ET TU, Walmart?

Hmmm.  Walmart ditches American jobs for overseas labor where employees/slaves are locked in for lousy pay and conditions.  Walmart forces small businesses OUT of business to minimize paperwork and deal with only large suppliers.  Shortcuts are taken in food that jeopardize the health of millions.  Many other yet undiscovered ways of increasing the Walmart family fortunes at the suffering of others continue, yet they immediately judge Paula Deen for a not so nice incident, yet super minor when compared to the deeds of Walmart.  Same for all the retailers who immediately cut ties while they continue to lie, cheat and steal until they themselves get caught and then proclaim innocence.  Is ANYONE watching what is happening in this once proud country???

There IS a morning after!

You win a few...You lose a few...or maybe just one

It seemed like the campaigns lasted 500 days or more. Oh, wait.....they DID!!!
I was right about one thing. I wrote that I had filled my gas tank because the local price in northeast Ohio was $3.069 per gallon. I predicted that the prices would hold until the election was over, because no one wanted to be blamed for any increase. TA DAH! While driving today, through several communities, the post-vote prices were anywhere from $3.22 up to $3.49 for the regular grade. My money says the increase isn't over. Funny, that last night's computer check showed that crude was on the way down. Explain, please? By the way, if you didn't know, you can check local prices by merely typing in gas prices and your zip code into the top address block on your screen.
What really irked me is the northeast rape. I checked prices in New Jersey and they were listed as high as $4.69 at some stations. Our current/new officials need to stem the tide on this non-consensual screwing tossed upon the storm victims. If you like getting involved, phone YOUR reps and get the ball rolling!
Honest to Godness, I just did see this while on my way home. On the tree lawn front of the local post office, was a table with a person bearing a placard that stated, "Impeach Obama." Holy Moley, Batman...talk about impatience!
I truly hope dems and reps can reach across that aisle and get this country on the road to recovery. Hey Guys/Ladies...that aisle isn't all that wide! Another stalemate as referred to last Sunday on "60 Minutes" will tell me that parties are holding party lines. If all they're going to do is a bunch of nya-nya, get the hell out of Washington and let someone in there who gives a damn! Congress and Senate members are elected to represent what the constituents need. Not what 400 plus individuals want for their own pockets. YOU WORK FOR US, SO, GET TO WORK!!!
On a "lighter" note, a convicted murderer in Ohio has been given the death penalty. He's been claiming that it would be inhumane, as he weighs 480 pounds and the gurney would collapse, causing pain. The man has been on death row for approximately 10 years. What the ---- are they feeding him?!? Meanwhile, the warden said he tested the gurney with a corrections officer who closely matched the convict and the gurney held up. What the ---- is that guard eating and why are we paying his medical?!?

Finally.....
The election is over. Tomorrow is Thursday, signifying the traditional start of weekly garage sales. Please eliminate unnecessary driving and guesswork by removing all election signs. A good way to increase revenue is to levy a $5 fin for each sign still up at 6 AM, local time on Thursday.
Thanks for voting! If you didn't vote, trust me from experience...your local bartender doesn't care to hear your gripes. If you could make it to Joe's Chug-n-Hurl, you could have made it to the voting booth. (My local is at an elementary school and the PTU Moms always have yummy cookies and fudge for sale. So, THERE!)
We now return to some new and less boring commercials..................

I hope I'm wrong, but-----

If you think there's no control over the price of gasoline...If you think big brother isn't involved in the price of gasoline...Watch what happens to the price of gasoline after the election on Tuesday.

History shows, when tragedy strikes, as in the northeast, gasoline prices shoot skyward very quickly. As yet, they haven't. Someone might say they insisted on cooperation from refiners and suppliers so that folks who lost their homes could at least cook, stay warm and get to their jobs. That's a nice thought.

I filled my tank today at the probably soon to be forgotten price of $3.079 per gallon.

By the way, it's reported that the majority of the congress will be re-elected.   As Riley would say at the end of the old teevee show, "What a revoltin' development!"

Be afraid...Be Very, VERY Afraid

Call me Ishmael, call me paranoid, but I feel it must be said...


I don't know who said this post's title. The source, for the moment, is irrelevant, but, the statement makes a ton of sense.

It matters not if you're republican, democrat, independent, left, right or whatever the buzz word of the day might be. Our nation is being molded into a "machine" that will produce enormous wealth for the very few. That they already have more than they or their ensuing progeny will be able to spend is not the point. Money and the power it brings has become the "drug of choice" for the greedy. They will step on whomever and whatever gets in the way, namely, our middle class.

Pensions have been eradicated, speculators raise gasoline prices at will, no bankers were jailed for fleecing your savings, there are no penalties for outsourcing, to name just a few.

