TSA Goons, Redux
From the movie, The MATRIX:
Agent Smith: We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start. All that we’re asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
Neo: Yeah. Well, that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger [He does] and you give me my phone call.
I predict a crackdown on air travel, with all sorts of ridiculous requirements. Me, I like traveling to the home farm on Amtrak. They are just starting to crack down on knives, as if I could hijack a train with a pocket knife.
TSA, all is forgiven.
Several years ago, I blamed the TSA goons for stealing my hunting knife , a Mad Dog Wild Thing, out of my luggage in Des Moines, Iowa.
My wife was cleaning out the coat closet, and found the knife in an unused piece of luggage. I still think the TSA are goons, but no longer think they are thieves.
Peace on Earth
Our Nobel Peace Prize winner is leading the US Waist Deep in the Big Muddy of war and devastation. For ten billion a year, I’d put one thousand SEALS and support troops in Afghanistan looking for Osama. Isn’t that why we destroyed the country in the first place?
I’d declare "Victory" and leave Iraq to its own devices. They want us out, to leave immediately.
We need not have troops and sailors in over 130 countries. The US is looked upon as an occupying force world wide. Every man who loses a family due to poor American targeting (isn’t the phrase “collateral damage” cute?) becomes a sworn enemy of the US. We need more peace in the world. Not one more life should be lost in war.
Socialism
The government is juggling lots of balls, and is having poor success. The very premise that government can decide what type of cars should be built, along with what forms of healthcare should be delivered, is a crime. Socialism only works until they run out of “someone else’s” money. Socialism cannot price the myriad of goods to supply to the public.
Why did the USSR fail? I read on a long forgotten website moons ago that Soviet SALT inspectors were picked up at the Phoenix airport back in the eighties to go to a missile storage site. As part of the trip, they stopped at a shopping mall to pick up a few things. The Russians were incredulous. They couldn’t believe that there were such a variety of goods for sale, and no lines. They thought it a mirage meant to impress them. So the American tour guides took them to another mall several miles away. Guess the rest of the story.
Will he get to visit with the 900 foot Jeebus?
AP – Oral Roberts, who helped pioneer TV evangelism in the 1950s and used the power of the new medium — and his message of God’s healing power — to build a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university that bears his name, died Tuesday. He was 91.
In 1977 Roberts claimed to have had a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus who told him to build City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success.
I never cared for the TeeVee preachers. How they swindle money out of old folks, mostly, promising a future return on their money in heaven. Sickening.
Religion is a mental illness. I don’t know if it is a delusion or a mass hysteria. If you believe in your “invisible buddy who lives in the sky”, converse with it now. It could be just the ticket to three squares a day and a nice bed in a locked mental ward.
beebs
atheist
We are in a Gold Bull Market, Part 2
Here is how I invest in gold stocks.
1) I look for gold companies in the Australia area or Americas.
2) I do not trust any companies that have mines in socialist countries such as Russia, China, South Africa, or Bolivia to name four.
3) I look for companies that have depth, lots of big projects coming up. I haven’t found a good one, but my goal is to invest in a company that intends to double production in five years.
4) I look for companies that have co-products such as silver or copper. This tends to add a kick to the gold.
5) I shoot for companies that mine at least a million oz. per year.
6) I’ve invested only six percent of my total wealth in gold stocks, and of that six percent I’ve invested twelve percent of that in Van Eck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ).
Your mileage may vary. What works for me may be wrong for you. I’m not an investment adviser, and I would encourage you to bounce your investment ideas off someone else. Don’t come crying to me if the price of gold drops to five hundred dollars. My advice is worth what you paid for it.
Remember, there is no fever like gold fever!
beebs
Economists Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert
Their latest effort. Start viewing at the 12:40 POINT. As an aside, it is interesting that one has to surf to “Russia Today” you tube to get leading economic views.
Goldman Sachs employees should be hunted for sport. Make the bounty 100 big ones for each scalp.
Xmas, 1984
Things were looking up for the beebster in 1984. I had reconciled myself to the diagnosis, and the fact that my Navy didn’t want me around anymore. I was serving on the tender where we were handling two squadrons worth of boats since the other tender was in refit. I was busy as all get-out, arriving at 0530 and not leaving until 1830. Repair Department “Admin Officer” lots of power, no prestige.
I had just met my future wife, and she seemed to care about me. My world tore asunder when she smiled.
“She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, but it wasn’t only the way she looked, it was what was inside her, everything from her intelligence and courage to her wit, and the special smile she gave only to him…
He knew he would never want anyone else for as long as he lived. He would rather spend the rest of his life alone than with someone else. There could be no one else.”
She lived about a mile away from my apartment and I had just started to spend time with her, walking, and looking at Xmas lights.
I used to shop in the Marine Corps Recruit Depot “Navy Exchange” since it was much closer to home than the 32nd street exchange. I was living in the cheapest dive apartment in Point Loma, and I didn’t have a vacuum. So I found a bissell sweeper that looked like it would work. I had two old fossils come up to me separately and warn me that a sweeper wouldn’t be a good present for my wife.
A Plan For YOU to Quit Smoking by 2010.
It’s generally accepted that cigarette smoking is bad for you, with up to ten times the lung cancer rates of nonsmokers. Many smokers find it difficult to quit. But have you thought of risk reduction while still getting some tobacco goodness?
I quit smoking in 1984, and switched to chewing tobacco. “But that is messy!” you say. I stopped chewing tobacco, and switched to Swedish snus about a year ago. There are many advantages to Swedish snus over regular chewing tobacco or smoking. At this linked page is a short discussion of the relative risks of Swedish snus.
First, Swedish snus tobacco is pasteurized rather flue cured, which reduces the levels of nitrosoamines in the tobacco. For the user, this means that the amount of carcinogens you put in your mouth are much reduced. At the Swedish Match site there are additional studies about snus and health.
Secondly, the snus user places the snus portion packet into the upper lip pocket, and the salivary action is much reduced. Any juices generated can be swallowed, no spitting. No fuss, no mess, you can imbibe at work without having to go outside. The tobacco packet once spent (in about a half to one hour) can be thrown away or flushed down the toilet.
Finally, snus is taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes. It should be part of every libertarian’s practice to reduce the taxes going to state and federal governments.
The Plan.
Acquire some Swedish snus by going to this site which will direct you to a local vendor. You could google “get snus” for a selection of US vendors for mail order.
Go to your local shop and buy some snus, or order some via mail. I prefer Ettan snus, but you could start with General portion snus or General white portion snus. I go through one can a day, so make sure you buy at least seven cans to comply with the plan.
When the snus arrives, put one pack of cigarettes in the freezer as a crutch. Throw out all the rest of your cigarettes.
When an urge for a cigarette hits you, pop a snus into the upper lip and let it rest there. Don’t chew on it, just let it set. When it is spent, spit or remove it from your mouth into the trash or toilet. Lather, rinse, and repeat.
Who knows, you might break the habit. At the end of seven days, you can decide which direction you want to go. I hope most of you would chose “former smoker” so that you can throw away the frozen cigarettes.
The US is losing out on Iraqi OIL
OF course, we have spent hundreds of billions, killing millions in Iraq. And for what? So Russia can control a big oil field. From France24:
Russia’s Lukoil win bid for one of the world’s major untapped oil fields. Russian energy giant Lukoil and its partner StatoilHydro have won the bidding for rights to develop the West Qurna-2 reservoir, one of the world’s biggest untapped oil fields. Iraq hopes to boost its oil output with the help of foreign companies.
The race to control energy assets is on around the world, and the US is losing control of its energy future.
beebs
