RANTING: Opened sold as new

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Went to WalMart to get a smaller table and cheap printer.

Had some “excitement” with the old lady, but that’s another story.

Got the printer home! It was only 40$. (Yeah, I know they screw you on the ink.)

And, the printer doesn’t work.

It’s been used and repackaged.

I knew it when I opened the box. The plastic around it was not like a factory seal.

The contents aren’t right. Stuff is missing. And the cartridges are either gone or in the machine.

I’m pissed that this is another example of a return sold as new. I didn’t think WalMart did that. I know Officemax, Staples, and Office Depot do.

And it had a very complicated anti-theft device around it. So that means the Store has to have done it!

Back it goes today.

Very disappointing WalMart. I thought you were above that. At least Best Buy has an open box sale area and you know it’s not brand spanking new.

Argh!

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RANT: Doesn’t anyone remember 06 June?

Sunday, June 6, 2010

A lot of good men died today in 1944. Sadly, the day will pass unnoticed by most.

A special place in hell for all politicians.

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Some did:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37351

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RANT: Social Security is a fraudulent theft by the Gooferment

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

http://reason.com/blog/2010/06/01/how-high-canshouldwill-retirem

How High Can/Should/Will Retirement Age[*] Go?

Nick Gillespie | June 1, 2010

*** begin quote ***

[*] For the purposes of Social Security; retirement ages in the private sector should be decided by the individual affected or the company paying same.

Last week, French folks took to the streets when the government threatened to raise the age at which vous could collect public retirement benefits…from 60 years to possibly 61 or even 62! Zut!

*** and ***

There is something truly perverse about any system that takes from the young and relatively poor and gives to the old and relatively rich, which is what Social Security and Medicare do. Indeed, the system is not just economically inefficient but morally bankrupt. It reverses centuries of tradition in which children inherit from their parents. Adding to the insult is that Social Security benefits do not pass on to the next generation, meaning that all that payroll tax money is belong to us (with us being the government). I’m no fan of mandatory savings accounts in the place of payroll taxes but even something like that, which would give all workers something like a 401(k) account that could be passed on, would be far preferable to the current system.

*** end quote ***

It’s even worse than that. “Social Security Insurance”, which I have mistakenly called a Ponzi scheme (i.e., in a Ponzi, the chooses to play; with SSI, there are the guns of gooferment to rob you), actually transfers from poor minority men to rich white women. Due to the disparate death rates!

I can’t think of a single redeeming value for SSI.

* It single-handedly destroyed the extended family by enabling grandparents to move away “to Florida” with the SSI income.

* It set up intergenerational theft.

* When it was set up, FDR knew it couldn’t be stopped. (It will stop with the bankruptcy of the nation.)

* It made being on the dole acceptable.

* It set a “retirement age” that locked into people’s thinking. With one size fits all thinking!

* It was supposed to be a tax free benefit, but the perfidious Congress made it taxable

* It was supposed to be a retirement, but it became “supplement”.

* COLA is given by the gooferment; not reality.

Argh!

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RANT: Tipper and Al

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2010/06/gore-and-tipper-to-separate.html

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Gore and Tipper to Separate
From the Associated Press:

*** begin quote ***

“NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage.

*** end quote ***

Regardless of how much I think Gore and Global Warming are frauds, I am saddened when any long term marriage breaks up. I think it’s venial and self-destructive to revel in the failure. There but for … go you or I. Sorry, but I take no pleasure in their misfortune. And, I urge us to more prinicpled opposition.

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RANT: Thinking about Memorial Day

Monday, May 31, 2010

When I think about Memorial Day, I think of all the VietNam era vets. The Draftees, the “Volunteers” (who sought to pick as opposed to the draft), and the Escapees. Escapees sort into two categories. Those that went “underground” and those that fled to (mostly) Canada.

My best friend in High School went underground when I volunteered. Naturally, we lost contact. He had to hide and I couldn’t afford to be seen with him. He died in an auto accident and I didn’t find out about it until years later.

And, all I can as is “why”.

The politicians and bureaucrats should burn in Hell for a long time for what they did to this country.

