Category: LifeStyle

Guns Don’t kill People

My Gun

Today I swung my front door wide open and placed my Remington 30.06 right in the doorway. I left 6 cartridges beside it, then left it alone and went about my business.

While I was gone, the mailman delivered my mail, the neighbor boy across the street mowed the yard, a girl walked her dog down the street, and quite a few cars stopped at the stop sign near the front of my house.

After about an hour, I checked on the gun. It was still sitting there, right where I had left it. It hadn’t moved itself outside. It certainly hadn’t killed anyone, even with the numerous opportunities it had presented to do so.

In fact, it hadn’t even loaded itself. Well you can imagine my surprise, with all the hype by the Media about how dangerous guns are and how they kill people.

Either the media is wrong or I’m in possession of the laziest gun in the world.

The United States is 3rd in Murders throughout the World. But if you take out just 4 cities: Chicago, Detroit, Washington, DC and New Orleans, the United States is 4th from the bottom, in the entire world, for Murders.

These 4 Cities also have the toughest Gun Control Laws in the U.S.

It would be absurd to draw any conclusions from this data – right?

Well, I’m off to check on my spoons. I hear they’re making people fat.

Why

Why?

Why are there no casinos in Texas?

Texas-Map — This is a map of the locations of Casinos near Texas draining revenue from this state and what are we doing about it? The larger question is why?

With the huge influx of aliens from Mexico and beyond, we clearly could use the revenue so again I ask; why are there no casinos in Texas?

Why should Texas Dollars end up in BFE Oklahoma or Shreveport or even Vegas?

We have the lottery; so it really can’t be religious objections. You could blame them if you want but, I for one would not believe you.

Why not Casinos with places that can host Vegas style entertainment as well as produce revenue from those with a penchant for gambling?

We have horse races for Pete Sake, why not Galloping Dominoes?

Why are we letting all of that revenue go north, or east, or to Nevada? If it is an Indian thing, we have Texas Indians too. I know this for a fact so, why? Why does it have to be an Indian thing?

I would bet that the good folks at Winstar or Choctaw or even Shreveport or possibly some of the folks in Vegas who manage an Oasis in a desert, would love to open up a casino here.

After you have scurried around trying to come up with an answer I have a bigger question than that, Why the hell doesn’t California have Casinos? They are billions in debt, why not bring some dollars to their state via Casinos. With competition everybody wins!

After asking yourself this question and going through all of the possible machinations of why, we can take it one step forward and probably answer the question.

What would happen if Texas and California allowed it, along with the other states?

What would happen to Vegas?

What would happen to Winstar, or Shreveport, or even Chocktaw, if they suddenly had competition?

And the multi-million dollar question is, why do we care?

In 2011 a town in northwest Arkansas which had been dry for ever, wanted to sell alcohol. It was put on the ballot and by a margin passed.

Previously just outside the city limits were several “boozatoriums” which were set up to sell to that city along with other surrounding cities just outside their borders.

It turns out that the people who owned those or who had interest in them, alerted the various churches that this town wanted to go wet and got the people all up in arms. The churches were the pawns for the owners of the existing stores which would lose business if the local Walmart could sell booze.

Never mind the fact that people would go out of their way to buy beer at the towns edges and start drinking it on the way home, on mountainous roads! Those folks who owned the “joints” didn’t care if people got drunk on the way home and drove off a cliff! There was the bottom line and after all, what else is there?

A dichotomy existed between those that wanted to buy booze and those that thought it was the work of Satan, the latter being stirred up by the folks who owned the existing stores on the periphery of the city. Huge vinyl yard signs were created and distributed to the town’s people both for and against; in the end Walmart and others who actually had businesses in the town won. Tax dollars for Booze now went into the city, which hosted the stores and had to provide the infrastructure for its people.

Who is pulling our chains?

People with an interest in gambling will go to where it is legal, much like those with a desire to smoke pot; they will either simply do it, damned the consequences; or they will go to where it is legal.

Instead of making all of these toll roads in Texas, which is nothing more than a hidden tax on the people, let’s use funds from gambling to build our infrastructure and stop charging the people for services that you should already be providing! Since our population is increasing from external sources who will all need medical and scholastic services, let’s find the funding for it from those that already spend the money elsewhere.

I welcome dissenting opinions and arguments, as I love good debate.

I certainly don’t have all of the answers but, if there is dialogue then maybe we can learn to at least ask why, and think outside the box!

The answers are out there, we just need to ask the questions and not be satisfied with “because,” or “that is just the way it is,” or “it’s the law.” If it’s the law and it is stupid, let’s change it, or change the people who made it!

People need to rise up and question the status quo, if the status quo does not make sense!

-Best

Spring Road Trip 2015

Spring Road Trip 2015 Rohmers’ and Muenster

Every now and then I run across a place that is worthy of mention either for good or not so good. These last few days I found myself on a road trip of sorts. West of Gainesville Texas a few miles is a town called Muenster. The Town founded in 1889 lies about 15 miles west of Gainesville. My road trip consisted of Antiquing, eating, and a visit to Winstar Casino. One of the highlights of this trip was Muenster and Rohmers. http://www.rohmersrestaurant.com/

coconutpie — This was really good as well…

The down home feeling one gets once inside the establishment is unmistakable. While I have never been there before I was made to feel like a local, and was treated the same as they would treat anyone else. The food was top notch, fresh and brought in about the normal time one would expect. I found the food rather bland but I suspect that might be the culture and as I was not going for Tex-Mex or some spicy food so it was as you might expect. I usually do not eat dessert when I eat out as the serving sizes today are too large to accommodate room for it however; when I entered into the establishment I spied what looked like fresh made pies on the counter top. Inquiring about them well into the meal indeed; the pies are made fresh each morning. Lemon pie pecan pie and coconut pie are made fresh daily. Folks, good lemon pie is hard to find. This was the real deal including the pie crust which was light and flaky. I give this place two thumbs up and suggest you give it a try if you are ever in the area. That night I stayed in Gainesville at the Comfort Suits right off of I35.

