World Peace

 For as long as I can remember, debates have been spinning around how to achieve and maintain something universally elusive: world peace.

 

Before we can further plod into attaining world peace, we need to define it – and that is as difficult to distinguish as it is identify.

 

Rather than characterizing “peace,” let’s do some inverse analysis.  War is different from conflict, conflict is different from unrest, and unrest is different from disorder.  So, what exactly is peace?

 

According to reference.com, “There are 10 official wars and 8 active military conflicts recognized by the United States, right now.  There are also violent conflicts involving 64 countries and 576 militias and separatist groups.”

 

That’s a lot of anger that is generating plenty of death and mayhem.  But is an absence of fighting, “peace?”

 

Some further examination suggests “no.”  Today’s current political climate in the United States finds us in a daily situation in which people quickly take sides on not only simple debate, but legislative matters, civil behavior, and even the number of sexes in nature.

 

As a product of the Baby Boomer generation, I can speak with authority that our country was just coming off several brutal years of World War I and World War II, when the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War ensued.

 

Americans were tired of fighting, while Gold Star parents were on the rise.  Newly minted high school and college teachers and professors – many of whom were the yield of anti-war liberals – began teaching our next generation about the “imperialistic” manifestations of colonial America and its allies.

 

Such self-destructive notions began creating a sort of “parallel society” with the demise of prayer in schools, the rise of “the me” culture, and the ultimate replacement for everyone’s attention: global cooling.

 

As is evident, global cooling was debunked, only to be replaced by global warming.  That, too, morphed into a more nebulous religion-substitute: climate change after following the science failed to prove their swill.

 

Almost immediately, the lost souls in need of a cause began finding answers for anything and everything in the weather.  Please read that last sentence again.

 

Flooding caused by altered weather patterns, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, tidal waves, even earthquakes, became the alleged results of man and civilization, all of which without question or debate became the new religion promoted by Leftists and weak-minded school children along with compliant teachers and parents.

 

Simple inclement weather – such as snowstorms – became news items warning of dire times in the very near future caused by human disregard and mistreatment of our sacred planet, while regular spans of hot, summer temps are touted as the product of bad human stewardship.

 

Effortless thinking by reporters and newly minted scientists and uncredentialed, self-proclaimed environmental experts, was splashed across social media as gospel to be used in furthering the narrative about our dying planet, no debate necessary.

 

In fact, if anyone brought up a climate-related item for debate, discussion not acknowledging permanent destruction of Earth is viewed as lies and fake news, and therefore censored.  There’s no room for honest dialog.  Amen.

 

All this makes for a good smoke and mirror show, but it has no substance; even more disturbing, it has no end so, we will NEVER reach an end to the manufactured hoopla and regulations – not unlike the pandemic hype still circulating.

 

In an effort to “go along to get along,” many people simply ignore the eco-terror, or remain silent upon being confronted with “official” dire warnings and threats of imminent extinction.

 

This is about the time you’re asking yourself, “How does this pertain to world peace?”

 

Please read on.

 

To keep the pressure and fear fresh, Democratic operatives – now firmly entrenched in the Biden Administration along with schools – regularly publicly pontificate, pretending to be experts in any subject about which they are speaking.

 

Recently, the familiar goose-stepping lackeys composed of Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sandy Ocasio-Cortez plus the rest of The Squad, and John Kerry, have been making the rounds encouraging all Americans to buy and use renewable energy products.

 

Those renewable energy products include solar panels and windmills, both of which are as unreliable as the weather, on which they rely to produce electricity.

 

Enter the Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, to set the record straight.  Granholm is a lawyer who made a name for herself as a Michigan Attorney General, eventually finding her way into the Michigan Guvnor’s office.

 

She appears to have a demonstrated knack for regularly choosing the wrong solution for the wrong problem in Michigan schools and treasury.  And as Energy Secretary, she is continuing her questionable track record.

 

Not necessarily anyone’s idea of a gold standard, Granholm’s effort to, once again, solve a problem is missing the mark.

