A Whale of a Story

Things have been kind of dull here in blogland. Maybe everyone has just run out of things to say and write about and maybe they are busy with the holidays and back to school. Either way, I haven't seen any new posts in the last many days and feel that I have to get things off first base.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to write about either.

Congress is muddling its way through the Health Care reform mess and it could become quite interesting, like a horse race where the odds keep changing before the run.

The stock market isn't doing anything unless a .4% price change is considered significant. The news media seem to treat these miniscule moves as something to comment on, but as far as I am concerned, it is all "no change."

I did hear a story about a supposed medical advance and have been trying to decide whether this blog is a proper venue for the discussion I have in mind regarding the event but have mainly decided to shelve it for the time being.

Regarding our president, I won't look at pictures of him nor listen to any of his speeches or even his sound bites. I've never felt that way about any other president no matter how much I detested him. After years of climbing out of the currency of New Deal liberalism, it is disheartening to see us fall back into that trap. I am getting older and don't want the dream of a prosperous, free America to slip from my grasp. It will be too long until the trend reverses itself.

To end this post with some relevance to the title, here is a commentary on Jonah and whale, appropriate for this season. The scripture states that a fish swallowed him but it is popularly believed to be a whale. The commentaries point out that it took him 3 days to pray for salvation because things were roomy inside the male fish that swallowed him. So, after 2 days and some time, the original fish, transferred him to a pregnant female fish and things got a bit cramped so he started praying. The only fish I know of that carries live offspring is a whale. It also survives on oxygen from the air.

Doctor, It really hurts

Now that Max Baucus has revealed his conception of what health care reform would look like, I wrote to my representatives in congress detailing my objections to a massive reform effort. In the cause of brevity I did not elaborate on the need to fix certain gross anomalies in the current health care system on a gradual piece by piece basis, but I think that should be the ultimate approach and goal of the whole excercise.

Because it is almost impossible to gain their attention for even a few nano seconds, I tried to keep it short but my best efforts still came up with a one page letter. My wife advised me that the best way to write is to put the word "for" or "against" in big letters at the beginning and end of the communication which is all that matters. Good advice. I guess they have heard all the arguments, reasoned or not and don't have time to rehash exactly why each individual is either for or against a proposal.

So in order to enlighten at least the loyal readers of this blog, I offer my arguments.

I am concerned about the mandatory aspects of the proposed health care reform initiative. To be forced to purchase something or to join an organization is abhorrent to the principles of a free democracy and individual rights.

I am further concerned by the intractability of the public option debate. If there is a public option, it will cost too much and give government too much control over healthcare choices. If we don't have a public option, the insurance companies will reap a vast windfall at the public's expense. It also does not make sense to increase the costs of the healthcare industries by taxing them. This will only shift the costs right back to the consumer. It’s like everyone taking in everyone else’s laundry.

It is not the government's role to insure everyone who chooses not to spend the money on health insurance. For over two hundred years Americans have had the right to choose to assume risk.

In view of the above, I think it would be best if the entire initiative would be defeated.

Wildlife II

My driveway seems to be a haven for all hungry beasts in my neighborhood. I am thinking of charging admission " See the animals! Watch them in their natural habitat! (my garbage cans), much closer than Great Adventure! Take one home as a pet! (please)."

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago, I responded to pick up the ambulance for a call at 3 AM. I went out to my car and saw that the garbage can was once again on its side, and there was an animal having a late night snack. Now the can was in front of my car, and a little off to the side.

Thinking it was one of the usual suspects (the cats and raccoons that frequent Chez Greun) I continued towards it, figuring I would just chase the varmint away.


Until I saw the wispy white tail.

Sticking up.

Now, I had to make a quick decision on what to do. I had to get to my car, and I figured I could still do so, but the usual escape route of this critter is to cross the driveway into the back yard. If I were to blast past him, he might freak and decide on a little eau de ewwww. So I slowly went wide around the can, hoping he would sense company and leave, which is what they usually do. However, this little skunk decided to come out and investigate.

With his tail really straight up.

