Stop Pulling the Wagon

I HAVE A QUESTION. WHY IS BERNIE MADOFF IN PRISON FOR 150 YEARS WHILE 537 BERNIE MADOFF WANABE’S ARE LIVING A LIFE OF LUXURY AND INDOLENCE AT THE TAXPAYERS EXPENSE IN OUR NATIONS CAPITOL?

Supposedly ole’ Bernie is guilty of running an 80 Billion Dollar Ponzi scheme which bilked thousands of investors.  In the meantime, 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 memers of the Senate and 2 elected members of the Administration just scammed three hundred million Americans for another 2.4 Trillion Dollars to add to the 14.3 Trillion Dollar Ponzi scheme that is our nations National Debt.

After months of finger pointing, name calling and accusations they just pulled off another big one.  Lets see, they add 2.4 Trillion to the debt while they promise to reduce deficit spending 21 Billion Dollars.

Folks, 21 Billion Dollars is equal to the amount of debt they will be adding to the deficit in the next five days!

Remember, our children and grandchildren will “inherit” the 16.7 Trillion Dollar Debt forever!  That and whatever “our Representatives” continue to add to it !

And, there is no doubt this bunch will continue to add to the total.  All so they can perpetuate themselves as power brokers in public office.

Lets see, they spend an additional 2.4 Trillion dollars over and above the amount they will take in and for that they promise to reduce deficit spending by 21 Billion.  What are they planning on doing?  Taking five spending days off in the next year?  What a sacrifice!  Heck of a deal!     

Click on the following link for a “Casey At The Bat” spoof which I include just because its funny….  We have to remember to laugh at ourselves…. No offense intended….     

Bob Bandy

Right now there is a lot of discussion about the United States involvement and commitment in Afghanistan.  Legitimate questions are being asked as to why we are there, what is the U.S.  goal and exit strategy and just how much blood and treasure are we willing to invest in what kind of hoped for outcome.

While I was appalled at the treatment of Afghan women and children under the rule of the Taliban there is also questions in my mind as to whether we may have gotten ourselves “bogged down” in a country that seems to be contentedly lost in the 8th century.

I heard Ann Coulter comment on a television news and commentary program the other day that Afghanistan is a country with more goats than flush toilets.  While her comment was no doubt made somewhat tongue in cheek, it also highlighted the fact that this is a mostly Tribal Culture without rights for women or children and where the accepted norm is brutal enforcement of the harshest form of Islam.

A country with very little infrastructure such as electric power, roads, sanitation systems or public education system beyond the Muslim Madrassa’s where boys and young men are taught to hate everything about the “Evil West”.

A country whose only significant export and source of revenue is opium/heroin.  Whose government is enormously corrupt and does not have the trust of the people it pretends to govern.

So………   While I do not like to envision what would happen to the people, especially the women (including young girls) of Afghanistan if the United States were to leave, I also cannot think of a viable long range goal for our being there.  I find myself with questions that I do not have satisfactory answers for.

Maybe the National Organization for Women could open a headquarters in Kabul with branch offices in every village and town throughout the country?

Something to think about……..    

Bob Bandy

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