Stop Pulling the Wagon

I must confess, like many others I have come to fear a possible intentional viral attack from one of America’s enemies similar to the apparently unintentional infestation we have suffered from the Coronavirus COVID-19.

An adversary would not have to have its army invade, drop a bomb or even fire a single shot. In the future an enemy would simply have to acquire or mutate a virus (virus’s mutate easily), especially one that is contagious and attacks the upper respiratory system.

They could then infect “volunteers” with the virus, infiltrate them through our porous borders, especially into Sanctuary Cities and States, where no questions or paperwork is required.

Once here, these infiltrators could travel cross country by bus or in caravans of rental cars to major centers of population where folks are often in close contact with each other and then make sure they sneeze or cough on as many of our citizens as possible. Then, let nature do its part. In this way an enemy could again bring America to its economic knees. A scary thought.

For now our Government has imposed a well intended sort of “house arrest” that has left most of us to watch 24/7 marathon tabloid television “news” of the Coronavirus infestation and the crash of our economy.

Mostly unspoken, but hanging like a cloud is the likely eventual inflation and devaluation of our currency through multi-Trillion Dollar bailouts with fiat paper money. Our Government has little option to do anything else. The economy must be enabled to function again.

On a more positive note, I recently remembered something from past readings that is perhaps our Country’s best defense. I did a bit of research and found several varieties of the phrase I was looking for. Perhaps the following is the simplest and comes right to the point.

On December 13, 1955 a British Consul stated, in part: “Economically speaking, every time America sneezes, the rest of the world has pneumonia”.

The United States is the undisputed leader in the worlds economy. The U.S. Dollar is the standard currency. Not the Chinese Yuan, not the Euro, not the Yen, not the Rouble or any other currency.

Without the stabilizing influence of the U.S. market and dollar, the Chinese and many other economies would suffer greatly and perhaps even collapse leading the world into an economic and collateral social pandemic. Even before the current crisis, there were many governments in the world that were on the ragged edge of economic bankruptcy. The U.S. has been a leader in helping keep them financially viable at even a minimal level.

Aside from a few “lunatic fringe governments” and radical groups like ISIS and their ilk, that would like to hurt us just because they hate us, what government would seriously consider “crashing” the U.S. economy? For virtually all of them, it would be a form of “economic suicide” to attack us. I think this makes such an attack much less likely.

I believe a strong, robust U.S. economy is America’s best defense against an intentional viral Pandemic by a foreign enemy.

Something to think about.

Bob Bandy – April 2020

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted virtually everyone’s life, some in more ways than others, but all of us.

In one positive way I am reminded of the period following the attack on 9-11-01.

If any good came from the terror and tragedy of that horrible day it was that we experienced a coming together in America that was unique in my adult lifetime.

In the face of a common enemy we found a common purpose and good.

We united as a nation, as a people and as Americans. Color did not matter. Social standing lost it’s importance. Politics was forgotten – at least for a time. Neighbors joined with neighbors. There was an air of courtesy and acceptance of each other despite whatever differences we might of had before the event.

As Americans we joined hands and hearts in sorrow and in pride and celebrated our common love of country and each other.

In a similar way I have sensed some measure of that time in the current test being presented by a different adversary – this Coranavirus COVID-19.

Despite the shortages at our local supermarkets and the need, even requirement for social distancing, I am noticing more courtesy, patience and even friendly smiles among shoppers.

For the most part, we as individuals, seem to have put political disagreement and name calling on the shelf, at least for now. Many national political leaders who are generally bitter foes have demonstrated a softening of tone and been able to co-operate for the general benefit of all . Even if temporary, it’s a relief from the seeming constant drumbeat of political infighting we have come to expect. A welcome relief with perhaps just a glimmer of hope for the future.

In our area we have our own social Neighborhood Network where we communicate and share with folks in our immediate area. (I am told the Nextdoor.com app is available nationwide). What I am seeing happen makes me proud and has strengthened my faith in others. I see postings offering help to those in need. Offers to run an errand for a shut-in, help with a chore, shopping, even a package of toilet paper at a time when the stores are all completely out.

I don’t see people offering to help if you are a fellow Democrat or a fellow Republican or a fellow whatever. Just neighbors willing to help neighbors without conditions. It is a wonderful thing and makes me proud to be one of those neighbors.

This Virus “thing” shows no favorites and my greatest wish is that we could all carry on indefinitely this common goodwill feeling after this virus is finally controlled or better, history.

If you have the same desire, please share that feeling with others. I believe we would all be richer as a people if we did so.

Bob Bandy – April 2020

Listening to the radio the other day while I was working, I heard a purported spokesperson for California Government claim that the “Administration” came to the conclusion that our recent Proposition 13 (proposed property tax increase) Bill failed in our Primary Election last month because California voters figured that since the State had a balanced budget, even a budget surplus, the voters felt no further tax increase was needed to assist the States Schools.

Balanced budget? Surplus? California plays a “Shell Game” with tax revenues. Read on.

