Another false threat to either eliminate Social Security

as usual.

"OMG! OMG! Trump's gonna eliminate Social Security!"

Another lie. Someone posted that on a social media site and the truth is that Trump wants to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits. In fact there is already been a bill introduced by Thomas Massie (R-KY) to eliminate the tax.

It should also be mentioned that Joe Biden voted to tax Social Security earlier in his dubious political career.

I am old enough to remember the Eisenhower administration and that the Democrats tried to accuse him of wanting to eliminate the program which was a bold faced lie. The false threat comes up every time there's a presidential election and the accused is always a Republican.

The lie is designed to scare the hell out of seniors and get them to vote Democrat, plain and simple. 

Trump has stated that he wants to eliminate the tax on Social Security. He has no intent on eliminating the program itself. 

As for DOGE? The have no intention of eliminating it, either. What they would like to do is clean the administration up and streamline it to reduce costs and waste. There's most likely a lot of inefficiency and waste in the administration. DOGE wants to eliminate it. This won't effect benefits and may very well make things easier for all of us.

 I get sick and tired of those that spread word that if so and so gets elected than Social Security will be eliminated. It's a flat out lie.

As for the person that posted this lie I would like to find out what type of person he is.

Is he repeating a lie because he thinks it is the truth? If he is he's another stooge that took the bait. Stalin called people like that useful idiots. I feel sorry for him.

Or does he know that it's a lie and is spreading it anyway as a cruel trick to discredit Trump and get seniors scared out of their wits to turn on him. 

I'd like an answer. Are you ignorant or just plain cruel?

 

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Old School bartending at its finest.

Anchor Bar.

Kodiak, AK.

Early 80s.

1500ish local

Blaine and I were in town flush with cash from a successful fishing trip. Both of us had paid any debts we owed and had pretty good bundles left over.

It was a rare glorious day in Kodiak and we stumped into the Anchor and grabbed a couple of brews and went outside on the porch. We noticed that there were maybe six or eight people inside. A fairly small crowd.

We looked up at Pillar Mountain and Blaine asked me rhetorically how long it would last before it slid into the sea.

I smugly opined it would maybe last until 2025. He grunted and replied that it would be several centuries after that. 

"Betcha a round for the house," I said.

We can't settle that until 2025," Blaine said. Then he gave me a look of understanding and said, "I'll take that bet!"

I stuck my head in the door and said to the bartender (who happened to be the owner) "Mike, ring the bell. Blaine and I have a bet and the loser pays. Pour 'em!"

Blaine grinned and said, "Let's go double or nothing!"

"Cool!" I said and when Mike came out to collect I told him to go back in and ring the bell again because Blaine and I were going double or nothing!"

He went in, rang the bell, poured a round and came back out to us.

"What's the bet, anyway?"

Blaine answered him. "Pic says that Pillar Mountain is going to slide into the sea before 2025 and I say it's not gonna happen for another thousand years."

Mike looked confused for a second or two and it sunk in as to what the bet was all about. His face turned angry then relaxed as he thought about it.

"You bums!" he snapped but there really wasn't much anger in it.

He went back inside and behind the bar and face the handful of fisherman.

"I've been conned and conned bad, boys. By a couple of sanky, dirty con artists. You're not drinking on Blaine and Pic. Your're drinking on ME! The loser of the bet was supposed to pay for the last two rounds but I can't collect until 2025!'

The bar laughed themselves silly and Mike said, "What the hell!" and reached up and rang the bell. "What the hell. Why not? I'm losing money anyway."

Mike didn't lose a dime. His initial expenses were about $25 in beer wholesale, if that. He knew this and knew that word would go all over the fleet that Blaine and I had beaten him out of two rounds for the house and the fleet would have the place mobbed as they came in to hear the story from the horse's mouth. He'd make the loss up in spades. He knew how to run a small bar.

If you're smart you know how to cast your bread on the water and get back poached eggs on toast.

 

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MY insurance company.

which I will not name here for reasons I won't get into. Maybe later.

As some of you know I had a fire a couple of years ago. 

The insurance company was nothing short of incredible. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I was amazed. They covered everything and gave me an interesting option for the stuff lost in the garage. I could have a check and replace things on my own or they could replace the stuff itself. All I had to do was submit a list. I took a chance and submitted the list. Within a week I was getting calls from Lowe's, Home Depot, and a few other places to arrange deliveries. 

Everything they replaced was of either the same make and model or better. Every. Single. Thing. No junk whatsoever. None. I was stunned.