This is generally perceived as not a good sign for one who wants to keep his friends and family, so I decided that a little walk around the back of the house would probably be the prudent choice of action. As I came around the second time, the critter must have decided that having his meal disturbed a second time was enough, and he politely chose to leave.

With his tail down, thank goodness.

I arrived a few minutes later at the call, and all was forgiven for the short delay, since the smell inside the ambulance would have been enough to send us all to the hospital had I kicked the can.

So that was all well and good until the other morning. I heard rustling outside my window, which usually indicates a feast is in progress, but this was early in the morn, when Chez Greun is usually cosed for the day. I didn't think much of it until around 7:30 when Lovey informed me that something was still banging around. I looked out my window, which overlooks the driveway, and into 3 of the 4 cans which don't have lids, and didn't see anything. The fourth can had the lid on it, but it wasn't moving.

Lovey decided to investigate and look in all the cans from ground level. Since I didn't think there was anything to see, I wasn't paying much attention until she shrieked. She had looked through the hole in the top of the can that one of our previous customers had made, and seen a little raccoon staring up at her. Then, after my manhood was called into question, I was forced to come outside and see this animal for myself. I asked all the appropriate agencies to please come and take this interloper away, and get rid of it, but they all refused, so I had to let it go myself.

I know Lovey is a good cook, but this constant invasion is getting ridiculous.

End of Summer ll (click here)

I was off today so, needing to do some banking business, I went to a local branch, not my usual one. Upon entering the premises, I immediately realized that this place was understaffed. It is a highway branch and was currently manned by two tellers who had to take care of a line of 4 people and about 6 cars. I waited patiently (the cars waited even more patiently - I didn't hear any horns blowing) and while waiting, a young lady got on line behind me. She was about the age of my middle child and we got to chatting about how the bank branch we were in was going to handle the extra traffic from the other local branch which B of A decided to close.

When I exited the building, I noticed a baby blue convertible BMW z4 with the top down, bathed in brilliant sunlight, parked next to my car. I examined the roadster, noticing the fine leatherwork and the manual shift. As I was doing so, the woman who had been in line behind me, came out of the bank and said to me, "My birthday present! But it's probably the last one I'll get for the next fifty years." She got in her car and drove off, as I wistfully watched her drive away with the last days of summer.

As Sand Through an Hourglass...

There truly is a generation gap. At least among my siblings and their children. let me explain.

I was over at the Carwash's and we got into an impromptu game of charades along with my brother ( not the lawyer) and his wife. So we were running out of topics, and since we all grew up with each other, we were guessing before the person even started, so we needed to shake it up a bit.

Now, when I was younger, the movie that became real popular with my siblings was The Princess Bride ( inconceivable, really.) my sisters knew the movie so well it was to the point that we could watch the movie with the sound off, and still have all the dialogue.

For some reason, among our children, the movie that the girls in particular seem to have gotten into is Newsies. The kids seem to be in a competition as to who can see it the most, and the dialogue gets quoted constantly. I happen to feel that I should know what my kids are into, so I have seen it as well (I should note that at one point it would have been impossible not to see it, as it was playing on the DVD or computer just about every night.)

Figuring that my siblings are as involved as I am, I started to act out the movie, from the first scene on. Blank stares. I did a few more scenes. More blank stares.

Finally, after flopping over the ottoman for the third time, and realizing at my advanced age that I couldn't do it much longer, I told them what it was. Their response? Oh, we haven't seen the movie!

I was shocked that something so integral to their kids was not in their interest at all. I was also a little winded.

So I got to thinking, this isn't really that different than when we were kids and soooo into things, and our parents were completely not interested ( for instance, The Princess Bride). Just like we were not interested then in things our parents were into, that we have a greater appreciation for today.

What that is, offhand, I can't think of anything, but I am sure there are some things.

And the Gap widens... ( perhaps the name of a soap opera when we are really old??)

Pictures

We recently hosted a family barbecue. As I usually do, I took out my digital camera and started shooting at whatever moved or looked like an interesting grouping. The kids run around so much, most of my pictures are puzzlingly vapid. Especially in digital photography, there is a delay between when you depress the shutter and when the image is impressed on the electronic sensors so that I get many shots that come out like the drawing of cows eating grass, where the grass is already eaten and the cows have left.