 

Since her occupation of the Department of Energy, Granholm has witnessed Americans suffering nose-bleed fuel prices, doubling in most cases, while she literally laughs at questions on her efforts to get them under control.

 

Appearing on a Sunday news talk show on August 21^st, Granholm proudly offered her best solution for people – the average American who cannot afford current gas prices or much of anything else in this inflation-affected economy – simply buy solar panels.  ‘Nuff said.

 

While discussing the much-applauded $437,000,000,000 climate change bill, just signed by her boss Joseph Robinette Biden, Granholm averred Americans needing financial relief should merely buy $20,000 worth of solar panels in order to save a lofty 30% woven into the aforementioned bill.  What apartment dwellers should do was left unanswered.

 

Using words such as “significant incentive” and “reducing costs for people,” Granholm has clearly proven she is out-of-touch with Americans and America, itself.

 

But it was Friday, August 19^th, on a Voice of America News show, that Granholm confirmed her status as a non-Mensa member.  It was during this interview when she blurted out possibly her best deep reasoning, ever.

 

She proudly stated “No one ever weaponized access to the sun.  No one ever weaponized the wind.”

 

There you have it.  Continued use of any fuel source except renewable energy will preclude the world from achieving the so-elusive world peace.

 

With America’s ardent, painful exercise to punish its citizens for using fossil fuels, Jennifer Granholm sees nothing but good times and prosperity and world peace.

 

Let’s hope she finds a new job for which she may be qualified: scraping gum off sidewalks. Sooner rather than later would be beneficial to all Americans.

Thinking Cap Time

 It’s time for another quiz.  So, put on your thinking caps and let’s see how life-savvy you really are.

 

Q:  What do tea leaves, a Magic 8-Ball, Nostradamus, countless pundits, and beach sand have in common?

 

A genuine Magic 8-Ball

If you’re not totally stoned, you are likely trying to connect the dots between the above five items rather than searching for munchies.  Here’s a clue before you answer.

 

Tea leaf reading, also called tasseography, is a fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves.  Evidently there is a whole science involving turning the teacup upside-down, right-side up, twisting it, positioning the handle, and other such gyrations, to see the future.

 

A Magic 8-Ball is a true asset to fortune-telling that involves shaking a sizeable black plastic billiards-like ball.  Inside is a secret liquid in which floats a die-type of polygon with varying inscriptions.  Those writings are answers to questions posed by the shaker.

 

Nostradamus was a seer who lived from 1503-1566, in France, allegedly predicting future events, published in his book Les Prophéties.  He supposedly predicted many future events including the assassination of President John Kennedy, World War II, and the 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

 

I added “countless pundits” because it seems as though anyone with a computer, microphone, or Smartphone, is now considered an “expert” in any- and everything.  Of course, some analytical skills and research ability helps with accuracy, but they pontificate, nonetheless.

 

Just as the nuns in elementary school used to throw us curve balls in tests, this is one of those.  Certainly, real students of current events should have figured this out, with aplomb.

 

Beach sand is the sand that can be found at beach, hence the name, plain and simple.

 

A:  All these are predictors of the future.

 

While some attempts at seeing the future are more accurate than others, they all have their place in explaining away upcoming events.

 

Concentrating on the beach sand clue, President Joseph Robinette Biden has taken more trips to Delaware beaches than a person can imagine.

 

Spending time at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and his home in Wilmington, Delaware, he has taken roughly fifty-trips to those sandy beaches since taking office.

 

That would not necessarily be big news, but also since taking office his feeble-minded policies have driven fuel prices through the roof, added $500 to the average monthly household budget, tanked most people’s retirement accounts, created a sustained invasion on our Southern border, and spent more money than a drunken sailor (my apology to drunken sailors.)

 

In any case, those same reporters desperate for dirt on former President Donald Trump – who regularly hammered him for his regular golf outings – cannot seem to find the time or ink to demand answers for Biden’s habitual absences.

 

But getting back to the beach sand, perhaps Biden is searching the beaches for answers to those pesky problems and questions.  In all honesty, I’ve spent seemingly countless hours at one beach or another, and never discovered an answer or solution to anything – including fishing.

