Stop Pulling the Wagon

ALMOST FREE MONEY?

I remember years ago when out daughter was young.  We wanted to go to someplace special but the wallet was empty.  Our daughter said there was no problem, we could just go get some money out of the machine at the store.  We tried to explain to her the concept of first putting money into the bank before the machine would give us money, but, no luck.  She thought the machine was magic.

Well, thanks to modern technology, the folks at BETTER LIVING THROUGH MONEY MAGIC can now offer you the newest and greatest personal ATM ever.   The MONEY MAGIC MACHINE. Their engineers have managed to combine an old fashioned ATM machine with a state of the art printer. 

Introducing the all new and improved Money Magic Machine.  Once you have this handy little gadget installed in your family room you need never be short of cash again.  Want a new car.  No problem!  Big screen T.V..  You got it!  Trip around the world.  Pay cash!   Just put in your “Money Magic” card (sold separately),  enter your secret PIN number and out comes all the money you need.  Its a $500 value but we are offering it today for only $19.95 (plus shipping and handling).

As an added bonus we will include our newest “lap-top” traveling companion version of the Money Magic Machine which can travel with you everywhere!   Its a $399 value but we will include it FREE.   (just pay separate shipping and handling).

Order in the next half hour and we will include two boxes of our Money Magic pre-cut currency paper and a full gallon of our special Money Magic green ink.  (Just pay separate shipping and handling.)  

But wait, there’s still more!  Pay with an I O U  and we’ll double the offer.  Thats two Money Magic Machines plus two lap top versions of the Money Magic Machine plus four boxes of pre-cut  Money Magic currency paper and two full gallons of the Money Magic green ink.  (Just pay separate shipping and handling.)

Thats over $1000 worth of  Money Magic products all for only $19.95 (plus a whole bunch of shipping and handling).

Order yours today and start living the good life with all the money you could ever need or want.  Its Money Magic!

And,  not to worry.  This product has been tested extensively and is still in use by our very own United States Federal Reserve System in co-operation with the United States Treasury Department, where,  it has been, and is still being used to produce hundreds and hundreds of Billions (and now Trillions) of  Money Magic Paper Dollars.  All with no need to put money into the bank first and is being covered with I.O.U.s which will be paid for by your children and grand-children.

LIFE IS  MONEY MAGIC  GOOD!     

Bob Bandy

(Not sold in any store but only through this special offer)

IMAGINE THIS 

You are on a train that is moving down the rails at 80 miles per hour.  You have been notified that  the railway bridge is out ahead.  Suddenly you realize that the trains engineer and conductor are having an argument in the seat just behind you.  One is saying they should reduce the trains speed to 78 miles per hour before they reach the bridges location  and the other is arguing they need to reduce the trains speed to 74 miles per hour.  In this nightmare scenario you are shouting at them that they need to stop the train but they either can’t hear you or won’t listen to you.  

Now visualize this:  Our nation is racing toward a 1.6 Trillion Dollar Budget Deficit for the next fiscal year.  This will be added to the 14+ Trillion Dollar National Debt.  You hear members of Congress arguing over whether we should cut the budget by 6 Billion Dollars or 60 Billion Dollars.  This is “chump change” when compared to the 1 Trillion 600 Billion Dollars they plan to add to our childrens and grandchildrens national debt.  In this nightmare you are shouting at them to “Stop the Train” and balance the budget but they can’t hear you or won’t listen to you.  

Do they understand that history shows us governments have always “solved” fiscal mismanagement “problems” by de-valuing and inflating the money supply?  From Ancient Rome to 1920’s Germany to 20th century Zimbabwe the story has been repeated.  Hyperinflation is not a new model car.  It is fiscal disaster.  Do they care?  Can they spell Zimbabwe?  A country where they finally started printing 100 Trillion Dollar Notes because of fiscal stupidity and even those notes wouldn’t buy a loaf of bread.  It seems we are on the same “tracks” to financial ruin as a nation.

Think about it………….

Bob Bandy

In 1961 East Germany built the Berlin Wall to keep East German citizens from escaping the tyranny of Communism in the East to Freedom in the West.   

When they built this wall the East Germans lost any credibility they might have had to extoll the virtues of Communism.  No one would believe them because they had to keep their citizens isolated behind walls from opposing ideas. 

Credibility is a fragile thing.

