationed in Japan, they had a nice big bowling facility ran by the PX. Even they insisted on leagues. Maybe it was rhe wrong way of looking at things but it seemed twisted. Who were the lanes put there for? Who actually benefitted from them? I don’t think they were the same.
At any rate, it all left me with a bad taste. I used to like to bowl. Not so much anymore. I would guess it’s mutual. If because of leagues fhey were turn my foursome away, I don’t think it would bother the man behind the counter or the managent at all.
Being as they don’t like me, we all will go elsewhere.
Exercise/Work
Having problems relaxing or sleeping. It’s the best way. I don’t get near as much exercise anymore, but it still works. Go out in the yard and work an hour or so and when I come back in I have no difficulty in sitting in my recliner and napping a while. Usually, I don’t even remember going to sleep.
It upsets my wife. She says she never saw anyone who could fall asleep so fast. However, the good part is that when I wake, I am fully rested and I feel much better than before the work.
The truth is that I rarely have any problem relaxing. I suspect that people who do try to do their relaxing in a hurry don’t really relax much. They look at the clock and say to themselves, “I have 40 minutes to relax now.” I can’t do that. Relaxing in a hurry has never worked for me.
Of course, it also helps to have a clear conscience. Invariably, I do have problems when I keep thinking about the bad I did or said. On the other hand, I have heard of some folks that have no problem with it.
Too Many Things
Daily writing prompt
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
I hadn’t noticed how much I have overused the word until I was proofreading one of my books. Not only had I used the word twice in one paragraph, but I noticed that there were many other words I use that end in ing. I don’t know if there is anyone who did any research on it, but, sometimes it seems impossible to get through one paragraph without using a word ending in the suffix.
I don’t guess there is anything wrong with it, but it just never occurred to me before, as in the word “anything,” which I used earlier. Sometimes I spend hours rewriting to keep from using too many word ing words, especially thing. None-the-less, it seems the harder I try, then the more difficulty I have.
The fact is ing does seem to be one of the more common suffixes. (something, everything, morphing, trading… well you get the point) Moreover, thing is a handy word to use when we can’t think of the right thing to say. Moreover, it isn’t very exact. Whenever possible, we really ought to use a more precise word.
Besides, as author if I am bothered by the word, I am sure anyone reading my work will be bothered too.
And so it is, If anyone can think of something to replace thing with, I am open to suggestions.
In the previous sentence, I should have wrote “another word” instead of “something”. It would have decreased the ing count.
Don’t Think I’m Alone
As a matter of fact, I’m sure it is a grudge I share with thousands. I rarely hold grudges. I am generally quick to forgive and forget.
However, Fauci is responsible for the loss of millions of lives. In the middle of the pandemic he denied having any part of the origin; he originally said it was not that contagious; and then of all things, he had us all wearing useless masks. He had us shutting down schools, businesses and churches, while knowing it was without reason.
Finally, as fall approaches, he has raised his voice again in an attempt to get us to mask up again. Do you remember all those efforts to get 2-year-olds to wear masks. That was double bad. Children are not all that susceptible and they recover quickly.
And then, and then, to add to all else he did, he kept people from using effective preventatives and treatments. That had to be intentional.
Yeah. At this point, my only question is, why isn’t he wearing an orange jump suit. I bet there are many of us who would be glad to buy him a nice embroidered one, maybe three. No need him going to prison. Just make sure he wears the well marked marked outfit everywhere he goes.
Learning From our Mistakes
Well, we’ve made the mistake. When are we going to start learning.
Oh. Maybe you are wondering to which mistake am I referring. Well, let’s look at it objectively. In the fifties and sixties, we had some of the best schools in the world. California had the best schools in the schools country.
Odd. Since then, we have increased spending on those schools, not just two fold but ten fold. One would think the quality of the teaching would have skyrocketed. It did… in the negative direction. The teaching has gotten so bad so fast that one would think it intentional. Well, maybe it was intentional. I have often wondered and I am sure I’m not alone.
Shall we take a short walk down memory lane, please. The current Department of Education was signed into law in 1979 by Jimmy Carter (You remember, he was the president who did very little other than give away the Panama Canal. Now that took some brains.) Since that time, the quality of our education has taken a nose dive. Do you suppose that forming the Department of Education just might have been the beginning of mistakes.
Let’s look at two very important objective considerations. The current budget of the department is 68 billion dollars. (seems as if we could build a lot of schools with that.) If distributed equally, that is over a billion dollars for each state. Also it has 4900 employees. I wonder just how many of them actually knows how to teach. I wonder how many ever did teach. It makes me wonder if they really know where to most effectively spend that 68 billion dollars.
When I started this post, I did feel I should Google the department. At that point, I only had a vague idea on what I would be writing. Right there on the computer screen was a photo of a big building. (I really mean it is big.) Do they have to have a big building? Does it serve any purpose. I am sure that building must require maintenance, utilities and upkeep. It makes me wonder if those going green folks realize the waste. Actually, when you come right down to it, the US government likely generates a lot of carbon dioxide in buildings like that. You ever take a tour of DC. There is a big building for this and a big building for that. There are many of them and I suspect there are more planned. Shut that city down for a month and we could run Southaven on the savings all year and then some. My electric car would likely go around the world… forget that. I don’t think I could make that calculation.
At any rate, my best guess, that big department likely takes it’s orders from the National Education Association, a union. I don’t think that the union has the interest of our kids at heart. Like most unions, their biggest interest is the union…gaining and maintaining money and power. If the kids get educated, it is totally by accident and the local education system.
The department controls local schools in three ways. They collect statistics. The distribute money, but only to those who meet the standards of the department. It makes little difference of those standards are good or bad. Finally, they make sure that there is no segregation in the schools. Surely, all this can be done locally. Why do we need a big brother in DC to tell the local schools and teachers what to do.
Well, how is the centralized system working out for us? Well, they collect the stats. They, themselves ought to be able to tell us. I don’t have to guess. You don’t have to guess. Since their formation… by their own stats, they have failed miserably. If we are ever going to learn from our mistake, I’d say the best thing to do is do away with the Department of Education and let the homeless move into that big building. It would solve 2 problems. The schools would start improving and homeless would have somewhere to stay. Actually, a lot of homeless people could stay there.
Okay. It won’t solve everything and I know it. It will help. The big mistake is this, more money does not always equal better teaching. If you want better teaching, you need better teachers, better curriculum, and less overhead. As I said, those folks in the department hierarchy don’t teach. They are what I call, “Hangers on.” At the state level, there are thousands who work for the school system who don’t teach or for that matter directly support the teachers.
By the way, the state of California has its own education quagmire. They have 2740 employees and a budget of over 89 billion dollars. I wonder just how many of them know how to teach. Just how many of them know where the money will do the most good. My guess is they get many of their orders from the N.E.A. too.
I think the big part of the mistake is centralizing the education system. Those folks up there in those really big buildings have no idea of what is going on in the classrooms. I think most experienced good teachers will agree with me. On the other hand, the mediocre teachers will prefer the protection provided by the union.
bfrhodes99 