Charities

The US Post Office wanted to eliminate Saturday regular mail deliveries.  I was totally in favor of that, but for a very selfish reason.  On the average, I receive 2.5 solicitations per day from various so-called charitable organizations.  That means I throw away (to our land-fill) an average of 2.5 pieces of junk mail.  Eliminating Saturday deliveries  would mean I have to do this only 5 days per week, although the Monday cache would be double.  That's a small price to pay in order to help the Postal Service save a little money.  On occasion I can give the Postal Service a little business.  Whenever some so-called charity sends me a pitiful plea for money, and includes a postage-paid envelope, I immediately mail back to them all the paper they sent me, with a note to put this in their land-fill.

I am retired US Navy, a veteran. I found out that once you give money to one veterans' organization, you are immediately besieged with pleas from dozens of other so-called veterans' groups.  I found, to my amazement, there are groups supposedly helping Paralyzed Veterans, Deaf Veterans, Blind Veterans, Wounded Veterans, Homesick Veterans, Unhappy Veterans, Out-of-work Veterans and probably many others. Using a program such as Charity Navigator, it is easy to check these groups.  There you will find that most of these spend 65-75% of their total revenue on fund raising. These groups don't do their own fund-raising.  They contract with one of the big national companies that do this to make money.  So the charity spends some 15-20% of total revenue on their programs.  When you give a donation to these groups, you are not supporting some veterans group.  You are helping a big fund raising company make money.

Another interesting thing that Charity Navigator will show you is the salaries paid to the officers of these groups. Apparently this is a nice way to make a living.  Even more interesting are the "family groups."  I found one where the Board of Directors consisted on a Mother, her two sons and her daughter-in-law. This isn't a charity, it's a family business!

I recently received a pitiful plea from an American-Indian school in South Dakota.  How did these people got my name and address?  Easy!  These big fund raising organizations consider your name and address to be common property, to be used wherever they want to use it. If you would like to see proof of this, give a small donation to some obscure group, but use a fictitious first name.  I like to use Alphonso.  Then sit back and keep count of how many pleas come addressed to that name.

Annually I give a substantial amount to legitimate charities, but I do this at the end of the year. I just have to put up with the constant barrage of pleas during the year.  One of the worst culprits is the Salvation Army.  Last year I kept a count, and realized I received 18 pleas during that year, that's 1.5 per month. Maybe if they didn't spend so much on fund-raising, they would have more for their programs.

Are any of these scams? Yes, Charity Navigator has reported a couple that could be so considered.

Support local charities.  That way, you can have some indication of how your money was used.

DOMA must go!

I said I would stay out of this one, but I cannot stand aside and watch these idiotic ding-bats destroy our beloved country.

As a military veteran, I can understand some problems that the general population may not see.  Here is one example.

A military person on active duty is stationed in New York. He/She is legally married to his/her partner.  If something happens to the principal, his/her partner is a surviving dependent, with the prescribed privileges and benefits.  They have the exact same legal status as any other married couple.

Now, the military member receives orders to the Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Like any other married couple, they pack up and head for the new duty station.  But, as soon as they cross the state line into Oklahoma, they are no longer considered to be married.  If they had a car wreck and the principal was killed, the surviving partner would not be considered as a surviving dependent, under Oklahoma law. Now, the state of Oklahoma is about as backwards and out-of-step as it is possible to be, but the same problem exists in many other states.

This is ludicrous! What happened to the concept of equal right?  

DOMA must go!
 

Random musings

We are really going to get a break this year.  We won't have to go to the circus to be entertained. We can just watch our state legislature in action, and be totally amused.  That is, if we don't cry instead.

While almost any other legislative body would be concentrating on some major problems, such as unemployment, budget deficits, health care costs, immigration or many other concerns, our distinguished body here in North Carolina seems to be more concerned with another major, major problem.  Of course I am referring to "nipples." Apparently some of our esteemed legislators are convinced that if a woman's nipple is seen in public, this will surely lead to major social unrest, mass riots and possibly the demise of civilization as we know it.

