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Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Washington Marathon


The Washington Marathon is a major event often accompanied by the Washington Two step or the D.C. reel. A little heralded athletic event occurred in Washington D.C this week . The “running of the Congress” is a great event that has gained major significance over the past 3 to 6 months. Our Congress has tacitly avoided doing their jobs for  a while. These past several years have seen the Congress have their way with us regarding the economy, elections and who knows what else. These Needers and buskers have spent more time on the air and in the media “defending” their views than doing the actual work we pay them so dearly for. I wonder what kind of Xmas they are having in comparison to a majority of Americans who are affected by their inactions. It seems to me that these folks take every opportunity to avoid their work such as the Susan Rice issue, which turns out be someone elses fault (if there is any) but look at the time spent in pursuing something that did not require the time. That is time that could have been spent on the economy. Government is broken and we all know it but the disconnect is clearly in the Congressional halls. Election is the only and best remedy we have to correct this situation.  Voters who do not see the folly of party line voting need to take the blinders off to see all of  the issues involved. The actions of Congress has taken  the air of  an advertising on the scale of drug manufacturers touting a new product and telling you to ask your doctor about it..

Neer Do Wells


The Congress has had 4 years to work on the National debt and the necessary adjustments to that debt. Instead of doing what they are well paid for they have been politicking in the media, involving themselves in the Presidential elections and creating loud noises about everything except the budgetary issues that affects us all. Could it be that they have outgrown their usefulness? The real Congressional members have pretty much died off and left us with ineffectual wannabe’s. We do not necessarily need any parties to issue party lines on issues but we do need and require men and women who do their jobs. If we (voters) were a company with non to poor performing employees, we would fire them and we can fire the Congress.

Coal At Xmas


It has long been the practice and idea that naughty children (of all ages) receive a gift of coal in their stockings. Given our economy, it appears  that being naughty is at once a help for the economy , a cheap reasonable gift for the naughty and a source of heat. Kind of a win win?

The Question On Firearms


The recent and near recent mass shootings have many people and politicians commenting on what needs to be done but all of this is played out in the media. The questions to be answered are simply: how do we prevent something like this from happening again? what can we do to prevent it? and what laws are needed to prevent the ownership of “so called assault” weapons? Taking each one in turn: The prevention of the 2 most recent have to do with mental illness, each of these two young men have a history of some mental differences not always problems but differences. Could early identification of their illness prevented their eventual actions, perhaps. Second: Would new laws on firearm  ownership or purchase make a difference? maybe. Third: Should assault weapon ownership and purchase  be severely restricted? Maybe if properly done.  Current firearm laws do not address the possibility of the purchaser or owner having an existing mental defect. The mental aspect is a bigger issue since there is no way to determine if a buyer or owner is mentally fit except under examination by a physician. The ban or restriction on assault or large capacity magazines weapons is a viable option along with the mental issue but these two items require a proper legal solution not a knee jerk one.

Lost Pecans # 2


Found pecans at Wal-Mart, i/2 the price elsewhere, made the pie and it is all that I knew it would be!! Yum!

Lost Pecans


I had plans to make a Pecan pie for Xmas after shopping for Pecans I nullified the idea upon finding the price of Pecan halves is 14.99 per bag (14 OZ) which would have made a 10 inch  pie.  I searched for a reason for the extraordinary price of pecans and found that hurricane Isaac was the culprit. Isaac caused damage to about 25 to 50 % of the pecan crop causing a substantial loss and shortage of the product.  I instead purchased a commercially baked pie for $9.00 (8 inch diameter) with a depth of approximately 1. 5 inches including crust. I sampled a slice and realized that this was definitely a commercial pie, the butter content was  quite low and the crust was passable. I am reconsidering the idea of baking my own just for the idea of having a really good Pecan pie. It would be a non renewable investment in great desert.