Most of it went directly into storage which was fine. Actually all of these vendors offered to hold the stuff for me until I got back on my feet but I opted to have it delivered because I wanted to check the stuff out. 

The remediator I hired had submitted a bid and the insurance people accepted it and instantly cut me a check, excluding mechanicals, plumbing, electric and HVAC. When I submitted the bids of these tradespeople a check arrived inside a couple of days.

We also had a discussion with my adjusted. My wife and I figured that this would be a golden opportunity to bring everything up to code. After all, the place was build in 1948 and could use it.

We agreed that the insurance company would pay for what we lost and we would pay for the upgrades. More than fair enough. I got two bids from the plumber and electrician and the insurance company paid full replacement.

Both of these subs gave me a very reasonable deal on the upgrades because the walls were already open and it would be a simple add-on to what they were already doing.

In short the insurance company stood by me and did the right thing, actually to a fault. When things were completed everything was replaced perfectly and we were in better shape than we were before the fire.

I was truly impressed.

I made this post in light of the recent murder of the CEO of an insurance company that by many accounts has been withholding claims and apparently trying to deny coverage to those that can't afford to fight back. 

First of all I won't condone murder although I can understand why the CEO got whacked.

What I WILL say is that everyone in my insurance company is on my personal protected list. When I needed it most they came charging through with flying colors and people like that deserve to be protected. Anyone that wants to hurt anyone in that company, from the CEO to the guy that sweeps the floor has to get past me.

Again, I refuse to condone the murder but have to say that historically most murder victims like that tend to bring it on themselves by treating other people poorly one way or the other.

While my homeowners insurance covered my home and that really means a lot to me, it is second only to my health. My health insurance company seems to be adequate and has performed well. I (as of yet) have been treated well although I had to get the HR people to goad them once. Still, they're halfway decent. 

I am no financial genius but I do know simple math.

Income (premiums)- Outgo(Claims)= Profit (or loss)

Needless to say, the object is to make income exceed outgo.

Granted it would he a perfect deal to have it all coming in and nothing going out and personally I wish I had never had to file a single insurance claim but when something happens it's time for the company to pony up and hold up their end of the deal. Cheaping out usually winds up with companies losing money in the long run.

There's also the human side to things. Damage or loss of a person's home is a shattering experience to most people. While there are cold, hard facts and accounting to be seriously considered, there's also the human and emotional side of things. A good adjuster (I think that's what it's called) has to understand this and realize that he's not only dealing with numbers and money. They're also dealing with a human being who is probably upset. You absolutely have to remember this if you want to run a successful business. Your customers come first. Insurance is a service business and you are serving your customer base.

From a business standpoint it's good business to make things as easy as possible for a policyholder. Policyholders have mouths and talk to other people. Lord only knows how many questions I was asked about how the insurance company was treating me and I know for a fact that a couple of people switched based on what I told them.  

I know I have done something to help the company that helped me by sending them new customers. 

My wife handles a lot of financial stuff and I have to be honest and say I don't know what our rates are compared to other companies.

If I know my wife she didn't cheap out and go with the lowest premiums, nor did she instantly go to the most expensive, either. She's a researcher and I'm sure she dug around and checked everything out and asked around before she found our company.

She's wise enough to know that an insurance company isn't measured by low rates. It's measured by the service it provides in the event of a casualty.

She belted one out of the park when she chose ours.

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Many men are now opting to stay single

and I don't blame them. If what I see is the current dating pool I'd stay single, too.

In a few decades we are likely to see a lot of fairly content single men and miserable women surrounded by six or eight cats.

I certainly won't be around to see it but it's happening and it's really sad.

Why would a reasonably motivated, fairly intelligent man want to enter into something like a marriage that has a greater than 50/50 chance of failure and lose at least of half of what he has accumulated? It simply makes no sense. Why play a rigged game? Of the over 40 divorces, 70% of them are initiated by women.

The other thing is that many women are not willing to hold up their end of the bargain. It seems that too many don't bring a whole lot to the table and also expect a Tier one man in return. It don't even work that way. Not even a little bit.

A couple of years ago I ran into a young, handsome stud that was making damned good money and we started talking about life in general and the subject came up of marriage. He was single and said he had just thrown another fish back into the pond because she had almost $200K worth of student debt and a useless degree. I sure the hell don't blame him. That's entering the marriage with a minus $200K balance which he was probably expected to pay. Not only that the useless degree shows she makes bad choices. The juice just ain't worth the squeeze. 