This entire fiasco has its roots in a topless demonstration held in Asheville.  I don't know what that demonstration was about, but who cares?  If the ladies want to go topless, be my guest! But, some of these dingbat legislators feel it is imperative that the state do something to stop such sinful behavior. So, they have introduced legislation to make it a felony  that's right, a felony under some circumstances to show a bare breast in public.  Heavens! What else must we do to keep our society clean and moral?

Can you see the total stupidity in such legislation?  First of all, it only applies to women, with one exception for nursing mothers. If the bill ever passed, there would be an immediate court case claiming gender discrimination. I agree!  Make the bill apply to men also.  They have ugly nipples, and run around bare chested.   Also, the proposed bill doesn't set any age limits.  Is a two-year girl wearing only a diaper subject to prosecution?  When does the horrible sin occur?  We've got to be more precise on these things, because there is going to be lots of police action.

The same dingbats who constantly yell that less government is better are who have proposed this legislation to make the state government intervene in everyday life. I wish they would make up their minds.  Of course  if they did, they would cut out a lot of the comedy.

Go Green!  Recycle the Legislature.

Gun control

Today I watched a totally preposterous speech/sermon/diatribe by Wayne Lapieere of the NRA.  This performance was insulting to any intelligent person.

I won't take the weeks necessary to refute all the stupid statements he made, but instead merely point out a few of the omissions.

He was not very specific.  For example, he wants armed guards at all schools.  Does he really mean all?  All elementary schools? All middle schools? All high schools? Public schools only?  How about private schools or charter schools?  Do church schools qualify?  What about day-care?  That's a type of school.

Why do we stop there?  What about colleges and universities?  Trade schools?  Community colleges? What about the military academies?

He left out a few other places where his logic dictates that we need armed guards.  What about movie theaters?  Shopping malls?  Subway stations?  Oh yes, what about military bases, like Ft Bliss?  Surely there were some armed personnel there.  Didn't help.

If nothing else, this would certainly solve the unemployment problem, as we will need many thousand armed guards. That is, if we want to become an armed, everyone carry your six-shooter (or Uzi) society.

Guns don't kill people.
People kill people
WITH GUNS!

Post election hangover

The election hangover.

I had hoped that by now, the dingbats would accept the fact that they lost, put it behind them, and get down to business.  I was wrong. But at least it has been interesting to see how much they had believed their own spin, and were convinced they would win handily.  They were shocked at the results.  All those millions spent and for what?  A rousing defeat.

It has been educational to follow the sequence.  First was the denial, as the big dogs could not bring themselves to admit they lost. They just could not accept the fact that a majority of voters didn’t like their programs, philosophy and attitude.

Second came the search for excuses for why they lost.  Something or somebody had to carry the blame.  Over the next weeks following the election, we heard several excuses:  it was Hurricane Sandy; or it was a conspiracy among the Latinos and the Blacks, somehow fomented by President Obama; or it was fraudulent votes in every state the President won, especially on early or absentee ballots; or the President bought the election by giving away entitlements, such as Medicare and Social Security; or something similar. It became rather comical to see the big dogs stand before the Fox cameras, and proclaim how the evil Democrats had somehow been better at stealing votes than they were.

 

But, to me, the funniest was how they tried to pillory Governor Christie, and actually blame him for their loss.  Governor Christie, of course, was doing the job he had been elected to perform.  But, the dingbats accused him of committing high crimes and misdemeanors, for which he should be excommunicated from the party, and probably hung at high noon.  What were the horrible crimes he committed?  He stood too close to President Obama on the airport tarmac, and GASP! dared to ride in the President’s helicopter while they surveyed the damage from Sandy.  I must admit this one was hard to believe.  I couldn’t imagine even the dingbats being so callous, mean, fault-finding and downright stupid.