Roll back the scene about 80 years or so. I have a large shoebox filled with photographs taken by my father from the late twenties through the seventies. The pictures taken after 1965 don't interest me too much because I have my own pictures of the same events and because I have living memories of those depicted in the photos, and, although interesting in their own right (see how young we were) they don't convey the same sense of continuity I get from the pictures of people I never knew.

There are pictures of my dead cousins dancing at some celebration or other, pictures of my aunts' weddings, random pictures of dinners and hikes and groupings of people who were related to me before I was born but didn't manage to be contemporary with me, and also pictures of young people whom I did manage to meet when they were older. I think about all of them, these personalities flitting in and out of my consciousness, as I go through the piles of photos. I think, here are people, like me, with likes and dislikes loves and hates hopes and disappointments triumphs and failures. They are mostly, if not all, gone now and we have taken their place. I long for the opportunity to interact with them.

Back to the twenty-first century. I sent my children a random shot of four of my adult children at the above mentioned barbecue; one is asleep in a chair, the other three are busily engaged in eating a corn or a hot dog concentrating on the matter in hand and oblivious to each other, sort of like Hopper's "Soir Bleu." I asked them what they think one of our descendants would think when coming across this picture in 50 years.

Here are some of their answers;

"why would anyone have saved THIS picture?"
"why would anyone have taken this picture?"
"what's Dr. Brown soda?"

I guess they don't think like me.

Happy Birthday

I had birthday this week. ( I know, A birthday, its a German thing, let it go). Lovey really gets into birthdays and thinks it is funny to tell everyone she sees that it is my birthday. So we were in an old age home visiting some relatives and she announced to everyone that it was my birthday (I only think about a third of the people heard it, though.) One man standing there perks up and says " hey, its my wife's birthday too!" so I go over to the wife and say " Happy Birthday" and she responds " Yes, my birthday is August 28th".

I felt that at this point it was just best to smile all around.

Travels in America

Any place that has a population density of less than 6 people per square mile is considered by the US Census to be uninhabited. I don't know if this is an average figure over a large region or if this applies to every square mile in the country. By the latter standard, I have been traveling in a largely uninhabited area. Every mile or two one does spot a farmhouse and some outbuildings upon a knoll or somewhere behind a stand of tall corn.

I have been driving hundreds of miles in western Minnesota and eastern South Dakota for the past few days and the word "uninhabited" keeps popping into my consciousness. Not that the land is desolate. On the contrary, it is miles and miles of verdant, rich, productive cropland giving proof to human intervention on a grand scale. Some of the towns along my route are little more than trailer parks (figuratively, the houses are all real and permanent) while others have lovely tree lined and canopied streets in a region not distinguished by trees of any sort.

Minnesota is known by its self-dubbed nickname as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." There are a lot of lakes here but eastern South Dakota, as I have often noticed while flying across it, is riddled with one lake after the other, large and small. At ground level these lakes appear to be large holes filled with water with no accessible shoreline other than thick healthy bullrushes leading to the water's edge. I am told they are filled with fish and I even saw some water birds frolicking in their dark blue waters. Some are quite deep. But on the whole these lakes are, for the most part, featureless. Many are just round without coves and most are surrounded by flat land making the distinction between water and land a matter of only color change. The usual pattern of gently sloping wooded hills forming a bowl containing the water does not hold here.

Today, I drove more than 400 miles fronted on both sides as far as the eye can see by waves of light and dark green soybean leaves rippling in the wind, seas of brownish-yellow tasseled corn carpeting the land, golden swaths of harvested wheat and green lawns of newly mown hay fields. Depending upon the level of the fields relative to the roadway the views change, sometimes showing an incredible symmetry of rows and sometimes only showing an unbreakable surface of one color or another. All this accompanied by the redolence of livestock and other farm odors which is even more pronounced when traversing the region in an open convertible.

Of all the millions, possibly billions, of ears of corn I passed today, the one I bought for dinner this evening was the worst I have ever tasted.