We have been gifted with an overflow of devices that have "changed our lives forever." Social media and instant access to movies, music and the like fills our needs to be entertained. Newspapers and books are the new dinosaurs. Radio is losing local content, being replaced by the streaming of repetitious tunes ad infinitum and ad nauseum. Where there was banter about local politics and current events, there is now a robotic voice telling us the title of the song just played...as if we were too incapable of remembiering the past 2 minutes and 37 seconds. Talk shows fill our brains as would an auctioneer, thus keeping us way too occupied to sort the barrage of words and make a wise decision. These radio heads all began innocently and caring, but with endorsements, TV appearances and a carpetbagger style of road trips, they've fallen under the spell of what money can do to a person. (Thankfully, subscription radio offers an intelligent selection of airwave entertainment and enlightenment)

Electronic games, social media and a plethora of brain-sucking reality(?) TV shows, coupled with sodium and fat filled foods that are programmed to weld us to the sofa, keep us occupied while the uber-riche devour whatever might remain of our ability to protest. All these "gifts" are, in a way, a reminder of gun control in Europe's pre World War 2 days. The probable thinking is...since so many Americans own guns...if they're too fat to assemble and fight, the rest will be easy! Ergo, "The Girth of a Nation."

For those who are fit, the current game of war will keep selected economies growing.

Does anyone track the percentage of campaign promises that are fulfilled? Doesn't it bother you that people such as bernie madoff laughs in his letters how he bilked so many of you? Doesn't it bother you that he's not in a hard labor federal prison? Doesn't it bother you that the Nevada congressman, when confronted about the subsidized airline flying vacant planes, dismisses the reporter? Doesn't the arrogance of dick cheney and his new millions piss you off? (Incidentally, upper case in the names of some people is no longer deserved) Doesn't it bother you that Malia Obama took an entourage of her friends to Oaxaca, Mexico, using 2 planes and 25 secret service agents for her spring break? And, doesn't it bother you that the story was kept from the media, save for 2 foreign reports? I wrote the local newspaper, TV investigative reporter and my hopefully former congressman regarding the issue and, you guessed it, no reply.
By the way, it's not the first incident of no replies or condescending responses.

I could go on and on, but even the American attention span might be too short for this diatribe. I implore any and all to read, "The Betrayal of the American Dream." Should the thought of reading a book scare the hell out of you, at LEAST read the below noted site for an abridged portion. If the site won't open, please Google the title.

Have a nice day...........they might be numbered.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inq_BarlettSteelePart1.html

Random Acts of Thought

Today's photo of Japanese Iris comes courtesy of Paula, from Louisville, Kentucky. She said I gave them to her eons ago, but I can't remember. According to Paula, they didn't bloom for several years and she considered tossing them. They must have read her mind and decided to make her happy last week. Ya see? Good things DO happen when you put your petals to the mettle!

The Big Guy in the sky was kind enough to provide a weather break for parts of the Midwest in March. There was a 10 day span of temps in the 70-some to 80-some...can you BELIEVE?!? A bit like Florida, without the cost of getting there! People were wearing shorts---and SMILING! My back yard is approximately 15 miles in a direct line south of Lake Erie and for those who've never been here, it's normally a cold, gray time of year. Flowers popped early...so pretty! It was fun to watch the confused robins. I could just imagine their thoughts of, "I know I should be building something and filling it with something, but I don't know what or why!" Speaking of wildlife, I'm still happy with getting to see the Cadbury Bunny commercials on teevee.

Separated at birth: "Pawn Stars" Rick Harrison and Billy Joel

Who allows this?!? Did you ever read the small print at the bottom of cell phone ads on the boob tube? (How long since you heard THAT description?) "$350 penalty for early cancellation, plus other fees." Isn't that a lot like the 9000% interest on those quickie loan places? And...what about being forced into a new 2 year contract just because you upgraded your phone?

While we're still in Wuddup Widdat land, who authorized all the fees at whitepages.com?

The face you save will be your own: I don't know where it came from, but, I see tons of drivers making turns that begin with an upside-down grip on the steering wheel, that is, a left turn beginning with the right hand palm facing upward. If you have to suddenly reverse direction, you can't! Most importantly, your arm is covering the inside part of the steering wheel...SO...if your car gets hit and the air bag opens at that high rate of speed, your forearm will smash into your face and break all those pretty, little bones. However, if you'd prefer the equivalent of being sucker-punched by a bowling ball dropped from a very high bridge, so be it. For the rest of you........you're welcome!

Electioneering: Why must voters declare a party affiliation before getting a ballot? Isn't that a bit prejudiced? Why can't a republican vote for a democrat if he/she feels one is more qualified than the other?

If you haven't heard, "Silent Stella" Kowalski, from Chuckalock, Oklahoma, went home to her maker on 2-30-12. In honor of her life, radio station KPASA will air previously recorded segments of her Saturday morning broadcasts of, "Mime Your Own Business."