A Tier One guy is looking for a Tier One bride and sorry about that, Sister but you ain't in the club. You want it all your way and life ain't Burger King. The so-called woman's movement has seen to that.

A couple of years ago I was chatting with a mother who was telling me she hoped her daughter would meet a nice guy and give her a couple of grandchildren. Just them the daughter waddled over packing about 75 pounds of extra weight and her face was inked up and pierced so much she could have passed as a South Seas islands headhunter.

I took one look and thought to myself that the woman would get her grandchildren because some crackhead would probably knock her up.   

A lot of men are looking for a traditional marriage with clearly defined roles. They want to be breadwinners and want their wife to tend to the children. 

One time I met the guy in the coffee shop and I suggested looking overseas for a bride and recommended Thailand or the Philippines. He said he had thought about it and was very seriously considering it. Can't say as I blame him. I would more than seriously consider it if I wanted a traditional marriage.

As  for those of you women that your daddy told you that you were a princess and deserved a prince, I got news for you. Your daddy lied to you. Enjoy your loneliness and enjoy your six cats.

As for the men that stay single, the way things are today it makes sense.

There's also another side of things worth mentioning. The internet and internet dating has changed things as far as face to face people skills go. Too many younger people of either sex don't know how to have a face to face conversation with the opposite sex anymore.

Communication between people seem to have reduced much of it to emails, texts and that sort of thing. 

I started writing this piece yesterday before I went shopping and decided to mentally put myself back into my late 20s and early 30s and picture myself scouting around for basically someone to go home with. I was just looking around to see what was out there.

Granted, I am married and NOT looking for side action. I wanted to try and put myself in the situation of a younger guy looking for someone to date. During that period of my life I dated woman older than me because I wasn't looking for a mate. I was looking for fun.

Inside of about an hour I struck up conversations with four woman in their early to mid 40s and was comfortable and confident. One was married and not looking but still we had a nice brief chat. Most of the women were likewise easy to talk to. Out of the four I am convinced that if I were 28 again I could have gotten two of them to meet for coffee back in the day. I'm also of the mind that one of them would have cheerfully accepted a coffee date with me at the ripe old age of 73! Maybe she was looking for a rich old man with a bad cough.

Later at another market I set my sights lower and went to see if I could break the ice and start a brief conversation with some younger women and I was surprised to see how awkward a couple of them were. I don't think they thought I was creepy because I was asking them for gift ideas for my grandchildren. It appeared a couple just didn't know how to talk to men. Out of the other three one was a single mom and she seemed comfortable. I had the distinct feeling a coffee date with her 40 years ago would have taken place in her kitchen. It led me to believe that single moms in their 20s haven't changed much.

Still, I went away thinking that a lot of the younger people don't seem to have the people skills that we used to have growing up.

I got up to check the mail and I'm back now. The woman across the street, an elementary school teacher pulled in and I had a couple of words with her about today's kids. I was glad to see her because I wanted her opinion for this post. We chatted for a couple of minutes and she told me that in first grade she has to teach kids the very rudimentary people skills, like how to share, how to ask someone if they want to play with them and simple basics.

These skills back in the day were not taught in the home. They simply pushed the kids out the door and they learned on their own and before first grade. When some other young mother dropped by for coffee or whatever and brought her brood along the whole push of us were shoved out the back door to play. Believe it or not, we figured it out. We didn't have to wait until first grade.

When I started school in the mid 50s I was simply told to walk up to the GAR hall and get on the bus. I already knew most of the kids at the bus stop, even some of the big kids (fourth, fifth and sixth graders). That stop must have filled about a third of the bus. GI Joe had come home and was fruitful and multiplied.

The town I lived in at the time was a sleepy semi rural lobster fishing type community. Commuters to Boston were just beginning to move here. This was about six or eight years before the Charge of the Bulldozer Brigade came through and doubled the size of the town overnight. It became a bedroom community for Boston and when the Southeast Expressway opened the town grew even more.

When I was little it was pretty much snow white with a couple raisins (Mainly Cape Verdeans) in the rice pudding. Before I entered first grade I was a naïve kid that never had even spoken a black person face to face before. 

First day at recess I met two brother that were black and one of them had a ball. I asked one of them why their skin was a different color and he said he was born that way and when I asked to rub his hand to see if it came off he agreed. Nothing came off so I asked to play ball with him and inside a couple minutes we were playing together in the schoolyard. 