Go figure.

Doctor, here's where it really hurts!

Issues in the health care debate boil down to the following:

If the puchase of health care insurance becomes mandatory, and there is no public option, the industry will acquire a stranglehold on the health care system, It will furthermore be greatly enriched by 47 million people forced to buy their products at rates that can be arbitrarily set. There is no possible way that such a scenario will not be more monopolistic than the wildest imaginings of the muckrakers of the early 20th century. Our lawmakers will be handing the health insurance industry a munificent windfall without receiving much in return.

If there is a public option it may serve as competition to the industry but with the possibility of a large increase in costs to the government and the public. Also at the cost of bureaucratically administered health care rationing. The fact that the Senate even considered a "death panel" is proof of how much personal liberty health care reform will eliminate. And this will only be the first step on the slippery slope to dictatorship.

If congress tries to limit the cost of health care for the masses by increasing the co-payment and deductible burden on a mandatory minimum health policy holder then the poor will have to shoulder close to half their medical costs plus the insurance premium. This is bad enough for those who are sick, but it is vastly more unfair for those who don't get sick who will be forced to buy a piece of junk that they don't need..If the purpose of this reform is to help the poor then how does this help them? Heads I win, tales you lose.


The most evil part of this plan is the mandatory clause. Administration spokespeople are lauding the health insurance industry for their agreement to insure those with preexisting conditions. Obviously if insurance purchase is mandatory then even the sick will have to buy it and if private insurance providers don't agree to insure the already sick it would leave the government no choice but to have a public option.

Never in this country's glorious history has one been forced to purchase anything. I have nightmares of shouting guards and barking dogs herding innocent people into boxcars.

The best solution to this fake crisis is to do nothing. The system isn't perfect, but it works. Tweak it a bit if you must but use gradualism. Write your congressman and senators and tell them that they should vote against any and all the bills for massive health care reform.

The levelers in Washington have taken control and I fear for our inalienable rights.

BIAS!

I am trying to recall a special catastrophic historical event which, in hindsight, was the primary cause for the assumption of absolute power by a dictator. The assassination of Kirov? The bombing of Cambodia? No matter. There aren't too many cases of homegrown dictators in 20th century history and before that, monarchy and absolute power were the norm. I have previously blogged about crises becoming the excuse for power grabs but what follows is a description of a manufactured crisis and we do have to be careful that once the "crisis" becomes fixed in the public's mind, it will be hard to counteract.

The news media needs to exaggerate and hype everything out of proportion in order to sell its product. I once called the Wall Street Journal when they used to sponsor a few minute recap of the financial news on WQXR regarding a program headlined by, "Oil prices soar!" when the price of petroleum went up a few cents. I pointed out the apparent contradiction between the headline and the story and was told that after all, they needed to attract attention.

So when they characterize the recent spate of spiteful town hall meeting rhetoric as organized mob activity and nazi-like behavior it should be taken with a grain of salt, but I think this time it's a product of their collective socialist bias.

Let us examine the facts. Yes, booing and jeering isn't very civil or mannered behavior but mob activity is more sinister, employing clubs, brass knuckles, knives and a considerable amount of pushing and shoving. The people, like the media, just crave a bit of attention.

What is really annoying the politicians and their news media supporters is that the people are angry with, and distrustful of, their elected representatives and that they see the threat the Obama administration poses to individual freedoms and rights. The public feel entitled to voice their disapproval to their elected representatives. For years, politicians have been using the so called "Town Hall Meeting" construct to conduct a one-way, staged, indoctrination of the citizens who misguidedly attended these affairs under the impression that they would be able to influence or at least have a meaningful exchange of ideas with their elected representatives.

Well, no longer. Congressmen and Senators are consequently shocked that they can't get away with it this time.

I have listened to some of the public's remarks at these town hall meetings and they seem to me to be calm and reasoned arguments, albeit oppositional and delivered emotionally and feelingly. Politicians don't like to hear from their constituents unless they represent a substantial number of voters or control a lot of campaign money.