Now we have an Islamic Cleric – Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf – who wants to build a Mosque within rock throwing distance of Ground Zero where the Twin Towers were brought down and more than 2,700 people were murdered by Radical Islamic Terrorists on September 11, 2001.  

The Imam says he wants to build this Mosque as an outreach in the name of  Peace and Understanding.  He states his goal is that Christians and Jews can learn to accept Islam and we can all live in mutual tolerance and harmony.  

I have a question Imam Feisal Adbul Rauf.  To build credibility for your stated mission, will you support the building of Christian Churches and Learning Centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Amman, Jordan?  How about within a few hundred feet of your Holy sites in Mecca and Medina?  That way Muslims could learn tolerance and understanding of the Christian faith.   

I am told Islam does not allow Christian Churches in Saudi Arabia or Jordan.  What is your position on this? 

It seems to me that Islam has built something very much like the Berlin Wall around many Islamic countries and won’t allow its citizens to even look at a Bible or discuss Christianity.  This begs the question:  Is Islam afraid of its followers learning about Christianity? 

When you demand that we allow you to build a Mosque in the name of  tolerance while Islam  denies the same tolerance to Christians and Jews,  you lose your credibility.      

This is not about hatred, and we do not hate peace loving Muslins.  This has everything to do with the small percentage of Muslims who are determined to impose their own violent image of Islam and Sharia Law.  They don’t want to co-exist in peace.  They have one non-negotiable demand:  Accept their view of Islam or die.  

It also has to do with credibility, Imam.  When you demand to build your Mosque knowing it will further divide people,  we just don’t believe your motives are to promote peace and understanding.  

In this matter Imam, you have no credibility with the majority of Americans.

………Bob  

Yesterday was our day to go to the State Fair.   My wife, myself, our daughter and one of her friends.  We planned the day so that  after we all had enjoyed  the animals, county exhibits,  some food and bought a few souvenirs, my wife and I could find a shady place to sit and people watch and the girls could go off to the fun of the Midway and the Rides.  It was a pleasant day with a light breeze and we found a bench in the shade and just rested. 

Relaxing there on that bench I remembered something I heard on the radio a couple of days earlier.  It was a news report that in preparation of implementing the new Government Run Health Care Plan, the Administration has issued instructions and guidelines on a new data base to be built.   Over the next couple of years they plan to collect information on each of us as individuals.  This will include our name, address, height, weight,  body mass index (BMI), whether or not we smoke, consume alcohol, etc. etc.  

The plan is that with this information they (the government) can develop healthy living plans for each of us.  Are you scared yet?

After “people watching” (and  looking in a mirror to include myself), I came to the conclusion that there was a whole bunch of  us folks that might not meet the governments guidelines on the Body Mass Index charts for “ideal” or “normal” weight to height ratio.  This applies across all age, racial, ethnic and social lines.

Coming home and doing a little on line (Google)  research I found a whole lot (too much) information and charts on the Body Mass Index (BMI) but I will include here one of the simplest to understand charts that I could find.  Keep in mind that what these indexes attempt to do is develop an “ideal” (and narrow) weight range based on height.  The ones I found do not take into consideration the fact that some people have smaller/larger  bones and body frames than others.  

Looking at this chart I realized that the only time in the last 25 years that this chart would not have considered me on the upper end of overweight or obese was after I discovered that I had a serious health issue.  Among other things, I went on a very strict diet to the point  that my doctor directed me not to lose any more weight and my family and friends told me I had become  emaciated and looked like an escapee from a concentration camp.  I didn’t believe them until I got my new drivers license picture and realized they were right.  At that lowest weight point, based on the BMI Chart, I was still a couple of squares into overweight  category and the government would have considered me still “fat”. 

I am not positive but I would guess that a whole lot of us Americans are going to get really “ticked off” when the “Feds” come knocking on our door and tell us that we are too fat and since “they” will be paying for our health care,  “they” have the right and the power to tell us what and how much we can eat and drink. 

I don’t know what kind of approved government foods I could have eaten at the State Fair.  I didn’t see any food vendors offering  boiled Rutabaga stew.

Now,  are you scared yet?                                          …….Bob   

I JUST HEARD ON THE NEWS THIS MORNING THAT A “SENIOR POLITICAL SPOKESMAN” HAS “FLOATED” THE IDEA THAT A 1% NATIONAL TRANSACTION TAX IS UNDER CONSIDERATION.