TX846A1 — Nightmare stay, too much for too little with rude ass patrons.

Requesting a room away from the freeway we were placed at the west end of the hotel. Right next to us with an adjoining room separated by a locking door they placed a family with young children and a dog. The room keys were not created correctly the first time and I had to wait over 20 minutes in line to get them re-created. The girl behind the desk was chatty and nice enough but the manager was the one who quietly got things done. The room / hotel was under construction so an afternoon nap before dinner was out of the question. The room was barely what I would call clean with stains of some sort on the couch and although the sheets appeared clean they did not smell fresh. As the matter of fact the pillows had the distinct smell of burned hair. There was a free breakfast in the morning which we opted to skip as we did not want to take any chances on the food being taken care of the same way that the hotel was. This hotel gets two thumbs down and although the manager was trying, I think it is going to take a village to get that place where I would want to stay there again.

A note to the “assholes” in the room next door. If you have a child and you stay in a hotel, your child should not be allowed to scream at the top of their lungs until they tire of exhaustion. And just as an FYI, you really can hold the doors until they close as to keep them from slamming and the same is true of the toilet seat. I found it a true amazement that the dog was better behaved than the child!

Sanger sports one antique mall worth a visit. The Sanger McDonald’s however is a travesty managed by a complete buffoon. I cannot understand how someone can take the tried and true methods of McDonald’s and screw it up as badly as this one is! Gainesville sports a couple Antique stores worth the time, Muenster had one good one with a few other little shops worth the visit and the little town of ST Jo a few more miles to the west was also worth a visit, as they had one small antique mall worth a visit to. I found the folks in ST Jo also very friendly and the local DQ while very clean and well run seemed to be a local hangout. Marietta Oklahoma had one antique mall that was rather interesting. We went up the road to Ardmore where there was several small antique malls / stores where things were priced not much differently than one might find on eBay. The old adage about eggs and cars being cheaper in the country does not seem to apply to junk / antiques in stores that depend upon visits from folks you like you and I. If I want to pay eBay prices I will shop on eBay. Winners, Losers, Zombies and Geriatrics Crooners, Arriving at Winstar around 3 we were unable to check in until after 4, although I did watch several check in at 3 while I was waiting in line. They have something called a guaranteed check in at 4. The purpose of the trip was to see Merle Haggard, Chris Christopherson and Willy Nelson perform. As we could not check in until after 4 we elected to go check out the casino. The casino is massive and requires a lot of walking and after a few hundred feet it all looks the same. The noise is what you would expect, the smoke is filtered pretty well but, if you have asthma, I would stay away. The algorithm for the electronic bandits are all pretty much the same. Give you a little taste of winning, and then empty your pocket. I would love to have access to the P&L as I doubt that there are any “big winners” ever. I remember that someone won over 11 million dollars there; they refused to pay because it was an “error.” http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=81798

I have no expectations when I visit such a place as I understand how it all works. The only way you stand a chance of winning anything is to play cards or some other game that is not tied to a computer. Once upon a time it was a algorithm built into the mechanical wheels cogs and gears of the machine, now it is programmatically accomplished. I would recommend setting a budget and understand that it is entertainment and expect to lose what you set in your budget.

I understand math to an acute level and I still purchase a lottery ticket every once in a while. The odds are so far against me they are unrealistic. My one or two dollars is spent thinking “if I win…” That is it. I supports education and I can feel good about that. The concert was not the greatest. I have paid much less for better but, let’s face it, where are these three going to get billed at some place that seats many thousand folks. I grew up with them so it was an honor to see them possibly for the last time.

The chairs were less than comfortable and pushed so close to the next guy that even skinny folks were sitting on each other laps. During the intermission there was piss poor planning where the bathrooms were concerned as a few thousand worked their way through the maelstrom of bumping and shoving and by now some folks who had drank too much, and were in a hurry to pee!

While paying extra for Good seats, this too would have been better if televised to some private cable channel or PPV where you would not have bubba in the seat ahead of you with a hat and a camera trying to video the whole event, when the signs clearly said “no cameras of any kind!” There were 20 something year old kids with “security uniforms” on which did not fit them correctly, trying to garner the respect of the mostly geriatric crowd. These kids still had pimples, trying to boss around people who were in their 60’s and 70’s and beyond. It was laughable actually. Get some booze in these old folks and well, you can guess what the conversations went like. I know I heard the kids voice crack as he was telling one guy that he could not film the event.

Hundreds were filming and taking pictures with their damned flash on so either the whole damned crowd is illiterate, or just simply does not give a fuck! You tube has much better video of them and you can download all of it you care to, no pimple faced kids to harass you unless of course your kids are there and don’t like what you are downloading.