Choking back a “gag reflex” I remembered all the enraged voters of both parties who felt totally betrayed by previous Gasoline Tax Increases (California has the highest gasoline taxes in the nation) which had been presented by our State Government as a tax that was promised to be used only to repair our roads and not for any other purpose. “Pinky Swear Promise”.

” Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law billions of dollars in higher fuel taxes and vehicle fees, the state will have an estimated $52 billion more money to help cover the state’s transportation needs for the next decade.” Sacramento Bee April 28, 2017

According to published reports California consumes about 43,835,616 gallons of gasoline a day and each gallon is taxed by the State of California at a rate of 46.7 cents a gallon. Using a calculator this would give California a daily gasoline tax income of $20,471,232. That’s over twenty million dollars each and every day, over six hundred million dollars a month in gas tax income. source: Sacramento Bee and multiple online federal and state agency reports.

It did not take California long to play the old “Hide the Pea in the Shell Con Game” before they “redirected” (stole) much/most of the tax increase to other “pet projects” like Climate Change research. In the meantime our roads are among the poorest in the nation with potholes shaking our cars to pieces.

To say that California has a Balanced Budget with a substantial Budget Surplus is a lie of the worst sort concocted out of “smoke and mirrors” accounting. Or if you prefer: Creative Accounting 101.

California has a 1.5 Trillion Dollar State and local debt, …..much of it in UNFUNDED (my emphasis) Pension Liability. January 2019 California Policy Center.org

Private employers are required by Federal Law – ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) – to have fully funded (money in the bank) employee retirement programs.

The State of California, like the Social Security Administration, uses the Ponzi Scheme method of depending on future revenues – use hoped for future suckers money to pay the previous suckers “ala Bernie Madoff” plan – to cover the previously collected (and spent) “trust account” money through Shell Game tax increases and “reallocation” from other programs.

Regular readers of my columns, and those that note my brief biographical data in the right margin will remember that: I am against racism in any of its forms, oppose violence, abhor hypocrisy and especially despise being lied to.

Government please stop the “Pea Shell Shuffling” and quit lying to us.

Bob Bandy – March 2020

Ladies and Gentlemen. Forgive me but I cannot see this commercial without thinking of it as a preview of a Joe Biden Presidency.

Right now it seems more likely than not that he will win the nomination of his party to run in the upcoming Presidential election as, once again the Party has maneuvered Bernie Sanders out of the home stretch lap.

It also leaves me with several thoughts and questions.

For one thing, who would be his Vice President? This is a real and very important question. Our friend Joe could be no more than a figurehead stand-in considering his rapidly declining mental acumen. It seems there is little likelihood of him serving out a full term before he is sequestered in a White House basement dressed in his Pinocchio Jammies with a cup of warm cocoa laced with his medicine.

Whoever his Vice President is will have to be someone satisfied with being the stand-in puppet for the real powers that be in the party.

“Old Joe”, as he is frequently called by his friends and supporters, seems to be slipping away from us rapidly. He often cannot remember what state he is in, what office he is running for, tell the difference between his wife and his sister, etc. etc. One can’t help but wonder if his mind and memory have perhaps exceeded their “best if used by date”.

In addition, his recollection of history is often confused. Listening to him he seems to have been a major player in so many pieces of history. Was he really with Teddy Roosevelt at the Battle of San Juan Hill? How about his driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Point, Utah for the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad? He has so many memories of historic events in which he was a major player that it is really hard to remember them all.

Another question. Who would really be “pulling the strings” of a Biden Puppet Presidency. I suspect the Democratic Party has already lined up a consortium. Probably headed by the Clinton Crime Syndicate and the Obama Legacy Foundation coupled with other “Power Brokers” within the “Deep State”. Maybe his old nemesis “Corn Pop” could serve on the advisory team. Are you scared yet?

Do the names George Soros, Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg with all their power, wealth and governmental influence ring a bell? I am sure they would be glad to help finance a Biden campaign to elect “Old Joe” and then serve on the “Puppet Master” team. Now are you scared?

Now that I have planted this seed, your challenge is to watch these Geico Pinocchio commercials in the future without seeing Joe Biden’s face on Pinocchio. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to dare to share this bit of humor with your family, friends and neighbors.

Just for fun!

Bob Bandy – March 2020

End of the Pelosi Era?

Forget whether you are a Democrat or a Republican (I am neither). This is not about political parties.

This is about common sense.

Love her or hate her, Nancy Pelosi has a well deserved reputation for being both tough and politically smart.

So why would someone with her history of being politically savvy and smart hitch her wagon and waning Speaker of the House career to these two losers – Congressman Jerry Nadler and Congressman Adam Schiff? In my mind I think of them as “Fric n Frac”, two sides of the same dishonest political coin. In their public statements and actions neither have demonstrated to me any qualities that I admire, like personal integrity or honorable intent. I would not trust either one of them with the proceeds of a front yard lemonade stand.

Jerry Nadler is considered little more than a buffoon and party line drone with a reputation for being both a hypocrite and less than honest with facts.