 

Maybe Hapless Joe thinks otherwise.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that someone with at least half-a-brain is scratching messages on the Delaware beaches in hopes our current president can find some answers to these self-induced problems.

Value of Money

 Sixty-three years ago, or so, I was introduced to money.

 

I was a young lad who made regular trips to the corner grocery store, picked up strangers’ trash on our sidewalk, and feebly attempted minor housework, for pay.  My pay was meager, at best, and usually amounted to pennies, but rarely anything silver.

 

Keeping the change from bread runs – bread was 5¢ a loaf, and I was given a dime for the purchase – helped me earn money.

 

Money back then was, well, different.  We bought popsicles for 4¢, comic books for a dime, baseball or football card packs for a nickel, and newspapers were a whopping 3¢.

 

Of course, salaries were much more modest then, too.  The federal minimum wage was a mere $1 per hour.  In perspective, society was doing pretty well.

 

But back then, people bought what they could afford, rarely overextending themselves for anything except a house, all else was bought COD – cash on delivery.

 

My early earned money was all in the form of coins, and fortunately I was a fairly clumsy kid usually returning home with minor wounds from playground falls, bicycle scrapes, along with briar patch punctures. 

 

One of my early bank vaults

All those maladies were quickly cured with a Band-Aid and a kiss from my Mother. Eventually the Band-Aid box was empty, at which time I received the coveted Band-Aid box trophy.  Those boxes back then were made from metal and had a hinged lid, and I loved them.

 

This ersatz safe/bank vault served me well until that magical day when my pennies, nickels, dimes, and a quarter added up to one dollar.  That was my first earned dollar which I remember to this day.  And I couldn’t spend it fast enough.

 

My Grandmother made a quarterly pilgrimage to a downtown store named Woolworth.  Woolworth was what was known as a “variety” or “five and dime” store.  It was a precursor to Target.  This next trip was special because I went with my Grandmother on the bus to Woolworth’s.

 

Once there I quickly spent my dollar on a package of small plastic toy boats that cost about $1.  Those boats sailed in both the kitchen and bathroom sinks for months, creating fond memories until this day. 

 

But my big lesson was money is hard to make and easy to spend.

 

Working on my second dollar was an excellent autodidactic exercise in finance.

 

Throughout life I’ve met people who have no idea how much a dollar really is worth.  Back then, when minimum wage was $1, one needed to work ten hours to earn ten dollars. I’m not going to get into the weeds on taxes and other deductions, now.

 

One million dollars is one thousand dollars a thousand times.  A billion dollars is a thousand million.  A trillion dollars is a thousand billion.  And that’s a lot.

 

Unless you’re Plugs Biden, President of the United States, that is. Biden is not only a liar he is out of touch, incompetent, and generally hapless.

 

This man has no clue how much a dollar is worth, and he proved that once again.

 

He spent $1,900,000,000,000 in a COVID-relief package earlier this year and is now spending another $7,000,000,000 to alter the weather through some inane climate change legislature.

 

The good news is that Biden promised that any tax increases would not affect families making less than $400,000 pre year.

 

The bad news is that Biden lied again.  Inside this catastrophic bill is a budget for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hire 87,000 new personnel for the purpose of “taxing the rich.”  Who are the rich?  Apparently, anyone with a pulse.

 

Wearing that normal stupid grin, Biden proudly announced this unbelievably irresponsible next step to bankrupting America.  With promises of this fiscal nightmare actually benefitting our future, one financial expert after another has declared this Democrat Inflation Reduction Act punitive for all Americans.

 

Clearly entering a recession in August 2022, the Biden Administration has denied our financial position by redefining the word “recession.”  Changing the name of a “turd” doesn’t make it smell less.

 

In any case, those voters who couldn’t wait for President Trump to vacate the Oval Office are now ruing the new occupant after roughly twenty-months.

 

To solve this money issue is pretty simple, actually.  Just stop spending money.  Period.

 

And to actually reduce inflation, Biden and his Congressional thieves need only fill 2,600,000,000,000 Band Aid boxes before stealing another penny from U.S. citizens.