The act started out with Chris who I must say I was impressed with. Merle had little breath to sing with, but he could still play the guitar. This was my second time to see him in concert and I feel will probably be my last. Willy put on one heck of a show for an 81 year old guy. I felt it unfortunate that the camera angle showed his wrinkled skin in all of its glory. Like his guitar, he has seen better days. His style has changed over the years as he too most probably lacks the breath to croon as he used to. He talks a good part of his songs but all in all, still puts on a good show! I would have really liked Chris to start out one of his songs with “look who’s advertising…..” I know him best in a Star is Born. There was one surprise of the night and that is when his daughter Kelly came out and did a duet with her father. She is attractive and has a good voice. I look for her to do some good things in the future!

article-2313275-19708E19000005DC-195_634x766 — Chris and Barbara who not only dated for a time but also starred in A Star is Born back in the 70’s

287a068e50e20ad7adb074d4028d02bd — He has several of these around the country.

Toby Keith Entrepreneur.. A flaw with the casino is they really don’t have enough eating establishments for the crowds that they draw. When checking in you are given coupons for one thing or another and one of them was for free chips and salsa at Toby Keith’s restaurant. Heading to the place at 4:45 to eat and make it to the show by 7 there was already an hour and a half wait! There was even an hour wait at the El-Fenix! Since getting in your car and leaving is not an option, you are a captive audience, so bring energy bars, and don’t think about eating there if there is a show that you are going to see. We decided to go after the show, at 10:15 there was still a 15 minute wait and we left the show early to manage that. Folks, I know food. I ordered a $31 dollar 6oz filet, medium-well. It took the better part of 45 minutes before the food was delivered and … not only was the meat “not a filet” it was cold. It was raw and when I put the bloody raw meat into my mouth to discover it was cold, EWWWWW!

I have no idea what cut of meat they served me or where it came from. — This is a filet…

My guess is that it was prepared and sat somewhere for a while and allowed to get cold before it was delivered. The baked potato was warm as was the cornbread. When one orders a filet, as in beef, it means beef tenderloin! I guess you can call anything a filet but if I were a place with a name like Toby Keith I don’t think I would split hairs and call any cut of meat a filet! I can eat medium rare if it is hot, I don’t typically eat under-cooked food however as the dangers of illness are much greater. Retiring to the room was different. The room was $233 for one night. Now I have stayed all over the world so $233 is not really out of the way but, for Oklahoma?! That is $233 a night for 19 hours of which you are in the room for possibly 8. $12.26 an hour. I heard others complaining about the $149 a night, so I am guessing that once you become a “player” offers for cheaper rooms to get you back will be forth coming. Here is the rub. While the room was quite, really quite, no noises from the hallway, the rooms next door or above us, the damned bed was hard as a rock! Not only was the bed rock hard, the pillows were so fluffy that I had to roll up a towel and use it for a pillow as I cannot have that much of an extreme angle of my head without risking a pain in the neck! Had the bed had some give it might not have been that big of a deal.

The room was clean, the bathroom was clean and there was a sign in the bathroom cautioning people about stealing things but in a clever manner. It went something like “We are glad that you enjoyed your visit, take it with you! If you like the towels or radio clock or such, contact hotel management for pricing! I laughed at that, as we all know someone who takes the extra soaps and shampoos and other extra shit, and we may know people who have actually taken towels and things. Cheap bastards the lot, but those people visit these places too.

I get dirt cheap rooms from the Hard Rock in Vegas.

I can use miles to get there, practically free, and I get free drinks delivered to me by some attractive lady at the machine on the floor as opposed to $5 well drinks from the bar, delivered by someone who has the attitude of F U if you don’t like it. This guy at the bar really did exude an FU attitude, like he did not like white folks.

Vegas is a plan ahead, make reservations , flight to and from and taxi ride etc. well Winstar is 65 miles north of me, short car ride.

This is my third Indian owned Casino that I have stayed at, the first being The Mystic in Minnesota. The theme that is re-occurring is the smoke, and Zombies that are at a machine when I retire; and still there when I awake and no booze. The Mystic actually had the cigarette smoke in the hotel that was thick even in my non-smoking room.

Winstar is the first casino that actually had Alcohol, so why not take it the next step and give it away like Vegas does? You got people dropping $4 a throw, spending $100 in less than 10 minutes, you can afford a free drink!

We crossed some imaginary line with a drink in hand and were accosted by some older gentleman who fussed at us for having alcohol near the hotel. We originally bought it in the casino, we were in the casino when he accosted us and we had just walked near a shop in the hotel for a second and then back into the casino when we were forced to throw it out.

Taking a line out of WKRP in Cincinnati from Less Nessman, watch out for those imaginary lines!

Of the three, Chocktaw probably has to be my favorite of easily accessible casinos; as I really don’t care about alcohol, and it is not so big that I cannot get my car and go find food that is not tethered to the casino. I need to check out Shreveport and see how it stacks up. If Winstar wants to compete with Vegas, they need to hire people who like White Folks. They need to get some comfortable beds and loosen up on the rules with imaginary lines and drinks for Christ sake! Nobody but nobody likes to be harassed about such things when you are trying to have a good time. Go spend a little time in Vegas. People are walking around everywhere with drinks in their hands on the streets, and the cops just look the other way even though it is probably illegal. So walking from the carpeted area to the tile for a few seconds gets Barney Fifth upset!!!!?

Oh, here is the kicker, it was sierra mist, as you guys don’t have 7up, it was not even booze, although it was in a plastic cup from the bar which once had rum and sierra mist in it, 4 hours ago! Why? I like to keep the amount of Styrofoam that I use to a minimum and you folks must burn through it like crazy!

