Still More Stuff I've Learned (Part Drei).

This is Number Three in the essay on the stuff I've learned while spending more than seventy years trying to stay out of trouble and out of jail.  And believe me, there was some heavy bobbing and weaving in order to accomplish those objectives.  Mostly.  So far, so good.  

However, I sustained some bruises along the way, and learned a lesson or two that might prove helpful for all the other "Great Unwashed" among you.  So, buckle up, here goes...

-  I've learned that it's a heavy stain on our proud Country that there needs to be a "Wounded Warrior Project."  You've no doubt been hammered on by the unending TV commercials begging you to send off "just $19.00 a month" in order to put our heroes back together after having been sent off to war.  Plus, you'll get a blankie to show their appreciation.  Why, I ask, shouldn't the country that sent them off to die, or be forever maimed, take care of them after they return home?  And why should some outfit badger us incessantly for a bunch of dough to fix them up without us knowing just how that money's being spent?  Why, indeed?

-  I've learned that ex-Alaskan Governor and ex-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has decided to endorse POTUS candidate Donald J. Trump.  Why, me wonders, is Sarah choosing Trump to endorse rather than Ted Cruz, the guy she supported heavily in 2012 for Texas Senator, and campaigned with him incessantly.  I think I may have a possible answer to that question.  What, one might ask, does Trump have that Cruz doesn't?  Ummm, $10 Billion Dollars perhaps?  I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah found an extra $500 Grand in her checking account in the next few days she didn't remember depositing.  And maybe an appointment as Secretary of the Interior should The Donald emerge victorious in his run for Prez?  But that's just me...

-  I've learned from a contact in the Riverside County Sheriff's Office that there were more than 1,000 calls to request appointments to interview for a CCW (Concealed Carry Weapon's) permit in the week following the shooting at the San Bernardino school.  And, my contact states, due to a scarcity of personnel to handle such matters, more than 300 of those calls had yet to be returned.  What's the fallout from all this? Unlike the vast majority of other states, where you simply walk in to the local sheriff's office, plunk down $25 or so, and walk out with a CCW permit, in Taxifornia you must first apply for an appointment to be interviewed.  If you are then judged as qualified to carry concealed, in their sole opinion, it will take many more months to find out if you're successful in obtaining your permit. According to my contact, appointments are now being made for March, 2018.    That's more than two years from now. Congratulate yourself if you live somewhere else besides the once-Golden State...

-  I've learned that more than 100 people were shot in Chicago in just the first ten days of 2016.  Now considering that Chi-town has the most restrictive gun control laws in the entire nation, effectively eliminating the 2nd Amendment within its city limits, you have a really good example here of what Barry Obama and his Sycophants have planned for you if you live anywhere else.  You can't buy a gun in Chicago, but you can die in Chicago.  Doesn't seem right, does it?

-  I've just learned that Solar City, the biggest solar panel installer in the Country, has just pulled the BK plug.  After installing more solar panels than any other company, it just discovered that its business model doesn't work.  Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and majority owner of Solar City (and Tesla cars and SpaceX), could no longer make this leasing- panels-to-people work.  That's because it did so by overcharging for the panels, and then billing the Feds (you and me) for the 30% Income Tax Credit our Gummint offers. They wouldn't sell them.  I know.  I tried to buy them from Solar City. They told me they would only lease.  And after the Gummint discovered it owed Solar City more than $500 Million in payments, it cried foul and ordered an investigation. And from that investigation it was learned that our collective pockets have been picked, and picked big time!  Solar City now leases.  Or at least it did, before it pulled the plug.

-  I've learned that six of the top ten very richest cities/counties in America in terms of median household income are located in and around the Washington, D.C. area. They are:

          #1:  Falls Church, VA - $125,635
          #2:  Loundoun County, VA - $122,641
          #3:  Fairfax County, VA - $110,507
          #6:  Arlington, VA - $107,143
          #7:  Howard County, MD - $106,871

Think of it, my friends.  It wasn't too long ago that the richest counties were located in or near Silicon Valley, or San Francisco, or Manhattan, or rural Connecticut, or toney Long Island's Hamptons area.  Now, with the out-of-control growth of government, the rich are now those who work for us.  The folks who make on average twice what we do.  And we, the people who pay them, are now poorer than ever before.  I want to puke...