Now, round 2 begins as we fight over “the cliff!”  Make your bets now. My prediction is that there will be an awful lot of lies told between now and December 31.

The other side show is how Sen. McCain and his merry band have decided to attack Susan Rice, the assumed nominee for Secretary of State.  Her crime: she appeared before the UN and made a statement, based on the information available, that was later proven to be untrue.  To the dingbats, this was another vile conspiracy to do something or the other.  They conveniently  forget that Colin Powell did the same thing just before the Iraqi invasion.  Isn’t that strange?

The Election of 2012

Some musings about the election

This last election set many records. 

Most money spent during a campaign.

Most lies told during a campaign.

Most number of losers who were convinced they were winning

until the results began to come in.

The election left many questions unanswered:

How does Karl Rove explain to his angels that he spend $690 million

 and got nobody elected?

What does Paul Ryan do now?  He’s like an evangelist without

a congregation.

What does Mitt Romney do?  Can he go back to one of his many estates

and putter around in the garden?  Poor guy only has around $500 million

to live on. Of course, some of the more irreverent pundits claim the only

reason he was running for President was so he could add that to his resume,

 in case he wants to run for the office of God.

Do you suppose the leaders of the dingbats have finally figured out that if

they try to disenfranchise a bloc of voters, and failing that, just totally ignore

that bloc, then that bloc will vote against them?  We have a couple of

examples of this.

A bunch of the losers should have heeded the old adage:  “Beware the woman

scorned, lovely in her wrath.” I wonder how many members of the “rape team” 

are sleeping on the couch because the bedroom door is locked?

Can you believe it” Some are already pontificating about the 2016 election.

 Please.  Give us a break!  We have enough problems to worry about.

I voted early

I have a confession to make.  For many years now, I have prided myself that I never voted a “straight ticket” in any election.  I mean this seriously, not like a former professor back in Oklahoma who used to brag that he always voted for the Republican candidate for Assistant Mine Inspector.

 No, I have always considered the person, and ignored the party label.  In many cases, down at the county or township level, a party label didn't mean anything.  Integrity and honesty were the compelling factors.

I have voted early. This year, I broke with my long-established policy.  There is no way I could vote for a Republican candidate for any office at any level.  Democrats, Libertarians, Progressive, what have you, could get my vote, but no Republicans.

I did not make this decision lightly.  But among the many sins a politician can commit, lying to me is right at the top of the no-no list.  Over the past four years, I have been bombarded with lies, half-truths, statements taken totally out of context, skewed facts, or just plain stupidly incorrect allegations. 

The barrage is unending.  Each day, in the mail, I receive 2-3 fliers from the Republican Party.  Every one contains at least one blatant lie. It is an insult to my intelligence.  I read, I listen, I watch.  I know what is going on in the world.  My anger gets cranked up when some dingbat politician stand in front of the TV cameras and states something totally wrong, but when challenged with facts, just continues with the same lie.  The Republican Party philosophy seems to be “tell a lie enough times and the public will eventually believe it.”

Think back to 2009.  Then we had the “birthers”, who refuse to go away.  Then, a year later, we had the “deathers.” This year we had the “jobbers.”  These people just can’t give up.  Everything must be the result of a vast conspiracy. And all their complicated arguments are but lies.

The Republican Party sold out to the Religious Right many years back.  Now they are even further driven by the Tea Baggers, big oil, big coal, Wall Street and several other true fanatics.  These people have convinced me that they are not interested in solving America’s problems.  They are interested only in furthering their own narrow interests, to hell with the people. It is not only at the national level that we see these self-centered interests. No, it is also at the state, county and even city level that we see Republican politicians who answer only to their masters, and ignore the people.  Enough is enough!

One note about the VP debate.  While watching it occurred to me that we are but one catastrophe away from having one of these men assume the office of President, and Commander-in-Chief.  Which one would you trust to lead America?