Toby Keith needs to go and visit his place, and hire someone who can manage it better. Maybe you could ask Gordon Ramsey for a little help? The live entertainment was surprisingly good and the waitress was personable. How the food was allowed to get cold is your expediter’s deal, if you have one. There was no manager, no apology, nothing. Really a disappointment.

As an aside I have visited Gordon Ramsey’s place in Vegas, TOP NOTCH!

What is your take?
Which Casinos have you visited and what did you like?
What did you not like, other than losing money?
Would you return?
Do you Antique?
If you are in the area or even close are there places that you would recommend?

On the hunt for Xanadu, Brigadoon or Wonderland

There is a dichotomy that exist in most folks that I know. That is where to live and why?

Most young folks want to live in some loft downtown somewhere with access to food, entertainment and the arts. I am guessing that being around others in their age group doing the “in thing” or whatever is in vogue, is the cool thing to do.

Even us folks with a little “experience” behind us want to have access to some sort of night life.

The trick is to juxtapose the nightlife with the serenity that one needs to have a healthy mind and lifestyle.

The perfect example of this is the movie Doc Hollywood. In this movie he finds himself going from the city life to the small country life of some small town that if you found; you might think that you had fallen down the rabbit hole or perhaps ended up in Brigadoon!

Often we take refuse in such places through the literary efforts of a few authors who too long for such a place and create them. We also find them in some movies. Turner Classic Movies has the draw that they do because they are from a simpler time.

Xanadu was such a movie that brought the dreamer together with dream.

We hear often that the grass is always greener, but is it?

Technology to a large extent has made “generic” those things that set some things apart in the past such as the small town from the large town.

I remember hearing live gunshots from Vietnam over the radio. While the war or whatever we called that was a world away through technology, it was now coming from my radio making it very real.

Today “this very blog” may be read by anyone, anywhere in the world, who has access to unfettered internet. Today you and I can share ideas that not too long ago were controlled by governments wishing to use their media for purposes of propaganda. Many governments around the world still do.

During WW2 the different governments used such things to get people to get squarely behind them much like different football or baseball teams from the days of high school or college. Kill or Crush or what have you was often the slogan before the “big game.”

Today with technology, people around the world can actually talk with others and learn that we are more alike, than different, that what we think we know and believe, may not be true.

Religion among other things are often the tools used to divide people and get them to get on-board and thus relegate people to slavery. If I can control your input; I can affect the output.

There are days however when I just want to un-plug. I don’t know about you, but television has just about been something that I do not watch. If I watch an hour a week that is probably too much.

Why you ask?

Let’s look at why. Firstly you must know that most of what is on the tube or now the flat screen comes from the uber-liberal left. Hollywood is the propaganda machine of the millennium. From sitcoms to movies some writer who has an ax to grind and writes his or her “beliefs” into the script. Now some sentence condemning the GOP coming from a well-known respected actor even though it is a show will carry a lot of weight with many viewers who don’t happen to know who the VP is but, they will remember that sentence and they might even think it is fact.

Unplugging from TV is a good start however; being totally unplugged means that I don’t know what is going on unless I happen to read news from many different sources. Even from Russia Today there is some modicum of truth. The trick is to read enough news from enough sources to actually be able to read between the lines. If you are too unplugged you run the risk of becoming xenophobic and thus will believe most anything that you can be convinced is true through hook or crook.

If you read the news as I have suggested and are dogmatic about it all of the stories will make sense, the why’s and the how’s will come together in that ah-ha moment. I am not saying that you should not have a religion but I would be suspect if that religion calls on you to give too much of anything including your time. Think for yourself. If you let others think for you…. “Hello Stepford wife…. Is dinner ready and my feet need rubbing, don’t talk just bring me a beverage and wait patiently for my next command… “

Does the small town with the gourd festival really exist?

Does such a place where man values his fellow man exist today, here in this country?

Does it exist in any country, anywhere? Are we all so self-absorbed that we really don’t give a damned about our neighbors or family?

I read a story recently where a man was visited by CPS because he allowed his children to play in a park and then walk the mile from the park to their house. The man was from Germany and recently came to this country. His children were 9 and 12 and they were in DC.

When I was young I could wander the neighborhoods all I wanted, without fear of being abducted. What happened?

I like technology but I must admit that I still like the feel and touch of a book and newspaper. I enjoy that tactile experience of flipping a page and I even like the smell of some magazines.

I like the smell of fresh cut hay and even though it might make me sneeze, that is okay! There is something to be said for sipping ice tea on the front porch waving at the neighbors or listening to the birds. Life goes by and we miss it!

We have so many screens from so many different devices! From the laptop to the desktop to the tablet and even the smartphone not to mention some hand held game, we have ample distractions.

On a recent cruise I was rather delighted when none of the signals to my smart devices were active! At the dinner table we actually talked, without the distraction of odd noises emanating from purses or pockets. For 90 minutes it was simply us talking about the day, and what was going to happen tomorrow.

Maybe that is the ticket, live on board a cruise ship and only catch up with the world when you come into port.

The people of this world are predictable and are going to do what they are going to do with or without you.

The rich will continue to get richer by taken advantage of the privileges and relationships that their status affords them. Whether it is by breaking or bending laws, or creating new ones just for them, that is the way of the world not only in this country but I suspect every country.

The poor will continue to do what they do because that is what they know. The rest of us well, we will continue to pay for the rich, and the poor, because that is all we know. While we detest being taken advantage of by those that should not we know that some really need assistance and we don’t mind a hand up offered to them on our behalf.