-  I've learned that the portent of a super big blizzard bearing down on the Eastern seaboard is enough to cause the "powers that be" to shut down the Government.  Yes, my friends, on the weekend of January 22nd, 2016, the Feds pulled the plug on all matters Governmental and sent everybody home.  No bizz to be conducted.  None. Now, considering that we have 1,645,239 laws on the books, or maybe twice that many (I have no idea...I made that number up!), what I'm wondering is how we mere mortals can figure out how to bring on a whole bunch more blizzards.  If a little bit of snow can shut down the business of making laws, and I think we can all agree we sure as hell don't need any more laws, then how can we figure out how make much, much, much more snow?  I mean, hello America!  We had 2,600 pages in the Federal Register in 1936.  With all of the new regs added daily by the SEC, the FDA, the EPA and all the other 600+ Alphabet Federal agencies, we have more than 800,000 today!  When is enough, enough?  I don't know about you, but I'm soooo pissed at the Gummint for making new laws without cancelling the old ones.  Give us more snow and fewer new laws!  

And by the way, the 200,000 employees that were sent home were deemed "nonessential."  Is it just me, or do you also wonder why we have 200,000 people working for us, who make much more than we do, that are "nonessential?"  

-  I've learned the "living wage lefties," like Hil(liar)y Clinton, aged Socialist Bernie Sanders and Little Mikey O'Malley, are just dying to boost the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. Why? So they can attract the votes of the slackers who don't feel themselves responsible to gain the education and the experience to claw their way out of burger-flipping jobs and into the righteous middle class.  When, I ask rhetorically, did working at MickeyD's constitute the path to a full-time income for those beyond pimply-facedness?  When, I answer emphatically, we elected socialist Barry Obama.  Since that fateful day the real wages in America have gone down a full 4%, equaling about $5,000 per year for the average family, while the regulations imposed on our job creators have gone past the choking stage.  Min-wage is now about $8.00 an hour. Higher in commie lefty states, lower in smarter, less regulated ones.  

And why the campaign to rush headlong to $15/hour? Because the unions are losing membership at flank speed. And they give beau coup bucks to the Democrats.  And the Democrats get about 95% of the campaign donations from the unions.  So, if the unions can coerce the Dems to coerce the Gummint to coerce employers to boost wages, then the unions can step in and force these "newly-rich" employees to join up, and pay up!  Of course, once these dues are paid, and the taxes on their new windfall is paid, the bone-headed dufus min-wage workers will be right back where they started. But hey, the unions will be fat again, and that's how strong-arm union and go-along-to-get-along politics works.  

By the way, if $15 an hour of somebody else's money - which it is  - is good, why not $20?  Or $30?  Or $50?  As Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, "The only thing wrong with socialism is that pretty soon you run out of other people's money."  I guess those who advocate such self-destructive policies need to learn sooner rather than later that they're completely full of crap.


-  I've learned that there are places on your body that can hurt that you didn't even know existed.  And places that will still manage to hurt despite whatever number of pain pills you choose to ingest.  And that the "hurt" can be ammeliorated a tad by the judicious use of a really nice Cabernet Sauvignon, or other juicy, tannic, red wine of your choice, which can serve to potentiate pain pills of all stripe.  That means a bit of the latter can magnify somewhat the actions of the former.  
Exercise care during your experimentation, my friends.  
You're welcome.  

-  I've learned that a young African-American woman named Lateatia Halloway intentionally drove her weapon of miss-destruction (get it?) through throngs of pedestrians on Las Vegas' sidewalks, killing one and seriously wounding more than 30 others.  Yes, my friends, this young "lady" was reported to have slowly driven her car down a busy Vegas boulevard, eyes peeled for clusters of people walking along peacefully, and then gunned her motor, jumped the curb and mowed them down.  And then she repeated this action three more times before being stopped and arrested. And yet, one Mr. B. Hussein Obama chooses not to call for the Justice Department to open a hate crime investigation, or increased background checks and tougher acquisition laws prior to the awarding of drivers' licenses or the purchase of automobiles. Think maybe his priorities are a bit misplaced?

-  I've learned that you cannot keep your doctor, you cannot keep your health insurance policy, and you will not receive a $2,500 rebate check from the Gummint every year, even though Barry promised you that you would, on camera, 43 times!  Basically, you're scheizer  (German for you-know-what) out of luck.  Surprised?

-  I've learned that Liberals really love Syrian refugees and want them to emigrate to our lovely Country.  Fine, say I.  But where, I ask, is that same milk of human kindness for the homeless military vets and those who are languishing in the waiting rooms of V.A. hospitals, (im)patiently hoping for an appointment, and dying because they just can't seem to get one?

-  I've learned that the very cheapest Halloween costume one can possibly buy is one of those 40 gallon black plastic bags. Simply cut two holes it for eyes and then pull it over your head.  Voila!  You're now a carbon-copy of a Muslim woman! 

That's all for now, kiddies.  Too much of this hard reality might rot your brain.  But sit tight.  More to come, and soon! After all, I've learned a lot, but I keep on learning!