I just read a letter in USA today which presents the following argument against the claim that health care reform protesters are the storm troopers of organized right wing opposition. There are two pictures, one showing the conservative opposition holding long winded hand written signs and the other showing supporters displaying professionally designed and printed posters. The letter writer asks: Which is more likely to be the "organized" group and which the true grass roots protest.

Hussein (III), the honeymoon is over.

Its Hard to Soar Like an Eagle......

I had the misfortune of actually mentioning to the pest who was on the highway with me that I posted about him. He has taken the term pest to a completely new level. Let me tell you about this person. He works in my office, and thinks he is the boss. This means that he really doesn't listen to anyone, and wants everyone to listen to him, including the scintillating story of how he burnt his feet. ( I have been trying to avoid the details of this riveting story, but I think that he will corner me and tell me anyhow.)

Anyhow he has become completely hung up about this, and the idea that anyone would blog in the first place. He keeps coming in to my office to give he his cumulative knowledge about the world in general (all 22 years of his experiences) and his opinion on blogging specifically. I think it is probably jealousy since English and writing is occasionally a second language to him.

Now you can imagine what it is like to deal with someone like this on an every day basis. Root canal looks more and more appealing each day (" I have to go out for a few hours and have my head drilled, to take away the hammering in my brain from you"). Unfortunately, most people have similar issues in the work place. Sometimes it can be an annoying co-worker, in worst case scenarios it can be a supervisor or even the head person in the office. There really is not much that can be done about it except grin and bear it.

And blog about them.

The Throne, or the power behind it?

We were coming back from visiting day in the mountains and a pest who works in my office was driving behind me. He noticed that I was a passenger and Lovey was driving. He (of course) felt compelled to question the hierarchy at my house, since, in his silly little single mind, the MAN has to drive, or he isn't a man.

Without getting into his psyche too much, or telling him that it is usually more a burden then a joy to have to drive all the time, I still felt compelled to inform this misguided youth that the fact that I was not driving had nothing to do with my lack of standing in the house, ( actually, a case could be made that I insisted that I do not drive, so I am clearly in control, but to say such a thing in a blog that may or may not be read by a significant other is dangerous, so I will just posit it as a hypothetical) and more to do with my not sleeping the night before. ( I could also add the fair division of labor in the household, but that could cause more problems than the previous statement, so I will leave it as another hypothetical).

Actually, on a quick tangent, I know of certain households where the distaff side does all or most of the driving, sometimes because the male does not drive, and sometimes because it is not worth taking a stand with a female who insists. But I indeed digress.

Staying on the division of labor theme, as well as who is ultimately in charge of the house, leads to an interesting episode at Chez Greunkern that might just indicate how the residents see things. At the table over the weekend, there was a discussion as to who would do the dishes. Lovey decided that I should do them, and expressed her opinion accordingly. Not wishing to gainsay her, I looked to one of the children (house servants?) and told him that he should do the dishes.

Not missing a beat, he immediately started to say "But she told...." Then he caught himself. ( Smart boy)

Having not been born yesterday, I knew the end of the statement. I also was not going to let it go. So a quick discussion ensued that I am not part of the sibling pack, where that line will get you out of a job, and I indeed do have the right to delegate any job I choose, including those assigned to me by Lovey. However, it did show me exactly where the children think the true power in the house lies.

I have to go now and hide all my pants.

Brooklyn moves Upstate

What is it with lack of courtesy and shopping carts? Do people have a genetic disposition to become obnoxious and rude as soon as they touch one? is it like kryptonite to good manners? I wonder.


I was recently in a shopping center in Monsey. We had sent off Big Sister and Lovey and me were alone for a day. ( More like 16 hours, but we take what we can get.) So we did what we always do on an off day, shop.


In this strip mall there is a lane for driving in front of the stores, and then double rows for parking. I am on the sidewalk in front of the stores and I see this woman loading her van. As she finishes, she pushes the cart in the vague direction of the sidewalk while she is still at the back of her minivan. The cart goes about 10 feet and stops on a rut in the road.



In the middle of the road.



The woman looks at the cart, and gets into her car.



I just stood there, amazed.