Animal Farm should be required reading before we ourselves end up being considered parasites by those in power.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/24/mark-twain-on-slavery-empathy-compassion/

-Best

Yesterday is gone

Yesterday is gone

As I ponder retirement and what that will look like, I realized that I have decades upon decades of accumulated stuff; and staying here in this house is not the plan.

People waiting to bid on someone's forgotten stuff. — People waiting to bid on someone’s forgotten stuff.

While planning for one’s retirement financially is important; planning on what one will do to keep busy and setting goals to make that happen are equally essential.

Many when they retire simply plan for the financial aspect and let life take care of itself. This often times causes one to fall into depression, shortening their golden years to just a few. Planning on actual events much like you were working will actually extend your life, and make it much happier.

Having said all that to say this; I was talked into spring cleaning by way of eBay and unfortunately a garage sale.

The process of a garage sale mandates evaluating “your stuff” and figuring out what you can live without and then, placing some sort of value on it.

Garage sales are not a money making business “for most.” Garage sales are in fact a venue for shedding your garage or house of extra stuff or clutter that has accumulated over the years and getting some sort of remuneration by way of cash to make your efforts seem worthwhile.

This garage sale went something like this. Up until 1:34 am getting everything ready. Back up at 5:30 to finish getting everything ready and then be surprised to learn that the sun does actually come up in the east!

Before morning light however there are people driving around neighborhoods with trucks and trailers looking for garage sales to acquire things like cheap furniture, lawn mowers and other yard equipment and bulkier things that require trailers.

Several times during the morning people came buy with phone in hand searching Amazon and other sites looking for the item’s that you were selling to determine if they were worth anything. I felt like I was in some sort of digital age of pickers because these folks were professional with it.

Then there were the thieves. Yep, people who would get their kids to distract you while they pocketed things, watched them do it. Now keep in mind the item if it were worth a $100.00 is already marked down to $5 but, $5 is too much so they just pocket it knowing that you have no inventory control and will never miss it.

Old people who too should be paring down, were picking up things and bargaining with you for a long time over .25 cents or less.

During the garage sale experience, the neighbor’s sprinklers went off twice, both times flooding the sidewalk. Other neighbors came out and mowed, weed whacked and then used the obligatory leaf blower to blow the debris either into the street or their neighbor’s lawn.

This is what mowed the grass... — This is what mowed the grass…

Noon time found the traffic down to a scant few, and found me ready to take the rest of it to some donation place as I was done with it. Many of the dust-ables are now in someone else’s house and the rest will find its way into some thrift store for others to pick over and figure out what to do with it.

eBay will end up with some of it because; eBay attracts a larger base than a garage sale and your chances of getting something more than a few cents is much higher than haggling with the deal seekers.

Garage sale attenders for the most part are serious deal hunters and I suspect take your dust-ables back to some place where they make a business out of it.

Unless you are filthy rich, when you decide to clean out your house take the time to look your items up on eBay or Amazon and see what they are worth. If they are worth a few dollars do the garage sale bit and prepare to give them away for a few cents on the dollar.

I would not consider and antique mall as those places make all the money for renting you a small place. While they bring in customers the ends rarely justify the means. You must necessarily have turnover in an antique mall so unless you are buying cheap at garage sales and stocking a small space continually at such a place don’t do it.

You might consider buying such a place and leasing out small chunks of it to people who think they are going to get rich by selling clutter but; that is the only financial entanglement I would have with such a place.

Now, if you are filthy rich and don’t have anyone to ruin their lives with tax issues having too much money, consider making me one of those people who would love to have too much money to deal with.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Blowing in the wind

California will soon be a re-creation of the dust bowl of 1930 and it is their own damned fault! Liberal tax and spend policies over the years have bankrupt the state.

Their debt to GDP ratio is 18.5 %

They have a total population of 38,409,959 with an unemployment at 1,256,658 and a food stamp recipient population of 4,575,589!

Their liberal progressive economic policies are and have been unsustainable and yet the same liberal thinking that has them in this mess is trying to convert Texas and other red states to the same kind of thinking!

How are they doing this you ask? By attacking voter id laws. There was a lawyer on a talk show the other day who specializes in going after voter id laws in states that have them.

His argument is that the right to vote is guaranteed by the constitution so having a picture id to vote should not be necessary as it is for everything else that you do in this country including purchasing over the counter decongestants! His argument defies common sense and logic and yet because he is a lawyer he knows how to twist the intent of the law to create a loophole so those that wish to steal an election can. Like the counties that had over a 100% turnout and all of the votes were for the democratic candidate. Statistically that is not possible!

Marxism does not work! The uber rich sit up in their ivory towers while the rest of us suffer, and while they smoke their cigars and drink their Champagne we fight to keep alive.

Socialism, Marxism and communism only benefit the very rich the people at the top, those in control!

There are college kids today who have no idea who the VP is much less what Marxism is.

How can they expect to vote intelligently when they don’t know any history?

If this drought continues the GDP of California will be worse than what it currently is and something will have to give. When there is no more to give what then? Will the people who caused this mess just disappear in to the woodwork from which they came?

Bernie Madoff is a girl scout compared to these idiots running the state, and the people who voted for them!

Had they had a surplus like Texas currently has, they could spend a couple Billion and build some desalinization plants and guess what, the fields could be watered, the farmers could continue to grow their crops and there would not be the struggle for water that they have.

