INTERESTING: AAA has a contest, but the missed an opportunity

Thursday, June 4, 2015

https://www.facebook.com/AAAMidAtlantic?sk=app_234658916574732

*** begin quote ***

LIFE IS JOYOUS. IT’S MESSY. IT’S SURPRISING. MOSTLY, IT’S YOURS.
THROUGHOUT IT ALL, THERE’S ONE NAME YOU CAN COUNT ON, AND IT’S PRONOUNCED TRIPLE-A. SHARE YOUR AAAHH! MOMENT AND YOU COULD BE A WINNER. IT’S EASY.

Just click ‘Enter Now!’ below to get started. Upload a photo depicting your favorite AAAHH! Moment – good, bad, funny – it’s up to you! Next, add a clever caption, fill in the remaining fields, click ‘Submit’ and you could win cool prizes like free gas, theme park passes or free movie tickets!

*** end quote ***

SO I did.

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), they never gave me a chance to capture my creation.

I was going to send to my “usual suspects”.

IT would have had their logo on it.

SOOoo they missed a chance to expand their “mind share” and possibly their market share.

Dumb!

# – # – # – # – # 


INTERESTING: Don’t “roll your own will”

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

I heard a sad tale of woe.

Fellow did his “own” will with Legal Zoom.

When I was told that the son had the original will, I just KNEW there would be trouble. Most attorneys INSIST that you leave the original will in their vault for safekeeping. 

All was fine and dandy until he “corrected” it.

Note that if he had NOT had the original, he couldn’t have spoiled it. 

Now the fun begins.

It may be that the fellow that died will be declared “intestate” (i.e., no will). 

And the state law will divide his assets.

Probably not the way he planned.

AND, for sure, there will be extra costs (i.e., legal fees, court fees, insurance bond, extra lawyer, billable hours).

ALSO, if he had NOT screwed it up, his son could have been the executor and “saved” the 15% fee. Now that’s up for grabs.

Getting your will done by a good lawyer is NOT that expensive and certainly not as expensive as a mistake.

Argh!

No one to blame but the fellow who thought he knew what he was doing.

Argh! I hate when “amateurs” try and do “brain surgery”. It’s a common thing on Wall Street, but didn’t expect it of this individual. 

[Note to self: Remember this blog post.]

http://www.texaswillsandtrustslaw.com/2010/05/24/legalzoom-vs-lawyer-what-you-dont-know-can-hurt-you/

“Yes, the advice of an attorney costs more. But eighty percent of people who fill in blank forms to create legal documents do so incorrectly. Are you going to beat the odds? Are you willing to take the risk?”

# – # – # – # – # 


RANT: The “rules” are “heavily redacted in publicly available documents”

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/02/fbi-flying-surveillance-aircraft-over-us-cities-planes-traced-to-fake-companies/

HOMELAND SECURITY
FBI flying surveillance aircraft over US cities; planes traced to fake companies
Published June 02, 2015
Associated Press

*** begin quote ***

The surveillance flights comply with agency rules, an FBI spokesman said. Those rules, which are heavily redacted in publicly available documents, limit the types of equipment the agency can use, as well as the justifications and duration of the surveillance. 

Details about the flights come as the Justice Department seeks to navigate privacy concerns arising from aerial surveillance by unmanned aircrafts, or drones. President Obama has said he welcomes a debate on government surveillance, and has called for more transparency about spying in the wake of disclosures about classified programs. 

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but every American should be hoping mad about this.

No one knew about it or admitted it until Drudge broke the story about “mysterious planes”.

And why hide the FBI affiliation?

Everything else has logos on it, except for unmarked police cars which is another topic.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

# – # – # – # – # 


POLITICAL: First Amendment and Washington Metro

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/29/we-know-what-happens-when-you-criticize-muhammad-we-know-how-some-people-react-to-that/

The Volokh Conspiracy
‘[W]e know what happens when you criticize Muhammad, we know how some people react to that’

By Eugene Volokh May 29 at 9:45 AM

*** begin quote ***

U.S. News (Steven Nelson) reports:

“The mass transit authority that oversees commuter buses and trains in the nation’s capital is banning issue-oriented ads for the remainder of the year after receiving an ad proposal featuring a cartoon of Muhammad, Islam’s central figure.”

The cartoon that prompted the decision was apparently this one, a combination of an earlier cartoon by artist Bosch Fawstin with the addition of the caption “Support Free Speech,” and the American Freedom Defense Initiative logo:

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but that’s not good enough.

They were taking ads up until they got one that was a “hot grounder”.

As part of the Gooferment, they don’t get to censor speech. 

This issue was tried up in NYC and the First Amendment won.

As a pro-life pro-choice little L libertarian, I get “offended” all the time.

Politician corruption offends me, but I have to “tolerate” it.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – # 


POLITICAL: How Americans perceive “war”

Monday, June 1, 2015

http://www.unz.com/article/nazis-on-the-backlot/

Nazis on the Backlot
How Hollywood has changed our perception of war
BY PHILIP GIRALDI • MAY 26, 2015

*** begin quote ***

Memorial Day used to be a somber occasion, dedicated to reflection and remembrance of those killed in America’s wars. Today it is instead a celebration of ongoing wars, a long shopping weekend and the unofficial start of summer. Part of the problem with America’s shifting perception of the price to be paid when one goes to war is that it has been shaped by Hollywood and video games, so much so that it has become divorced from the horrible reality of what happens when countries and peoples do their best to kill each other.

*** and ***

My point is that when Americans think of war they think of something heroic and relatively painless unless you are somehow electrocuted by your PlayStation. There are no bad consequences arising from stomping on Afghans from a control center in Nevada. And if you screw up and kill a wedding party, so what? I am not advocating a salutary invasion of the United States to create an awareness of just how terrible war is, but a little more creative candor from the media, Hollywood and the political class might just help make the public think twice before it goes into that voting booth to pull the handle for Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush. Or Hillary.

*** end quote ***

“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” –Major General Smedley Butler

Gooferment needs war to keep the Crony Capitalists pouring “campaign contributions” into the politicians and bureaucrats.

I have often blamed “giving women the right to vote” for the rise of “organized crime” because they pushed Prohibition and other “Progressive” causes. I add to that they have failed to stop us from going to war so many time. 

“Yes, when we get out of here. We’re going to have to fix that. You know we control something that can get it done. Not the ballot box, but the other box. (A giant sucking sound as pure Miss Marie used that very rude idiom.) We can end war.” — character “Marie” being anti-war in CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 1 Page 262

As I’ve aged, I’d like to think I’ve gotten wiser. 

And, one topic of growth is about the wars.

I don’t understand why “We, The Sheeple” can NOT wake up and see the rows of graves and ask “Why?”

You can trace it back to brainwashing, propaganda, and Gooferment Skrules.

It’s rooted in the FED printing press money that allows the Welfare / Warfare state to spend without restraint. (One reason for the FED was so that Gooferment could spend money without having to forcibly extract it from the people.)

SO how do we roll this back and put Gooferment back in avery small cage?

Have to end the FED. Have to end Gooferment Skrules. Have to bring all the girls and boys home now.

Be more like Switzerland.

Secession is the key. Just like the USSR imploded, so to will the USA. 

Argh! Not going to happen in my lifetime.

# – # – # – # – #