Hence, as a little L libertarian, I’d adopt George Washington’s foreign policy and Ron Paul’s tactic for bring the boys and girls home (i.e., jump on the first thing smoking heading home). And, to ensure it never changes, I’d take Heinlein’s idea to make it so only vets can vote and you’d have to be a vet to run for any elective office. Then, we’d have peace.

Donna Nobis Pacem!

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RANT: A rebuke of Pelosi on Facebook

Monday, May 31, 2010

Read a rebuke of Pelosi on Facebook. Amazing the gall of that woman, Pelosi. CINO. I’m no saint by any measure. But, at least I try to listen to the teachings. The Catholic Church has done a very bad job of managing it’s brand. CINO politicians claim the brand so they can be elected but don’t adhere to the beliefs. And, even worse, give scandal. I thought that was an absolute no no. And, yet they fail to rebuke them. Could it be the pedophilia scandal has neutered them? Perhaps this battle is left to the laity to fight. Sigh, above my pay grade. The abuse scandal still dogs the Church.

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RANT: Can we silently revolt?

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The oligarchy runs the country for their own benefit. That hasn’t changed since forever. The “democracy” is all theater. At least since Lincoln, maybe just after Andrew Jackson. Clearly FDR, by the removal of the nation from the gold standard, set up the unlimited expansion of the gooferment. Wilson’s creation of the FED set up FDR.

Argh!

How do we unwind this? Can we silently revolt? Participation in the elections is just a sham. I don’t know how we can derail this. If no one votes, what happens? Can we just ignore them? I don’t think so. Preserve wealth by buying gold and gold equivalents. They can inflate the currency, but we don’t get hurt if we’re not holding dollars.

Thinking about Robinson Crusoe’s island, with coconuts and fish, and a banker. If the banker inflates the currency, how do Tom and Dick protect themselves? The price of goods and services must go up the amount of inflation. If money is being inflated, then Tom and Dick must avoid holding money. Clearly, they can exchange directly. How do we extrapolate this to the island called America? You must escape the fiat currencies. Buy things that will hold their value. Real Estate. Gold. Commodities.

But what does the little guy do? Emulate the Mormons and the Amish. Put up a year’s supply of food. Pay off any bad debt. Buy gold. Or at least silver. Get small. Get light. Remember the 7 points of success. Develop streams of income. Perhaps that crazy real estate guy who wanted everyone to have 12 single family homes as rental properties. That’s his idea to create a pension of sorts. By the use of leverage, the renters pay off the mortgages. At the end of thirty years, the properties are yours and the rentals become your income stream. Unfortunately, that’s an impossible dream. Let’s assume that houses are 200k each. 12 = 2.4 million. You have to start with one. 20% down = 40k$. Say 10k$ for start up expenses. 5% 30 fixed mortgage = 1400 $/month. It just doesn’t work. 2.4M$ @ 5% = 120k$ per year. With no work and no risk. But, with 30k$ per house, 12 houses, 360k$ starts the chain. So you could boot yourself into it. You need a real sharp pencil and something that works to deliver. It’s possible.

Argh!

What do you do? You need that white collar job to generate the money necessary to get started.

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RANT: No work for fat old white guys. Even if they are not fat

Saturday, May 29, 2010

XXXXX told me an interesting story about his law practice. He gets most of his business from referrals. YYYYY is still out of work. Guess another not so fat old white guy is screwed.

Sad.

And, as an employment trend, it portends more problems for the country later on. If you can’t find work after say 50, 55, or 60, then we’re screwed as a country. During your working life, say from 20 to 50, you have to put away enough to carry you from 50 to 65. Where one assumes that “social security” and “pensions” will begin.

Argh! Bad assumption.

Let’s reuse that math principle I quote a lot (2.4M$ @ 5% = 120k$ per year) and apply it to our situation. In the 30 years in 20 to 50, you must save 2.4M$. Or, 80k$ per year!

Can’t be done. It not solvable. So what does one do?

I don’t know.

If someone had shown me this when I was younger, I don’t know what I would have said. Even now I’m speechless.

Go to work for the gooferment! You can’t be fired and you get a gold plated pension!

Argh!