Trombones for Everyone

 Picture this: I was sitting at home, minding my own business, when there was a knock on my door.  I attribute this to the fact my doorbell doesn’t work, but I digress.

 

Smokey the Cat beat me to the door in anticipation it was somebody visiting him; it wasn’t.  Rather it was a neighborhood kid, Victoria, selling candy bars for charity.  For the record, I don’t particularly care for Victoria, her snobby mother, or her crazy father; she should consider herself lucky I even answered the door.

 

These confections were milk chocolate adorned with pecans, foil wrapped, and covered in a paper outer-wrap proudly announcing the charity for which they were being sold.  All this for only $3 per bar.  A bit pricey, but it was for school-related charity.

 

I decided to buy two, against my better judgment, lest those wrappers contain phone numbers for endocrinologists who tend to diabetes.  But I digress, again.

 

It seems as though these little miscreants also sell other stuff throughout the year, too.  I’ve had kids try to sell me Christmas cards, grilling accessories, and wrapping paper.  I would think these kids should be home doing homework, hence the name.  But no.

 

After handing over my six bucks, Victoria pranced off to gouge another neighbor, and I began to think about the guvment’s current plan to repay college loans for America’s deadbeats.

 

Now, all this merchandise seems to be fine if you’re a cloistered nun, but not if you are able to roam from store-to-store.  All that stuff these charities are selling can be acquired elsewhere, less expensively.

 

And the intended charities include the school band, athletics, plus educational trips.  While this appears noble on the surface, a closer examination is warranted.

 

I recall something some little thing called “taxes” that I, and nearly everyone else pays annually, that are earmarked for schools and their associated activities.

 

“But they need more materials for the children in the schools to help the kids become more well-rounded,” you’re probably now shouting at your computer or phone screen.

 

Sure, but I have no kids. 

 

I wound up chatting with my neighbor who has two school-age kids, in an effort to elicit information about this apparent grift.

 

He explained that his kids wanted to play an instrument in the school band, but neither had any musical experience or instruments.  In order to play, it was easier and less costly for them to get them from the schools.  Unfortunately, because of nation-wide budget cuts, frivolous expenditures such as musical instruments weren’t in the budget.  Alas.

 

The same held true for the football team, basketball, baseball, and swimming teams, as well as educational school trips to museums.

 

While all this sounded palatable, it was still more money going from my pocket to someone else’s.  What could possibly be the benefit for me, and the countless other community members being urged to buy school supplies for strangers?

 

My neighbor went on to offer, “Playing a musical instrument helps with children’s mathematics skills, participating in sports may encourage better health for longevity, and school trips may promote curiosity for life-long education efforts.”

 

Nice, I thought.  But was it actually helping me, directly?

 

Let’s assume my neighbor kid, who I’ll call “Bobby,” because his name is Bobby.

 

Bobby wants to play in the high school band with his buddies.  The music teacher tells Bobby the band needs a trombonist, and then gives him a trombone which was partially purchased with my $6 candy purchase.

 

Very similar to Bobby's trombone

Bobby gets lessons, sheet music, a music stand, plus a trombone.  Eventually, Bobby learns how to read music, keep a tempo, and understand music theory, all at the expense of every candy buyer rather than Bobby’s parents.

 

I’d be okay with this scheme to encourage the populace to pay more in lieu of higher taxes, if I could get a tangible benefit.

 

Somewhere down the road, let’s assume Bobby becomes a concert trombonist, eventually making a name for himself and being “discovered” by the band Chicago Transit Authority.

 

Bobby gets hired by Chicago, and between concert money, album royalties, and endorsements for trombone manufacturers, he rakes in about $65,000 per year, according to Wikipedia.

 

If Bobby remembered where I live when he makes “it big” – or fill in your own scenario with professional football player, politician, movie or television actor, policeman, or even auto mechanic – all of whom likely made their livings off the backs of candy bar purchasers, should stop by my house again.

 

This time, rather than giving me a receipt for six bucks I should be given a free ticket for a concert, football game, movie pass, or a blind eye (in the case of a cop claiming I’m exceeding the speed limit.)

