Bah Humbug Blahs

Posted on 23/12/2008 by Grumpa Joe
Winter Bear

Winter Bear

As good as I felt last Sunday after our Lion Club food basket distribution, I am in a Bah Hum Bug mood today. It’s two days before Christmas, and I have the blahs. Maybe its light affective disorder, or something like that. It has to be a hormone gone wild to make a person feel so down. I can’t explain it. It couldn’t be that for the last twelve months I’ve been brainwashed by the messiah speaking about failed economic policies, and  another preacher damning America, or that the entire banking system came tumbling down by some social engineering. The weather isn’t helping me out either. It’s way too cold, it’s snowing and blowing. My joints all ache, and my muscles long for a walk, but I’m too lazy to go out .  Maybe I feel blue because I just wrote to my Senator telling him not to give himself a raise, and I expect him to give me the finger instead. Watching my 401K vanish  hasn’t added any light into my life either.

For many years, people referred to me as Scrooge. I created that personae in order to survive my job. We always had ‘performance appraisals’ right before Christmas. Often,  the news I gave my staff was not what they wanted to hear, therefore, the “Scrooge,” moniker. A negativity overtook me like the devil. I became negative the year around. Then one day, I heard a motivational speaker, and he changed my life. His name is Bernie,  he’s a medical doctor, and he changed my life with his speech. I learned that “positive” works much more effectively than “negative.”

It took me several years to break out of the negativity habit, but I did it. I  became a positive person. That is why these blahs are affecting me so. My mind wants to revert to negative, yet I know its the wrong way to go.  I see myself  being tempted by Darth Vader.  I hear him calling me to the “dark side.”

Several times today, I had to stop what I was doing to  find a positive moment to reflect upon. It has kept me going. I have to make alist of everything positive happening in my life today. It will help me bury the blahs.

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Redistributing the Wealth

Posted on 27/10/2008 by Grumpa Joe
My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

Here is my idea of “redistributing the wealth.” Last Sunday, Peggy and I began the day by meeting some friends at the Country Club. We boarded a bus ($30.00 per) and were driven to Chicago. We were early, so the driver gave us a tour of the city. At 1:30, we arrived at the Cadillac theater for the show “Dirty Dancing” ($95.00 per in the Dress Circle). The show was fantastic. I have never seen a better set design than this one. The dancers were phenominal, as was the music. I rate this production five stars.

The driver must have had a promise from his wife, because we made it back to the Country Club in forty five minutes.  We disembarked in good condition($5.00 tip for the driver). Afterward, the group convened in the Club dining room for pasta night. ($40.00 per with drinks). Now I ask you this, would Barack be able to redistribute the wealth as well? Would he have picked as good a show to see? Would the bus be as good? Would the driver take you on an impromptu tour? Would he pick a nice place to eat? Would he pick great people to redistribute too? Just how will he redistribute your dollars?

 I don’t have a single common interest with Barack Obama, how could he possibly know how to redistribute my limited dollars? It just makes sense to control your own dollars. Barack Obama wants to own your wealth and spend it as he sees fit. He may not even spend it on you.

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Conflicted Soul

Posted on 27/10/2008 by Grumpa Joe

I finally broke down and began reading BO’s life story “Dreams From My Father.” The one thing that becomes very clear to me is that this man has had a very troubled early life. The fact that his mother is white and his father black screwed him up big time. He was raised white, but his soul was black. He wanted to be black.  His mother would have done him a big favor by following the father back to Kenya. His writings are filled with inner turmoil caused by his own belief that he was being rejected by whites. He saw the color attitude throught the eyes of his black classmates. He didn’t see the race difference because his mother and grandparents were white and sheltered him. When he finally learned of his grandmother’s concern about being stalked by a black man he was stunned at her reaction.

BO sought out people throughout his high school years that made him feel normal. Among them a black poet who was a freind of his grandfather’s. The poet, whose name was Frank, was a communist. Throughout high school and his early college days, BO leaned heavily toward the racist poetry of Malcolm X and Marxist teachings.