Square and level

I can't get over the liberals' naked power hunger. I felt it strongly in 1993 when the Clintons were hatching their nefarious health care reform proposals and feel it again as the same issue is being debated. This time it may be worse.

I recently heard a radio program which featured, as a guest, a Professor Gruber of MIT commenting on a new proposal by some in either congress or the administration ( I'm not sure which ) to tax employer provided health insurance as income to those who have superior health care plans. The proposal singles out plans where everything is completely covered, sort of a Cadillac of health insurance plans.

In the course of his comments, Dr. Gruber opined that surely excessive health care coverage should be taxed because americans are getting too much health care and also because the third party payment system encourages a lack of financial responsibility (presumably to other citizens) by not involving the receiver of health care in the decision to use what health care is available. He felt that people should have to think twice or more before availaing themselves of a doctor or hospital. In short, and the moderator caught him out on this but he sidestepped the question, it seems he was for rationing of health care. Or maybe he was a leveller and felt that everyone should suffer equally.

I wondered why, if he was advocating that everyone should have to weigh when and whether to see a doctor, he was championing health care reform in the first place. From what I have heard, it is just the necessity for the 46 million un or underinsured to have to make such decisions which is the reason healthcare cries out for reform.

You would think a professor from MIT would be able to discern such a tautology.

Many years ago, before most of you were born, there was a radio program called "The Shadow," which featured a debonair man-about-town who, while in the East, had learned the secret to the power to "cloud men's minds."

I think power hunger does the same thing.

And when they came for me...

I can be silent no longer.

As much as that statement may seems a little strange, considering I do a fair amount of pontificating and ranting herein, I am referring specifically to our esteemed commander in chief, who has truly shown himself to be the First Jackass.

Forget what I read in a magazine that-shall-not be named, that his AG is thinking of prosecuting the Bush Administration for "excessive torture tactics", which is by itself a most dangerous precedent for any President to set, in that it would severely compromise the ability of all future presidents to effectively do their job, if they knew that as soon as their party was out of power, all their staffers and perhaps the president as well would be subject to criminal charges by a partisan which hunt.

And let us further put aside the Socialist leading to Communist plans of this administration with regards to health care. Nationalization of health care has never worked for any other country, so why shouldn't we ram it through Congress here? What really ticks me off is the statement of TFJ that he won't sign it if it will increase the deficit. How absolutely disingenuous. I assume taxing the hell out of the remaining people in this country who still have jobs and businesses doesn't count. But when they lose their jobs and businesses, and the government has to pay with unemployment benefits, stimulus money, and lost tax revenues, how does that not increase the budget? Beats me. But then again, I am not as smart as the genius we have in the White House, but I digress.

Well, with all that being put aside, as well as all the other issues, the part that I cannot get past today is the most powerful man in the world has shown the entire world just how absolutely petty and stupid he is, to make a comment on a local matter concerning one arrest, without having all the facts, and in the process demeaning and insulting the people who are charged with protecting us, the police. ( Another post on the silliness of the entire issue later.)

Now those of you who know me know that I am not a big fan of police in general, and I sincerely believe that they have a tendency to abuse their power, but nevertheless, you would think that a president would not get involved in something so silly.

Obviously, the overriding agenda of TFJ is to foster racial hatred in this country, something that the country itself showed it is trying to move beyond by electing him. Not for him. He has continued his agenda to completely destabilize this country, financially, racially, economically, and militarily.

How long before the left wing press realizes that they cannot cover for him anymore?

Are the Redwoods Superannuated?

I recently heard a piece on the BBC's Newshour which confirms the newsmedias' insidious biases. It was a story on a group of scientists mapping all the trees in a sequoia forest where the trees, some of which are over 3000 years old are dying prematurely.

First of all, I don't understand why they think that if the trees in this forest have started dying during the past 50 years it signals premature death. If the trees are indeed 3000 years old, what makes scientists think that this is premature death. Maybe they are dying of Sequoia old age. OK, so maybe there are some older trees, but as you see in human life, some people die in their late 80's and no one considers that premature even though there are plenty of ambulant, robust people in their high nineties living alone and doing all the things people in their 50's do and maybe not even more slowly. I personally know, and know of, many people like that.