There is no rainy day fund. There is only debt and IOU’s!

I think that California suffering a drought serves a larger purpose for this liberal ideology of this country. If this continues, the narrative from the media will carry around the world the terrible conditions which exists and they can take their junk science that Al Gore is spreading like a cancer, and push carbon credits!

California’s drought is clearly because if climate change (we can’t call it global warming anymore because their science does not support it, so now it is climate change.) There is no way that the drought could simply be “weather!”

California should be investing in solar powered desalinization plants as should most states that have access to the ocean.

The dust bowl of the 1930’s would be called Global warming or climate change if it had happened now, so they are not letting a crises go to waste. They push their junk science to further their case to sell carbon credits so Al Gore can make more billions by scaring the hell out of people with utter BS!

I suspect that other billionaire’s are behind the carbon credit scam because how much money is enough? How many billions of dollars does one person need?

When you take your last breath what will your legacy be? “I screwed over an entire country!?” Is it he who dies with the most toys wins?

I don’t understand a politician spending millions of his own money to try and get elected to a job that pays $150K. I don’t understand people with Millions nay billions of dollars actively seeking more.

How much is enough?

What does someone with unlimited amounts of resources do for fun?

How about creating a company that specializes in building solar powered desalination plants?

Wouldn’t that be fun to create a company that has a product that helps people?

I think it would be a hoot!

-Best

http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-california-debt-clock.html

Open letter to #OU

Open letter to OU

Does Racism exists?
Is it more rampant today than it was in 1968?
Should the folks at the OU fraternity be brought up on charges for their chant?
Should their fraternity have been demolished?
How do we battle Racism?

One would have to have been in a coma for the last 50 years, or brain dead, to believe that racism is not alive and well in this country; as well as around the world.

The racist song or chant repeated by the members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity that has sparked such a furor, “and debate” across the country is the following:

Song to the tune of: “If You Are Happy and You Know It”

There will never be a N***** in SAE

There will never be a N***** in SAE

You can hang them from a tree, but he can never sign with me

There will never be a N***** in SAE

McCarthyism lives on.

Not too many years ago I would venture a guess that this song or others like it had been chanted or sung by many others before them. What makes this time different? Why do I say that?

This is a very old tune, a very very old tune that I would guess has been sung by many many people in this fraternity, and possibly others. If this were a recent creation it most likely would have been done in rap music style which of course the oxymoron would have been priceless!

Today we have people looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Today each and every person that carries a cell phone can be a photo journalist or video journalist with a waiting a ready audience to give them their reward, “views!”

When a fight breaks out and some person is getting pummeled by more than one person, do we step in and stop it? No, we record it and post it, to see how many hits we can get with it!

Worse than that, in this 24 hour news cycle we have the cable media finding these “nuggets” and broadcasting them to further promote the “human condition.” While building their ratings!

Yes, Racism exists and it should be no secret that we find anyone that is different from us a candidate for some sort of bias. If there was an all-white or all-black school, those in the school would find someone that acted differently from them, and mock them or bully them, because that is what we do. Our human nature is to build ourselves up, at the expense of others.

The extreme racism that exist within the Black Panthers; Americans and others only are aware of it because it makes for ratings to put someone spewing hate like that in the national spot light!

Racism is really hate. It is easy to hate, much easier to hate than to like or heaven forbid Love; as we are instructed to do by our creator. Since we are taking God out of everything, and everywhere, it is no surprise that the human condition it deteriorating.

Had there been no easy way for that person who took that video in the fraternity to take the video and then gain the national spot light, we never would have heard of this. It would have come and gone, as it probably has for years, and nothing ever would have been said.

Here is the rub, even though what they did and said was abhorrent; I would argue that they have a right to say and do it.

Just like the advocate for the Black Panthers can stand on a street corner and proclaim to the world that “he hates white people, he hates crackers! He wishes every Cracker was dead! The old, the young, the men and women and even their babies! He wishes their cracker babies were dead!” Spittle and foam spew out of this person’s mouth as he screams to the eager cameras recording his every utterance, like he was some sort of messenger from some place important!

He too has a right to say what he says. We can flip the channel or turn off the damned idiot box, but he has that right!

If we dissolve Sigma Alpha Epsilon for what they did and or said or we kick them all off campus, we are not teaching anyone anything other than you really don’t have freedom of speech, if you are white!

What if I wanted to rent that building to put a place of worship and study for Christians, or Jews, or pick a religion? What if that too was considered hate speech because now we can obviously pick and choose what is ok to say, and what is not.

You could argue that what those members said was horrible but, what if others find Christianity distasteful?

I for one think that the University missed the mark. That should have, and could have been used as a teaching moment, instead they invoked the Zero Tolerance policy which means zero thinking! They took the path to cover their ass, instead of using it as a way to teach future generations around the globe how to deal with racism; at its roots!

They picked the ostrich approach which people have picked for generations. How is that working for you? You would think that we are capable of learning. One would think that college folk would be smarter than the rest of us poor peons, and be able to think outside the box!

Had I been asked, I would have immediately reversed that decision and put their letters back on that building. I would then use this as a way to teach, and I would apply the opposite of hate while I did it. The color of skin is an easy way to delineate between us, and make some an easy target for hate. Some make it easy to make stereotypical snap decisions about a group of people, by the actions of a few.