Cooler Heads Must Prevail


Yesterday’s tragedy in Connecticut has and will certainly bring the  out the debates and shouts for more or less firearm laws but the facts about the shooter appears to be similar to the shooters in the other incidents. These folks were mentally ill, intelligent and in need of more help than they sometimes received. The Anti and Pro firearms group will have their say but the victims never will. We need to put these issues aside and focus on determining ways of assisting the survivors while looking for ways to identify the people who committed and could commit these terrible crimes. It has sometimes been determined after background examination that these shooters have had or still have mental issues. Is it possible to legislate for this? Can we determine a future  psychotic breaK?, probably not but we need to put the firearm issue on the back burner and look at the mental health part of the equation. This may be a better use of our energy.

Chicago and Firearms


The Chicago city council has again made erroneous statements regarding reasons to not have concealed carry. One council member made this statement: “Guns already are too plentiful on some neighborhoods’ streets. Alderman Roberto Maldonado said that while a concealed carry law would not allow gang members with criminal backgrounds to carry guns, the gang members could prey on law abiding citizens and steal their guns. Or, he said, they would have greater access to guns than ever before because their friends and relatives who do not have criminal records would be able to carry concealed weapons.” I wonder if these Council members  understand that illegal means illegal and if as stated  the gang members will use their friends and families to legally buy firearms then why aren’t they doing it now? or if they are then the concealed carry law will  effect NOTHING. It is apparent that the council members are reacting in a “knee jerk” fashion while the reason for the ban on firearms affects only law abiding citizens who cannot rely on protection from the police. How many of the council have firearms and even body guards? It would make more sense to adopt a concealed carry system and perhaps have an idea of who is on the side of the law instead of attaching bounties on firearm  and ammunition purchases by already legal firearm owners. Is the city of Chicago so afraid of its citizens that they are not willing to form a partnership in protection of them and their families?

ARTHR


The onset of aging  (hopefully) with grace is or should be the destiny of us all. The one thing aside from all other infirmities we may encounter is the pain from our youthful injuries. Commonly the cure for this event is limited to a several daily doses of a OTC pain reliever (anti inflammatory). In extreme cases a prescription may be required. This onset while unpleasant is the bane of us all to some degree and some of us are lucky enough to forego the pleasure.  Unfortunately there are varieties of this unwelcome visitor which have potentially devastating and debilitating effects yet we seem to know less about it  and many of us fall victim to the least form and use it as a crutch. I would guess that most of us take our medicines and move on while others fall into the rut of inactivity as an excuse to avoid the pain of activity. It has been proven that despite the pain (unless it is too severe to stand) activity is a helpful adjunct to whatever medication you have to take. This infirmity if you did not know is arthritis, sometimes just called “ARTHR”. If you haven’t had the pleasure, keep in mind that any injury incurred in your youth could return to remind you of its effect by the twinge you get when the weather changes (usually damp weather). Welcome to Seniorhood!

Fiscal Cr_P!!


The Politicians are still at it. The mopes have nothing better to do than continue the same childish games as before the recent election. They have again taken to the airwaves to rehash the same garbage as before. The apparent hope was to install Mr. Romney as a puppet President and continue business as usual. This is not and probably never has been about whats best for the country but what is best for their big money donors. Each of these folks are near or in the top 2 percent who would pay higher taxes. It appears that they are not willing to sacrifice for their constituents but would have  us  believe they are in it for us. The wide-spread  negative ads that took over the airwaves during the election were  paid for by the big money Dupublican backers and they will continue to control the Congress in any way they can. This fiscal cliff is solvable with simple changes in what is required and who will be affected. The Congress has all of the information required to get this done but they keep fudging and hoping they do not have to take action. The people affected are not as many small businesses as the GOP would have us believe but more the people who employ no one but bring home the big bucks yet are too greedy to pay their fair share of taxes. We need to  ignore the media blurbs as they are primarily distortions of the truth. The deadline that is set means exactly what it is: a deadline but it is reversible even after the deadline. We have 535 people serving us who have no agenda other than their own and we (the People) need to fix it. It is certainly true that there are some folks who still have some ideals but the apple barrel still has a lot of rotten ones in it. If the President of the United States is willing to pay his fair share then why not the Congress and their cronies? Congress needs to consider that the people no longer trusts them and in some case does not like them.