Adam Schiff has a history of being a serial liar, and not a very good one at that. He just makes stuff up – stuff that is easily shown to be lies. Like a third grade cookie thief that can’t keep his hands out of the forbidden cookie jar and hasn’t developed the skill to get away with it.

Nancy Pelosi had to know that these two could not be counted on to put together a coherent legal case that would stand up to scrutiny by even a first year law student.

She had to know it, yet she put these two in charge of an Impeachment case with nothing but hearsay and rumor evidence from non-fact “witnesses” with an agenda. “Testimony” that could not stand up to cross examination in any court of law. That is why Adam Schiff only sought their “testimony” in a basement “kangaroo” courtroom without allowing any Defense Legal Counsel questioning.

So why would someone of her experience and political acumen let this happen?

The only answer that I have heard that makes any sense is that she was being driven by the Progressive wing of her party that has grown increasingly powerful in the last two years. And…. that Progressive wing demanded Impeachment no matter what…. period.

This is not a Republican vs Democrat issue. More like a Circular Firing Squad within her own party.

This flawed and faulty Impeachment attempt will do lasting damage to her long career in the House of Representatives and likely see her damaged reputation leave her mostly impotent politically.

Instead of getting rid of a President she despises, she seems more a victim of her own poor decisions and choices. Many of her “Impeachment Trial Post Mortem” statements seem weak, even pathetic.

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, it is sad to see someone do self inflicted damage to their own career. A reputation and career earned over many years.

Bob Bandy – February 2020

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DEAR DIARY

A New Year – Time for Reflection and Anticipation

I often joke that the only New Years Resolution I ever kept was the year I made a resolution not to make any resolutions.

I am older now and my “Looking Back” is no longer at the immediate year past but a panorama of decades past. Some changes in the years past were giant leaps forward, like Landing on the Moon, while other changes, like the development of Social Media, which may have appeared almost as a passing “fad”, have had a profound impact on the fabric of our society.

Not everything that has changed can clearly be labeled as “good” or “bad”. In many cases the full effects will not be known for generations. “The jury is still out.” When the “Great Society” and Welfare State was first introduced in the 1960’s I was excited and happy that we were going to eliminate poverty permanently, however, poverty is in many ways a bigger problem today than when we began the program some 50 years and 20 Trillion Dollars ago, and, the unintended consequences produced great harm to the family structure in millions of households.

The author, Thomas Wolfe, wrote the great novel “You Can’t Go Home Again” and what he had to say can certainly apply to the world we grew up in and is gone forever.

To perhaps most of my generation, we now find that many of the values we were taught, grew up with and have cherished have seemingly been lost forever or are in the process of being destroyed.

Some Examples:

Personal Integrity seems to be on an “Endangered Species” list in too many areas of daily life. I grew up with “Your Word Is Your Bond” and it meant more than any written document. My own father taught me when I was a youth that “You can’t be just a little bit dishonest any more than you can be a little bit pregnant”. Today it seems we live in a world of “weasel words” and “escape clauses”.

Credibility is becoming a rare and precious commodity. Many of our political leaders are habitual liars and are on my “Lie to me once, lie to me twice” list and I no longer believe anything they say. I do not trust most of what I hear and read in the media. They have become little more than a propaganda machine for the “Ruling Class”. The same can be applied to many advertisers of popular products.

Freedom of Speech – a Constitutionally Guaranteed Right. We have devolved into a culture of “victims” where spoken or written words, no matter how innocent in intent and nature, are twisted into “hate speech” or various “phobic” attitudes where none was intended. One lives in fear of being labeled a “hater” from a misunderstood word or phrase. Add to this list the “Indoctrination Centers”, our Schools, Universities and Colleges, that we used to think of as “Citadels of Higher Leaning” and where freedom of thought and speech is often no longer encouraged or allowed.

Respect for the Sanctity of Life – all lives matter. Our modern society seems to value the immediate desire of the individual over the life of another living being, no matter how innocent or defenseless. “Me” becomes the focal point of life rather than right to life itself for the unwanted. In too many cases overlooked is the part “me” can play in the greater good of family, community and the future of all.

Political Correctness. A toxic brew that has poisoned our society and taken away the precious Constitutional Right of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the press. Politicians, Ministers, Business Owners, virtually everyone who must deal with the “public” must monitor every word for fear of alienating some “protected” minority or politically powerful group who can destroy their life, livelihood or career with catastrophic media destruction and/or litigation and financial destruction.

A Personal Moral Code. Usually founded on, or associated with some kind of discipline or religious belief or training. The Ten Commandments are one of the best known examples and one I try to live by. Some things are always right or wrong. Doing good is always “right”. Killing, lying and stealing are always “wrong”.

There is more. I believe we all should think about it and not just sit on the sidelines and let our culture and society degenerate into some kind of “Mad Max” future.

So what does this New Year and New Decade bring? Where are we headed and what am I going to do with it?

Bob Bandy – January 2020

“Mad Max” -1979 – Mel Gibson – Australia – Kennedy Miller Production