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RANT: Libertarians are misunderstood

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/05/about-that-progressive-agenda.html

Saturday, May 22, 2010

*** begin quote ***

*** end quote ***
>Libertarians are supposedly anti the Democrats and the Republicans

“Anti” is such a strong word. As a little L libertarian, I bear them no ill will. Unfortunately, they keep trying to impose their will, their vision of Plato’s “the good”, on all the rest of us by force. When they do, we’re a little more forceful than the Amish voicing our displeasure.

>they say a pox on the Ds and Rs.

I’d never wish ill on anyone. Like the Buddhist, we know that ill will comes back to haunt you. THe D’s and R’s are like children, who JUST don’t understand that bad things result form their initiation of force on other human beings. So us little L libertarians have to just patiently just have to keep explaining it. Over and over. Eventually they will get it. It’s human destiny to be free. Tyrants and dictators can’t bottle up the human spirit to be free.

>But their libertarian heroes are Ayn Rand Paul and Ron Paul, GOPers.

Us little L libertarians have very few “heroes”. Lysander Spooner, Thomas Paine, Gandhi, MLK, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and such come to mine. But no one is perfect.

>When it comes down to crunch time, libertarians (the 2 Pauls) choose to associate themselves with the evil Gopers.

In the rigged game that is the American political system, it’s impossible to mount an effective challenge. The two parties conspire to keep it just that way. Think a game of old maid where only two players can play because they set the entry rules impossibly high. When Ross Perot, who was in just to take votes from Bush, came surprisingly close, the duopoly quickly revise all sorts of rules to make it harder. SO you have to worm your way in and like a vampire or parasite, take one over. For example, Libertarian members of the Free State Project are infiltrating the D’s and running.

>Isn’t that precious.

It’s expediency!

>Libertarians are supposedly for freedom

Not supposedly. We forsake the initiation of force. That’s the platinum standard. Libertarians come in a vast number of flavors, but all adhere to that Zero Aggression Principle.

>they always end up being against unions and for the giant corporations

Sigh! Most libertarians have absolutely no problem with unions except in two cases: (1) they initiate force against others; or (2) if they are gooferment captives (e.g., the Post Office workers union; the teachers’ union). When the unions use force to prevent “scabs” from working, that’s immoral. When the teachers’ union, for example, exerts political power or uses children as hostages, that’s immoral.

>like BP, which killed 11 workers and Massey Energy which killed 29 miners.

In the examples cited, where was OSHA? Where was the Gooferment law enforcement? If the workers of BP took out an ad saying “don’t buy BP they endanger workers”, then who would buy from them? If they are so dangerous, why are people working there? Does BP chain their legs like a slave ship? No only the gooferment can do that; like in the military.

>In libertarian world, unions are evil blood suckers and >workers are a nuisance to be barely tolerated.

No, if you ever saw a libertarian world, then you’d see no need for unions. People could vote where they would work by the feet. Bad conditions or low wages, I’m outa here. No, the gooferment conspires with big biz and big labor to lock people in. With pensions and “benefits” and laws that supposedly protect them from bad treatment. Argh! Business doesn’t necessarily equate to a “limited liability corporation. That LLC is a gooferment creation to protect the monied interests.

>Those damn unions want good wages, good benefits, safe work >conditions and a voice in their employment conditions.

Please don’t make me laff and insult everyone’s iq. The unions have long since stopped representing the workers and are all about “the union”. Dues and handouts from the gooferment. Workers have to vote the right way. It’s not about good anything.

>serfs who lose their first amendment rights

“First amendment” ONLY applies to restrict the gooferment.

>Libertarians always end up being for the rich and powerful

NAH, WHERE DID YOU EVER GET THAT IDEA.

>private property more than they value human rights.

“Private property” is the essential human right. Your property is your past. It’s the sum of your past efforts. What gives you, any collection of “yous”, or the gooferment to steal it?

I’d suggest that you watch a little video about Liberty at https://youtu.be/muHg86Mys7I?si=ts0EsFVSkUFICnnv and tell us what you think. Essentially it says “we all own ourselves” and everything flows from that. It’s pretty good. And simple enough for even a D or an R to understand.

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RANT: Another sleepless night

Saturday, May 22, 2010

I hear a bird chirping outside my window.

I look up from the one eyed monster bright with pitcures and words.

I see the curtain lightening up.

And realize that I have spend another night — sleepless!

Argh!

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