THIS TAX WOULD WORK LIKE THIS.  EVERY TRANSACTION (EXCEPT FOR SOME REASON STOCK PURCHASES/SALES) WOULD BE SUBJECT TO A 1% TRANSACTION TAX.  THIS NEW TAX WOULD BE IN ADDITION TO ALL THE OTHER TAXES (SUCH AS SALES AND USE TAXES) BEING COLLECTED.  IT WOULD INCLUDE A 1% TAX WHEN YOU WRITE A CHECK, USE A CREDIT CARD, PAY BY CASH ETC..  WRITE A CHECK TO PAY YOUR ELECTRIC BILL, THATS A TRANSACTION AND SUBJECT TO THE TAX.  PARK YOU CAR AT A PARKING METER; THATS A TRANSACTION.  PULL THE HANDLE ON A SLOT MACHINE, ANOTHER TRANSACTION.  GET THE PICTURE?

IN ORDER TO KEEP WITH THE PRESIDENTS PLEDGE NOT TO  RAISE TAXES ON THOSE WHO EARN LESS THAN $250,000 PER YEAR,  A “MECHANISM” (SPELLED BUREAUCRACY) WOULD BE SET UP TO “REFUND” THE 1% TAX PAID BY ALL THOSE WHO EARN LESS THAN THE $250,000 PER YEAR THRESHOLD. 

OF COURSE TO DO THIS THEY WOULD NEED TO BE ABLE TO TRACK ALL OF OUR TRANSACTIONS.  PERHAPS A NATIONAL TRANSACTION CARD THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO USE FOR EVERYTHING?  AND THIS WOULD  HAVE THE ADDED BENEFIT OF GIVING THEM (THE GOVERNMENT) THE ABILITY TO KNOW EVERYTHING WE BUY AND DO.  THE GOVERNMENT WOULD THUS BE ABLE TO MONITOR WHETHER WE ARE BUYING “APPROVED” LIGHT BULBS, “APPROVED” TOILETS, “HEALTHY” FOODS, ECO-FRIENDLY CARS, ETC..   AD-NAUSEUM. 

THIS OUGHT TO WORK OUT WELL.  THIS NEW BUREAUCRACY WILL OF COURSE BE A MODEL OF EFFICIENCY AND BY MONTORING ALL OF OUR DAILY TRANSACTIONS THOSE IN POWER CAN TURN US ALL INTO “GOOD LITTLE SHEEPLE”.  WHERE IS THE ACLU WHEN YOU FINALLY NEED THEM?

BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE AND WELL ….                    BOB

This oil spill disaster in the gulf has reminded me of the old Uncle Remus Wonderful Tar Baby Story with BP playing the part of Br’er Fox,  the Obama Administration playing the part of Br’er Rabbit and the oil spill playing the part of the Tar Baby.  

I think our “Dear Leader” may have been “Out Foxed” by BP on the 20 Billion Dollar “pot” of claims money that they “gave” President Obama’s hand picked Adminstrator to pay out for claims in the Gulf area.

It may be the cheapest 20 Billion Dollars that BP could have spent!

My reasoning is that no matter who doles out the claims dollars hardly anybody is going to be satisfied and the angry recipients are going to look for somebody to “Tar and Feather” (at least in the media).  As of now, BP can truthfully say that they have paid the money they were requested (Chicago style) to pay and the Complaint Department is now “down the street” at the Obama Adminstrations Claims Distribution Center. 

In other words they can wash their hands of trying to figure out who gets what and how to define a “just” claim from those who will simply try to game the system for some fast and easy money. 

In the aftermath of this nightmare the only ones who are likely to be satisfied with what they receive will be the ones who scam the system.  Anytime the “Guvment” gets its hands on a big bucket of “mulah” a good portion of it is going to be wasted.  If you doubt me look at the hundreds of millions of dollars scammed from Medicare.

Those who have truly suffered the most in this ongoing ordeal will likely never be truly satisfied,  because dollars alone cannot fully heal the wounds of this nightmare.  And many, if not most, will honestly feel they have not been justly compensated for their losses.  It will be hard to blame them for feeling this way.

It seems to me that if you really wanted to punish BP for this mess you could have forced them to deal with the tens of thousands of angry folks demanding (justly) to be compensated for the destruction of their environment and way of life.

The President and his Admistration  will likely find themselves up to their necks in oil (and maybe tar and feathers) for a long time to come.           ……….Bob