But back to my point on bias. The lead up to the piece, by the announcer, went something like this..... "Scientists are mapping a forest of ancient trees which are dying prematurely due to climate change."

I thought to myself that it seems that scientific research is now directed by political agendas rather than by a desire for truth. That would have been a blog post by itself (and it may become one - a pathologist acqaintance of mine insists that all science today has a definite agenda [religious, not political in his case]).

But upon listening to the article, and I listened very carefully, nowhere was there even a hooded reference to climate change. The scientists were only describing their tribulations in camping out and doing the work and what it will mean when it is finished and that its significance will only be noted 25 to 100 years in the future.

At the risk of becoming like Cicero I must reiterate that environmentalism is the single greatest threat, past or present, to American freedom, liberty, capitalism and democracy.

We're in second, and MOVING UP!!

I don't believe that competition among family is right or necessarily healthy. I think that you should love your family without limitation, and should always be happy for all their successes.

However,


We here at the Soup are happy to announce that we have passed a secret blog of a family member in hits. This could be because we actually post from time to time, and the other blog has been curiously silent ( a shame) , or it could be that we have two different contributors, or it could be that the people running the blog are just going back to the page again and again to pump up the numbers. ( vehement denial)

Nevertheless, we are thrilled that we have managed to achieve this result, considering our counter went up later, and started at a lower number. Now we are hot on the trail of another one, and only have about 3,500 hits to make up.

Stay tuned, and keep checking back for updates.

many, many times.

Where are America's guts?

The world as we know it has gone nuts, or we are truly heading for an apocalypse. I saw this article on the Bloomberg website. The Chinese are suing U.S. companies for patent infringement! This completely boggles my mind.

For years and years, the Chinese have been illegally knocking off our products, and we have been completely powerless to stop it. I guess now with the new policy of the United States of apologizing for everything to everyone, the Chinese feel emboldened enough to have the audacity to come to our country, use our courts to try and enforce our laws to their benefit.

Personally, I think the trial should follow along these lines.

Yes China, you are correct, you finally had an original thought, and you should be protected. We will award you damages, but first, we are going to calculate the counterclaim of all the American companies that you have ripped off for all this time.

Then we can go back to the tried but true MaterCard commercial formula.

Award to China: $4.6 Million

Award to American Companies: $7.3 Trillion

Finally giving China a taste of their own medicine: Priceless.

Sahara Obama

Fresh from his triumphs in Italy where he and 7 other national leaders laid out their demands to G-d insisting that they would not accept a global temperature rise above 2° (C or F? - not sure) he has gone on to visit his native continent with a stop in Ghana. Ghana is a democracy on the shores of the Atlantic with a history of being a gathering point for slaves going to the new world and is the Africans' Auschwitz, so to speak. They talk about them being chained, naked, in dungeons beneath the forts guarding the coastline. This is billed as being the white man's persecution of the black man but they don't mention that the slaves were taken captives and forced into slavery by African slave traders who offered them for sale. Sort of like the drug trade. The producing countries blame the consuming countries for creating the demand.

Obama is immensely popular in Africa (local boy makes good) but I heard a pro African analyst questioning the honesty of Obama's campaign promises in that his first priority as President of the United States of America should have been the succor of Africa, and it wasn't. But lest you think he is blaming the continent's golden boy, think again. This analyst had the effrontery to suggest that it wasn't Obama's fault since he is getting bad advice from his advisers. We all know who his closest advisers are, according to Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former mentor, it is "them jews."

This does not bode well for Jewish - Black relations, which have never been easy. To some extent the jews will be the scapegoats for Obama's inability to deliver on some of his more radical promises. In the end, Obama himself is going to be torn between loyalty to this country and loyalty to his masters in Africa and the muslim world. It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Now that the stimulus money is beginning to come into the economy the sheer stupidity of the Democratic congress in drafting the original bill is coming to the fore. Although billions are being released, it has become abundantly clear that much of it is going to social services where there is no multiplier effect and although the money is being introduced into the economy it is like giving food to someone with dysentery; it doesn't do any good. Social services, health research and the like, although very commendable and legitimately in need of funding, cannot grow the economy and any extra funding for this purpose has no business in the stimulus package. Funding for these things don't affect the economy in any meaningful way. and if they were to be cut or kept at current levels nothing would change in the economy. The only effect the stimulus money will have in this sector is to fatten those feeding at the public trough.