I read in the news recently that in the middle of a basketball game, the home team stopped the game in the middle of play, walked off the court and came to the aid of one of their cheerleaders! You see, some people were bullying this cheerleader and they “the team” were having none of it! This Cheerleader has Down syndrome and she is one of their own! Someone is teaching something good there. Someone is doing right by these kids!

Those people in that fraternity are “one of their own,” and even though their condition cannot be cured or controlled by medicines, their condition could be changed and needs addressing. If my hunch is correct, that chant is as old as the school; and most probably represents a bigotry of a time gone by but, like many traditions has hung on because no one had the integrity to challenge it.

Those people are part of a culture and that culture needs help, just like the folks in Ferguson need to wise up and read the tea leaves.

The guy was guilty of charging a cop, while trying to take his gun! You don’t do that and expect a good outcome! Even the overly biased DOJ had to admit that Darren Wilson was correct in his actions!

The hate in Ferguson needs to be dismantled, and if external agitators are found to be there, they need to be encouraged to leave. Racism is a cancer that grows in the heart and hate is it accomplice. Unlike cancer however; you cannot simply cut it out. Education and a lot less of the people who foment racism for a living will be needed to heal these wounds. Add to this some time, and lack of the public spotlight on those craving attention will go a long way towards healing this nation after these last few years of torment.

As for any gathering anywhere, know that you could be recorded. There is in fact no safe haven for your privacy in this world today. Orwell had it right, it just took a little longer.

Technology has made privacy just about a thing of the past.

Each and every street corner has some sort of camera. While I don’t want to sound like an alarmist or conspiracy nut, your own phone, tablet or computer could be capturing your activities and sending them to some huge data facility used to store terabytes of terabytes of data!

Full disclosure: I am a writer of Sci-Fi so… Orwell is my kind or person.

While being mindful of the fact that your privacy has limits, doing the right thing is doing it with the knowledge that nobody is seeing you do it.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Www.guard-protect.com

Www.Timedok.com

A good Spanking!

“If you don’t behave I am going to give you a “good spanking”!”

Is there such a thing as a good spanking?

“Experts” are all over the map on this one so, allow me to pontificate on the subject for a moment.

First and foremost there must be consequences to ones actions.

As adults when we break a law the consequences usually come very close to the bottom; as in the back pocket where we carry our wallet. If we break major laws we end up paying out the nose and maybe end up incarcerated or even on death row!

Teaching children at an early age that there are consequences to their actions are the best way to keep them out of jail, and of course off of death Row!

Recently a teacher had several students hold some child down while she spanked them.

This type of actions bespeaks of gang or mob mentality, the likes that we are seeing in Ferguson.

Involving other children in the actions of reprimanding a child in such a fashion is close to criminal and at the very least that teacher should be fired for showing such poor judgment!

Swats or CP in schools should not be carried out by the teacher but, rather a disinterested third party whose job it is to carry out such actions.

The argument could be made that when it comes to swats they are one step away from needing a more serious form of “guidance.” A case could be made that some part of the system for be created to deal with Juveniles who have yet to break any serious law but are headed that way. Very possibly these wayward kids are introduced to the system where any form of “course correction” that a judge might see fit to order be employed.

The goal is to save the kids from incarceration or avert them from going down the wrong path. Some intermediary form of “the system” could be created to give these kids the attention that they need whether it be in parenting, guidance or just a good old fashioned spanking!. We need smart people dealing with this now, vs guards keeping them in line later.

There is no harm in getting creative with the punishment either.

For instance, some schools give swats for chewing gum in class. Not that anyone cares what you eat but gum chewers in a quite environment can be distracting so we prohibit gum chewing in class!

Should such an offence get swats?

To my way of thinking; I would have the child stay behind in detention with some sort of tool to remove all of the gum found under the desk where these same inconsiderate few, place it after they are finished with it.

Spanking for such an offence might happen after two or three attempts to break the habit in less drastic measures.

The “bottom line,” spanking within reason in a calm rational environment along with a note sent home for the parent to sign should be available to the teachers. School is a place to learn and all should have that equal opportunity to learn and not be interfered with by those that are there “because they have to be.”

I stress here calm and rational environment because we are not interested in beating anyone. While CP should not be the first line of punishment. it should certainly not be done away with.

Since the family unit is in disarray, the school must often pick up the mantle of responsibility for teaching Reading Writing Arithmetic and Reverence for the laws of this country as well as Respect for the Rights of others.

If we had more of this,

we would most certainly have less of this!

Now, which is worse?

In retrospect if we created some form of intermediary adjunct to the local police force to deal with “kids on the way to being problem kids” the money spent might very well save money from incarcerating them later as well as getting them to be productive citizens rather than something else. When a few swats don’t turn them around, you need something a little stronger that makes more of an impression.

This is not a one size fits all however; as the kids in the inner city would need a program different from the ones in the burbs.

-Best

The Third Sex or No Sex?

Recently a lady was asked to leave a Planet Fitness facility because she complained that there was a man dressed as a women in the dressing room with her.

Carlotta Sklodowska, the transgender woman at the heart of the Planet Fitness story. Photo credit: Facebook

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/03/planet_fitness_transgender-fri.html

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/dear-planet-fitness-why-dont-you-care-about-the-safety-and-privacy-of-women/

Planet Fitness seemed more concerned with the rights of the man dressed as a women, than the majority of their clientele which identifies as man or woman. That was reported by a third party.