That night at supper I told my parents about the two guys I met with dark skin and told them I had even rubbed his hand to see if it came off. Mom looked mortified and dad snarfed his coffee out his nose and said "They're kids. It's OK." 

"They're probably the twin boys of the Cape Verde Islanders across town. Norm has met them. They're OK," he said. He turned to me and asked me what we did on the playground. 

Them mom asked me what I learned at school and I probably said what every other kid says when asked that question. "Nothing."

About a week or so later I asked my parents "What's a ni**er?"

My mother paled and dad again stepped up to the plate and explained racism to me and told me I was to judge people by who they are and not what color they are and he never wanted to hear that word from me again. The lesson has stayed with me for the past 67 years.

Still, as I grew up I was never intimidated by anyone including the opposite sex. While I didn't date much, I had no problem with my female classmates. I developed an outgoing personality. I'm certainly not shy. Few of my classmates were.

While I did grow up in a sheltered community, we had no internet or cell phones and did more business and pleasure face to face and developed social skills.

Back to the 70% of women over 40 that initiate divorces. I looked a bit into that and managed to discover that what happens is that it appears to be a hormonal thing following or maybe even starting with menopause. It's an imbalance of sorts and if the woman talks about it to her doctor he's apt to give her mood elevators and send her on their way. This only covers up the symptoms and may very well even make things worse. Deeper digging in needed to get to the bottom of things.

While smart couple may be able to work through this and overcome it, often before it's discovered the damage is done. 

Still, if it happens that way some poor bastard is stuck with losing half his stuff and winds up with child support payments. It is what it is and the end result is a some poor slob has worked his ass off to wind up living in a cheap fleabag somewhere coughing up half of his income for the next umpteen years.

With over half of marriages ending up this way the risk ain't worth the reward in this day and age.

 

 

  

  

 

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That dirty bastard Donald Trump stole the election! He rigged it!

If the Democrats want to fix this so it doesn't happen again then they should demand voter ID with proof of citizenship to get one, in person voting, paper ballots and same day election results.

That should keep those dirty Republicans in line and keep it from happening again!

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It would be a pretty good location for a strip club

The local Outback just closed and as usual the busybodies were wondering what was going to replace it. Of course some wag suggested a massage parlor so I jumped in there and pointed out that because it was set back and out of the way it would be the ideal spot for a strip club. Actually it would be an ideal location assuming the township would permit it. It's near enough to the main drag and set off enough not to mar the appearance of it. 

Needless to say, the township would not permit it. The township next to mine wouldn't even allow a dog groomer to open shop citing noise from dogs barking.

A couple of years back someone asked what was going to be built on a lot where she had seen excavation. I said that I had asked one of the guys running a bulldozer and it was  going to be a strip joint and an adult bookstore. (To be fair about it, he told me that he tells everybody who asks him the same thing wherever he is. I'd probably do the same thing. Why not? I knew he was a smartass when first laid eyes on him. )

What was wonderful to watch was a couple on their late 70s. The woman posted, 'Good! Now I will know where to find my husband!'.

The husband said that it would give his wife a job opportunity.

I'm still laughing at that one. It is truly a joy seeing an old couple go through life laughing with each other.

Then again that older couple probably were wise enough to know the township wouldn't permit it.

Needless to say there's always a few people that take the bait and one drama queen started screeching that now they'd have to move because she didn't want her children to be exposed to such a place and so on. It was a pretty good meltdown. Much moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'd give it a B+.

(God only knows what kind of a conniption she probably threw when she found out Donald Trump had won the presidency.)

Doesn't anybody even think anymore? A township that won't allow a dog groomer certainly isn't going to allow a strip joint. What was she thinking?

About 40 years ago I worked in one off and on as a utility man, keeping things fixed and maintained. It sure wasn't full time but several times I would talk with the owner who was most likely the manager because the place was likely mobbed up somehow.

The 'owner' was pretty free about talking about the business end of things and the rules (spoken and unspoken) One unspoken rule was that you NEVER hire local talent because it would raise a public outcry about what they were doing to our daughters.

He explained how the girls were hired through a 'talent agency' and that he had to maintain housing for them. Much of my work was keeping up a pair of condos that the girls were housed in. They were destructive as hell and tore things up frequently.

He had to watch illegal drug abuse among the girls, keeping it down to a dull roar. He admitted there was no way the headache could be completely eliminated.

The other thing he had to keep his eyes open for was prostitution which is the bane of strip club owners almost everywhere. The last thing an operator needs is accusations (true or not) of running a brothel alongside the club.    