 

In many towns, that is called “community.”  Community is rare today, even in small towns across America.

 

Here’s a freebie from me: if you’re not going to repay your debt, please don’t expect me to do it for you.  But if you do, I say, “Trombones for everyone!”

Déjà Vu, But Worse

 This morning was very different from most of my mornings, and I wanted to share my epiphany with everyone.

 

While checking the weather on my phone I nearly fell over when I saw that Hell had finally frozen over.  Yep, you read that right.

 

After double checking, I broke out my computer and began typing.  And here are the results:

 

In 1976, James Earl Carter was elected to the office of President of the United States.  He was a modest man, but also a dim man, although he was a nuclear engineer for the United States Navy.

 

Number two and number one, respectively

If you’re not old enough to recall his four-years in office – he ran for re-election but was denied in favor of Ronald Wilson Reagan – Carter’s term was dismal, perhaps even dreadful.

 

He proved that just because someone is smart in one admired field, they are not necessarily smart in every field.

 

Commander-in-Chief Carter entered office with his eyes on energy by creating the Department of Energy.  He also showed his liberal mettle by pardoning all Vietnam War draft dodgers on his second day in office, in line with other America-haters.

 

Carter knew little about the economy and ignored all help to straighten his train wreck of an economy out.  To prove his economic ignorance, Carter, in 1977, stated our ‘energy crisis’ was the “moral equivalent of war.”

 

To punish fossil fuel users – which was everyone in the country – he imposed a series of measures meant to stifle Americans’ energy use, including imposing a tax, restricting interstate sales of gasoline, gas rationing, and ordering citizens not to hang Christmas lights.

 

Gas prices rose from roughly 35¢ per gallon to over $1.10 per gallon.  Government buildings were forced to cut off hot water in an effort to save energy, and homeowners were ordered to alter thermostats to further reduce our reliance on foreign energy.  Sound familiar?

 

People ceased driving, consumer prices skyrocketed, gasoline lines formed, shoppers stopped buying, and a malaise across the nation set in.

 

Unapologetic, Carter’s hubris kept him falsely proud during such desperate times, almost encouraging voters to select Ronald Reagan as our 40^th President, in 1980, in search of hope for the future.

 

It took four decades for the Democrat Party to find a suitable replacement for the man known as “The Worst President in America’s History.”  And they found him in Joseph Robinette Biden.

 

Closely paralleling Carter’s bleak playbook, Biden has proved to be equally hapless with similar boneheaded policies: eliminating fossil fuels, taxing Americans into buying electric cars, catering to foreign leaders, rubbing citizen’s noses in personal success, and discouraging American greatness, all in the name of the climate.

 

Tone-deaf to the pleas and cries of the disadvantaged, both Carter and Biden smugly ignored any possibility of helping their taxpayers make ends meet, all in the name of foreign compliance.

 

But to be fair, it should be mentioned that after setting the United States on the path to ruination because of his simple-minded understanding of the mechanics of society and government, Carter, after leaving office, went back to his family farm.

 

Biden, on the other hand, has no experience in the real world.  He never held a job other than sucking on the guvment teat, since he entered public service in 1973; he has nowhere to go after the presidency.

 

Not needing to contend with the financial costs of transportation, housing, postage, meals, health care, hiring, making payroll, or the cost-of-living, in general, Biden hasn’t a clue how Americans are suffering under his arrogant regime.

 

Eating chocolate chocolate ice cream cones in front of television cameras, while wearing a stupid grin, only add insult to injury as those reasonable gasoline prices hover in the $5 range, lunchmeats are in the lofty $10/pound arena, and the average family now needs an additional $500 per month just to break even.

 

Zombie-like Biden has been shuffling about the world in a clearly incomprehensible display of weakness, begging and pleading with questionable foreign leaders to placate climate change hysterics, as well as redefining the word “recession.”

 

It’s time to stop the lies and begin pointing America back on the track to prosperity, unity, and sanity.  We know how Carter’s miserable term ended; let’s hand Biden and Harris the same fate.

 

And that’s déjà vu.