Houston has also set precedence allowing those that identify as a sex other than what they were genetically born with (plumbing,) to pick the bathroom that best suits their needs. This bill would allow anyone to use any bathroom that they wish, of either gender. This bill also allows for those same folks to go into other private places, which are gender specific.

http://thedailycougar.com/2014/10/22/bathroom-bill-hero-draws-national-attention-to-houston-mayor-parker/

This progressive thinking is not without collateral damage.

Imagine a 13 year old girl in the women’s dressing room when a transgender-ed person comes in to change next to her, and a penis is exposed to her. Is this transgender-ed person going to pay for that girl’s therapy? While I would hope that anyone with such anatomy would do their best to be discrete, there is still the issue of the privacy of the child, and protection from those that are truly ill and wish to expose themselves for self-gratification or the fulfillment of some dark fantasy.

Imagine some deviant individual deliberately dressing in such a manner as to gain access to the facility for the opposite sex for clandestine purposes. Several cases have made the news where locker rooms have been bugged with cameras and other recording devices, which are commercially available to anyone with a few dollars to spend.

One option is that you have a men’s and a women’s facility, and then you have “other.” As I cannot relate to “other,” I have no idea how palatable that would be. As a man I have no desire to enter into a ladies bathroom, and I am certain that women would say the same. As these folks seem to want to relate to some sex, I would think some might find it offensive; and others might prefer it.

You could have co-ed, where “anything goes” which not only would attract a whole new clientele but, most probably, several visits from undercover agents. We are talking co-ed nude wet areas, open showers and pools and just whatever. Many of the Korean spas have nude wet areas for the different sexes, why not just have one nude wet area for everyone! I think they did this in early Rome, and that really didn’t work out too well.

The only agreeable option that should satisfy everyone’s needs is unfortunately the added expense of providing an environment that allows for privacy, no matter what sex the person is.

Setting aside the obvious gender differences, there are those that go to such facilities and hang out in the “wet area” to ogle others of their same genetic sex. Imagine these sheep in wolves clothing going to the opposite sex’s side for entertainment.

It would seem that with this in mind that the best answer is to provide privacy for any and all concerned. The wet area with saunas and so forth should be co-ed where proper attire is required. This would hopefully offset the added cost of providing private areas for all to change shower etc.

Bathrooms for either gender should also provide appropriate privacy, as you never know who is in the bathroom with you. As children use these facilities they must be protected from the possibility of deviant behavior by those that are truly not there because they identify one way other another, they are just genuinely mentally disturbed.

Mayor Parker and other progressive individuals should put their personal agenda’s aside to look after the “entire population” and not just those of the LGBT community. I would think that the LGBT community would also support this as instead of a women’s and men’s bathroom, there would simply be “The bathroom.”

The simple facts are that we as a people must rise up to meet this challenge. Ignoring it will not make it go away. Law abiding citizens regardless of gender must be heard and accommodated for and protected from those that wish to take advantage of a situation for devious purposes.

Before we change the rules, we must make changes to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society from those that are of ill repute. Video surveillance of the bathroom “common area” could actually be accomplished without violating anyone’s privacy, thus allowing for some modicum of security.

There is an answer; working together instead of the truculent attitude which pervades this entire conversation every time that it is mentioned, will provide a solution.

-Best

Is “gay” a choice, or are you born gay?

Is “gay” a choice, or are you born gay?

Dr. Ben Carson was recently asked some gotcha question about “is being gay a choice?”

Dr. Carson is a Famed Neurosurgeon, he is also a potential GOP 2016 presidential candidate. That makes him a target by the “Liberal Media.”

Firstly and most importantly as a politician you have got to know how to handle “gotcha” questions like that one and not give them what they want which is “talking points” for the next several weeks while people instantly form opinions about you based on some conversation taken out of context.

Subjective topics like gay marriage should all be handled at the state level; so if people don’t like what is going on in one state they can vote with their feet, they can move. For instance if you don’t like the fact that WEED is not available legally in your state, MOVE! This should not be a presidential issue as “there is no one size fits all,” where people are concerned.

This would make a nice looking house plant...

The context of the interview went along the lines that straight people go into prison and come out gay, a lot of them; therefor he reasoned, that being gay is a choice.

I think it is much more of a complex situation than being gay or not. It has to do with making do with what you have on “hand,” pardon the pun. After a while of changing your behavior to adapt to your circumstances, the associated life style comes with the package! The real differences between man and women has a lot more to do with the brain, than the plumbing; but most don’t know that.

His answer should have been “I suppose it could be or, it could be that you are born that way.” Next subject! Now the narrative is cast for the next few weeks as he backtracks or explains his position. The good news is that people are talking about him. The bad news is that some will make the decision to vote for him or not by this one question taken out of context.

They picked that question to get him to swing in the dirt, because they knew he would. A short one sentence answer, to stop the BS; is all that he should have said. They “the liberals” need to control the narrative and if they can keep good candidates on the defensive. subjects where emotions are easily involved, they win!

Politics is a science of manipulation and controlling the narrative through subjects like this or race or you name it, subjects where you can stir up people’s emotions damned the facts! The War on women was a biggie for Obama

By damaging the credibility of strong candidates and allowing for the weaker candidate to succeed even if it means getting the other party to vote for the weaker candidate in the primary so be it! That is how you win elections!

What difference does it make what the president of the US thinks about is “gay a choice or are you born with it?” You are what you are and what he thinks is just a so what!

The good news is for him is that he is making his gaffs now when few will remember, and he can make points when it comes to other topics that people care about.

Going to be an interesting next two years, and I plan to be here to make sense out of it all.

-Best to you and those that you care about!