Girls that got caught whoring were sent out of town on the first flight out, period. No ands, ifs or buts. Gone. Here's your ticket. Adios. They were also told that if they returned on their own nickel to ply the oldest profession they would be arrested.

One thing he liked were fresh faced college girls that were there for a single purpose, to make money. They caused far fewer problems and attracted a lot of business. Back then there were not too many of them. I remember one made enough to pay for her senior year. She returned the following summer to pay for a Master's. I had lunch with her a couple of times and respected her for focusing on her education. She was a hard luck story that wanted to better herself. She was intelligent and tough and not afraid to make sacrifices.

It's interesting to note that a few of these women stayed in town when their dancing contract was up, found legitimate jobs and assimilated into the general population and became respected members of the community.

Then he had to deal with the police and he explained that it was fairly easy if he could manage to keep things down to a dull roar and would help them out from time to time. If the cops were looking for someone that walked in he's simply pick up the phone and call it in. It was a case of one hand washing the other.

Still, while I probably don't want one in my town mainly because of the way it adds to the traffic and there's a lot of the clientele I don't care very much for. Still, back when I worked for the club I daresay that one of the local churches was a far bigger pain in the a$$ because they kept trying to force their beliefs down everyone else's throats and regulate everything.

FWIW I shacked up with one of the strippers for a brief period of time and later one of the local women I knew asked me what I saw in her. 

"Absolutely nothing," I replied. "I just figured it would look good on my resume."

She thought a moment and said, "You're right. Every scoundrel worth his salt should have a few things like that on his resume."

Then she blushed a bit and told me the time she ran off with a harmonica player from a blues band for a while.

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It looks to me like we're not going to get clouted with heavy snows this winter

Usually I have been able to predict this by watching the deer.

During heavy snow winters there's generally a lot of white in their coats. So far I have seen only black.

While not scientific it has been my observation that this is the case based on about 30 years of deer watching.

=======================================

Drones are reportedly all over the place and have seemed to show up in more places than Elvis Presley used to. People are starting to panic.

I saw one report that the Space Force is running tests which is probably logical but this is no time for logic to enter into things. It's time to PANIC and start all sorts of rumor, conjectures and conspiracy theories.

As for me, as I tend to do, I am going to sit down and wait and see what happens.

=============================================================

In other news I ran into a former coworker a while back that asked me what I am doing now and I told him that I wrote a book exposing the entire industry and that the company put me back on the payroll full time in exchange for not publishing it.

So far I have gotten three calls from former coworkers asking me about it. Needless to say, I neither confirmed or denied it.

I suspect I will be getting several more calls.

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Thank you, Fact checkers. I never would have known

that Burger King really didn't change their motto to 'We don't snitch'.

All this time I thought that they really did.

==================================

Someone else also said that Luigi Mangione should have gone to Waffle House instead of McDonalds because they would have probably hidden his gun and loaned him different clothes and given him a decent breakfast.

Yeah. I can see that.

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I don't know if I ever mentioned this but I got a call to perform an exorcism.

I was sitting in my living room when the phone went off and I saw it was an old shipmate. I answered it and the instant I did my shipmate asked me if my religious credentials were up to date.

"Yeah, sure," I replied. 

"Oh, good. How would you like to come to Maine and perform an exorcism?"

"I suppose I  could. What's up?"

"The wife and I are standing in a pretty nice house that was built in 1815 and the wife asked me if an old place like this has any ghosts in it. I said quick fix and called you." he said.

"I can do that if you'll supply the transportation," I answered.

"Cool," he said and hung up.

I later got an email telling me that the realtor standing next to his wife got pretty wide eyed having heard his half of the conversation. the conversation.

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Watching a suburban mom load her kids into the SUV

I was sitting in a Sheetz parking space eating half of a sub next to an SUV. A mother of two little kids came out, opened the side door next to me and installed tow little kids in the new and improved car seats for kids. The process for the pair of them probably took about five full minutes.

My window was open and the woman saw I had been watching her process a number of somewhat complex straps, snaps and buckles of various sorts. I thought to myself that it's easier to strap a fighter pilot into his cockpit.

She spoke to me and commented that it was time consuming but at least the kids were safe.

I looked at her and said, "When I was their age dad would throw the three of us into the bed of the pickup and take us from the farm and into town every Saturday."

I kind of expected she'd be horrified but she was only mildly surprised. "My father said kids rode in cars without seat belts and sometimes rode in truck beds." Then she said, "You probably didn't go all that far, though."