What the economy desperately needs is a boost to the manufacturing economy which is about to get another whammy from the proposed control of carbon emissions, a bill for which has already been passed by the House. I think the stimulus is conceptually the right way to go in a near depression but it must target the right things. Infrastructure constrution and all capital projects, in addition to increasing employment also increases manufacturing and commodity purchases which further increases employment and brings some confidence to the entire nation.

Not that this concerns Obama much. He's too busy making friends among his father's countrymen.

BAGEL STORE REVIEW

I have heard it said that in order for an eating establishment to be successful, 2 of three elements must be met. Good Food, Good Price, Good Service. i agree with this and feel that if you hit 2 out of 3, you have a chance to be successful. 3 out of 3 is even better, but less than 2, forget it.

Which brings me to a new feature here at the good Doctor, restaurant ( if they can all be called that) reviews! ( You lucky lucky readers!)

So the establishment is question is the bagel store in Passaic. We have friends there, Lady G, (who has been mentioned before) and her husband, Someone ( more on his name later). Over the years, we try to meet on legal holidays for breakfast. Usually we would meet in Monsey, since that is where the bagel stores were. Recently, one opened in Passaic, and they couldn't really get away for long , so we agreed to meet there.

Now, I have been there before, but fortunately, I have a short memory for unpleasant events, so I didn't remember much about it. This time, however, I think I will remember.

We got on line with one person ahead of us. Keep in mind that it was a holiday weekend, and many people were off. Our friends ordered first. I was next up. Now, I usually go for a breakfast special, since those are relatively difficult to mess up. However, having has experience with these as well, they usually don't have the potatoes, which make the whole deal. Even better is a HOBO, which is less egg, ( 1 vs. 2) less potato, all on a bagel for less money.

So I was prepared to order the HOBO, but alas, it wasn't on the menu. So I was about to order the special when I saw the second guy behind the counter make up 2 breakfast specials, and i realized there were not a lot of potatoes left on the grill. I ordered it, for almost six dollars (much more than the Monsey price) and the man at the counter told me that I was the last one. ( since they were out of potatoes at 10 AM , apparently). Lovey ordered a wrap, that they were at least smart enough to prepare beforehand, so that we took right off the fridge shelf.

Well, I went to get the coffee that comes with it and my friend said I should probably wait, since speed is not a strong point in this place, and I would probably have to wait. I have also heard since from others that if they want to stop for a quick sandwich even in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, this place is NOT the store to go to. So I waited. And waited. And sat down with our friends, who's order was finally ready. And waited some more.

It was during this time that I realized my friend's real name was Someone, as in " Someone was supposed to fix the sink" and "Someone was supposed to deal with the camp."

Finally, I went to the counter and asked what had happened. Did they have to wait for the chicken to lay the egg? Had they sent someone out to hoe some potatoes? Was the grill in fact on?

Better.

I was told that he had told me that there were no more breakfast specials available. To which I replied in the negative, relating our conversation to him. he just lost the order in the 3 feet from the counter to the grill, apparently.

Now since I had to run to a funeral, I told him to forget it, and just refund the money I had paid for it, less the coffee I have finally poured. We worked it all out, and we left.

So here is the review. Its a holiday weekend, with lots of customers coming in, realize this and have more or better help. If you mess up something, at least comp the coffee. This eatery could seriously use some competition to hopefully whip it into shape.

Price, lousy ( higher than Monsey prices)
Service, even worse.
Food, I have no idea, since I didn't get it ( I tasted the wrap, it wasn't bad, though).

I would not recommend this place, unless you have an entire day for breakfast or a sandwich, aren't really hungry, or have something to eat in the car, just in case.