No doubt, some of this turmoil was brought on by his upbringing in Indonesia. His mother’s second husband  brought them to this country when it was in the aftermath of the overthrow of dictator Sukarno. He witnessed lots of unpleasant things, lots of poverty, lots of turmoil between his mother and her husband. Throughout his life, his black father kept in touch with him and constantly fed him a line about his black heritage and family in Kenya.

BO’s thinking was definitely shaped by inner struggles between his white and black self. His early goal to become an organizer after college pointed at his need to “change” things from the bottom up: it’s his message today.

The man carries a package of guilt about his race. He is clearly a racist, his father was also a racist. His affiliations with Jerimiah Wright, Louis Farakhan, Frank the poet, Ayres, are all the result of this guilt. It is my opinion that he is where he is today because he feels superior to the white race, and would like to punish whites in order to relieve his inner turmoil.  

Is this the kind of conflicted soul we want to lead us?

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Capital Gains What?

Posted on 21/10/2008 by Grumpa Joe
My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

The rhetoric in this campaign could only be written by lawyers. We need to listen and understand every word, then read between the lines. I keep hearing that BO wants to limit his taxation to the “very rich.” He openly says there are many companies who are so rich they can afford to give some up for those at the bottom. I got to thinking about his words, and the concepts begin to sink in.

The folks who support BO and who have jobs seem to agree that their employers use them to make their fortunes. These workers have a mentality that somehow, their employer would not be rich if it were not for the sweat of their labor. They revel in the concept of taking it back from the rich. These people resent everything and everyone who has a nickle more than them. What they don’t understand is that the employer pays them a fair market wage for the the fruits of their effort. They also don’t realize that when they go home, the employer is still working to make things happen. Business is a 24/7 operation, and the owners take on a huge responsibility to make it a success.

How does the capital gains tax affect me and you? I fall into the “ninety five percent, or the middle class,” who are supposed to get a tax break in the BO program. I will get that tax break at the expense of a capital gains tax on the wealthiest of companies.  I don’t work anymore, and I live off my 401K, and Social Security. It took my deceased wife and me over forty two years to accumulate the nest egg. We gave up luxuries, spent judiciously, and saved. We invested in the market, and bought into many different companies. Many of my investments are designed for growth so the nest egg keeps up with inflation. When a company does well and expands, or grows, they transfer the growth to the share holders in the form of a capital gain distribution. It is not money, but shares of stock. This is a “capital gain.” At the end of the year, I have to pay a tax on that gain. There have been years, when I had capital gains, and paid a tax, however, the share price of the stock dropped making the value of the gain negative. Uncle Sam took the tax and ran. There was no sympathy toward the stock holder, Even though I was stuck with a stock that was lower in value than before the gain was declared. My 401K depends on capital gains to keep feeding me. I have to sell shares of the funds to get the  money I live on.

All of the people, who have been hypnotised into believing that BO will only tax the rich, are in for a rude awakening.  Any worker who is planning to retire on a 401K plan will be affected by the capital gains tax. Why? because you are investing in the companies that he will tax. All the “boomers” who want to retire and take advantage of their years of labor will be affected too. Companies who pay taxes, pay less dividend and have less money to invest in growth. It is as simple as that; more tax, less growth. More tax, less money in your 401K. More capital gains tax, and the more you pay; the less you have to live on. We are all affected by the capital gains tax, even those of us who are “middle class.” I don’t beleive for a minute that BO doesn’t see that he will burden the retiring baby boomers. He wants it all.

Barack and his liberal cronies love the concept of taking care of the little guy.  He doesn’t believe we are smart enough to care for ourselves.  If BO is really interested in taking care of us, he will abolish his ‘welfare,’ mentality. Karl Marx had a similar idea, and initiated a great ‘experiment” in Europe. Millions were slaughtered to make the idea work. Marxism took everything from the people. The government owned the wealth to take care of the people. The experiment was called “communism.”

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A Heart Beat Away!

Posted on 06/09/2008 by Grumpa Joe

To all my Democratic friends in the USA. There is a political system that combines and defines all the dreams of the great society you are trying to establish for us. It has universal healthcare, jobs for everyone, allows abortion, eliminates God from everything, and taxes everyone uniformly. The system is called “Communism.”
Electing McCain brings Sarah Palin a heart beat away from the presidency, but voting for Mr. Liberal brings us a heart beat away from Communism.

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