"He took us from our farm in Ohio to San Diego to pick up his brother when he got out of the Navy," I answered. That raised eyebrows. "It was actually a pretty nice trip and we got to enjoy all the sights and smells of America. The Interstate system was still in its infancy. We took a lot of US Highways."

"You went all the way to San Diego in the bed of a pickup truck?!"

"Yeah. We made it work and stuck together like a family. My mother talked about that trip the rest of her life." 

"We spent a few weeks in California and the weather turned. Mom took my brother and sister and took a bus home and Dad, my Uncle Bill, and I drove home together. Bill stayed with us a while until he got back on is feet after he got his Filipina wife into the States."

"Didn't the police stop you?" she asked.

"Nope. They probably figured we were hillbillies and did that kind of thing all the time. It was a different America back then. We valued liberty more than safety and family most of all," I replied.

She told me it was the most interesting story she had ever heard.

Fact is the story isn't mine. It's similar to any number of stories I have heard during my career at sea. It's interesting to note that an inordinate number of older seamen come from small towns and rural areas and have told me similar stories.

What IS fact is that I got caught driving a fire truck with about a dozen special needs kids from a summer camp into town and instead of getting into trouble we became little heroes. 

I posted that story years ago. 

What's also fact is that it was a very different country back when I grew up.

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Don't be afraid to tell it like it is.

if the people over you will actually listen to you.

One day I met the CEO of my employer who casually asked me in passing if everything was OK.

There is one thing, I said. That's the wrenches that supply has been sending out that we use to remove blanks. I broke one a couple weeks ago and damned near got hurt. 

I went on to explain that the money saved on junk wrenches would be spent several times over by even a single no lost time accident.

When he asked what I recommended I said that something like Snap-on wrenches were a bad choice also because we do lose them over the side occasionally. I said that some of the building house middle of the road store brands would probably be adequate.

I told him that fresh oats cost a little more than oats that had been through the horse and he laughed.

I spoke with him at a weekend party and went back to work the next Wednesday. The following Monday a memo came out explaining that every barge would get 3 inch and an eighth wrenches and 3 inch and a quarter wrenches and to discard any with certain (el cheapo) brand names on them when the new wrenches arrived.

The new wrenches started arriving almost immediately after the memo went out.

While in places management doesn't listen to their people, some places do and it makes for a better, more profitable business.

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Stop bothering me.

Why am I supposed to get upset because some horse's ass celebrity is leaving the country?

Just leave. I'm getting sick and tired of self-appointed people that we can easily live without babbling empty threats about how they are going to leave.

Am I supposed to be cringing in fear because Joy Behar or some other mean spirited self-appointed muckety muck is going to leave?

One guy so far has done it right. Celeb (whoever the hell he is) reportedly renounced his citizenship and left. 

While I think he was foolish to do this, I respect him for keeping his word. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

The older I get the more I think we should stop plowing money into colleges

and put it into vocational education.

Colleges seem to produce too many college idiots that can't really do anything. It's certainly not necessary to make a decent income and take care one's self.

College is only necessary if one wants to get a marketable degree in STEM or some other needed field. We have enough useless philosophy majors to send to every undeveloped are on the planet, including California.

We need more people that can actually do things.

There's also another thing. Many of these vocational students go on to become entrepreneurs by opening their own small businesses.

What's interesting is my information goes back to the 60s because a classmate of mine went to a Vo-Tech. He said that it wasn't all in the shop, half of his education took place in the classroom and an awful lot of the classroom time was spent on classes about running a small business.

Many Vo-Tech grads go on to opening small businesses which should go back to being the backbone of this country. 

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A Guinness post

Which is my go-to beer.

Some time ago I mentioned Guinness to someone. He was somewhat of a youngster and went on how 'real men' don't drink it because it only contains 4.1% alcohol. I guess he's an IPA man, a high test that clocks in at 8%. Two of those can get a person a DUI.

I looked at him and asked him what time of day he has his first drink and he said never before 1700.

"Oh." I said. "I have a Guinness with my morning bacon and eggs. To drink all day you have to get started early. One certainly doesn't want to get folded up like an accordion before noon, do they? "

While I don't really, the look on his face was rather entertaining.

Maybe I'll write a post about the old days when I DID have a Guinness for breakfast.

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For the record I have not had a beer buzz before 1700 in probably four decades although about a year or so ago I looked at a huge breakfast in front of me and my dining partner and I had a laugh and we both decided to wash it down with a Guinness.

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To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY