Tax Cuts?

It amazes me that the Republican Party and its elected representatives may use their veto power on all bills in the Democratic Party won't vote positively for the retaining of the tax cut bill. Even though they know that the only people who are benifiting from this are the richest people in America. They have said that the rich would spend the money and it would trickle down to the poor, but it's just the other way around. If the poor buy the products, the rich will just get richer through the expansion of sales of their products and through that more people will be needed to produce more products to fill the demand for more. Thereby, I say again, the rich will get more money which they have never spent in a manner that helps the poor, just the rich. Who can spend  $ 3 million for a painting that they have to put in a vault so no-one can see it, I wonder what poor person would get any of that money and how many jobs does that create?

It has always been known that the rich want every thing for free, which they get quite often, and not spend a dime. The poor need the money to exist, which is food, clothing, gas and transportation costs. When are they going to wake up that the Democrats were originally started to help the poor and the Republicans were for the rich. Now they claim they are the opposite but it seems to me they are all working for themselves.

There is an old saying that most lawyers are crooked and most of Congress is made up of lawyers. You decide who they are working for.

Think of the Future

Strange that I should say this, but then again I have always thought of the future. But it was always about me and now that I have grown older and ?wiser? I know that we should be thinking of the future not only for ourselves, but also for the business/company we work for. But also for the cities and countries that we live in, but most of all forms the civilization as a whole.

Even Abu Dhabi, UAE has been thinking of the future. Just think of all the new buildings, hotels, harbours and islands they have been constructing. This includes an indoor ski slope. Also one of the most efficient airports in the world. Yes this was all built using the money they received from the oil that was found, but not a citizen of the country has to live in poverty or a slum or worry about where they will get their next meal from. The government has actually thought of the future for their people. Why can't more countries do the same thing, instead of keeping the money only for the rich. They have seen that the oil will run out and then what will their people do?

It's amazing how much money is made by the big businesses, but why does only the top people get a bonus when if it wan't for the ones making the products didn't work hard enough or long enough there wouldn't be any income for the top to get their "little" bonuses. Even the Chineese have learned that to really increase the productivity you have to reward the workers, then they have the incentive to really work harder, thereby increasing the income.

I just saw on CNN International where a CEO in Hong Kong gathered his everyday workers to a meeting and told them just how much he appreciated their efforts and to give bonuses to those that proved to be some of the best workers in their areas. He also announced to them first a new product that the company was to bring out.

The FIFA has just announced the winners of the 2018 and 2022 world cup winners and I am glad to say that even FIFA is thinking of the future of football/soccer around the world and the people of the world. Congratulations to both of the winners and to those who were not chosen because even if they didn't win the right to hold the contests they have earned the respect of the world that they had the forsight to bid for the games in the future. I hope that this decision will help other countries not on the lists will think harder and look further into their country to take the first steps for them to host the games in the FUTURE.

Drawing Viet Vet

I have always thought that this is the way most people thought about us: as just an idea.

Listen

We can't control what is in our heart.
But what we hear can make use wonder.

War on the Beaches (WWII)

Walking on the beach during the early days of World War II and seeing Coast Guardsmen on patrol amidst the debris of torpedoed ships. I think of those men often when I walk the beach, especially at night, when it’s easier to imagine the cold, loneliness, and boredom they endured as part of their contribution to the war.

After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard continued its pre-war beach patrols – usually one man armed only with flares – to spot enemy submarines and watch for saboteurs who might be landing from those subs. All of that changed after June 13, 1942, when Seaman 2nd Class John C. Cullen was approached by a stranger on the beach near Amagansett, Long Island. The men and his companions were Nazi agents ( an extremely incompetent group, fortunately) freshly landed from the German sub U-584. Their discovery and subsequent capture turned the Coast Guard beach patrol into

Spending time at the Jersey shore, as I have since I was a kid, always conjures up my parents and the things they talked about back then. For example, they remembered walking on the beach during the early days of World War II and seeing Coast Guardsmen on patrol amidst the debris of torpedoed ships. I think of those men often when I walk the beach, especially at night, when it’s easier to imagine the cold, loneliness, and boredom they endured as part of their contribution to the war.

After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard continued its pre-war beach patrols – usually one man armed only with flares – to spot enemy submarines and watch for saboteurs who might be landing from those subs. All 

of that changed after June 13, 1942, when Seaman 2nd Class John C. Cullen was approached by a stranger on the beach near Amagansett, Long Island. The men and his companions were Nazi agents ( an extremely incompetent group, fortunately) freshly landed from the German sub U-584. Their discovery and subsequent capture turned the Coast Guard beach patrol into an armed force that used men, dogs and horses (above) to patrol America’s shoreline for the balance of the war.

an armed force that used men, dogs and horses (left) to patrol America’s shoreline for the balance of the war.

US Coast Guard WWII

The Beach Patrol and Corsair Fleet, one of a number of booklets produced by the Coast Guard to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II, tells the little-known story of this aspect of the war. Although saboteurs never amounted to much of a problem, the patrol performed its most important service in its traditional role of lifesaving. A particularly dramatic rescue occurred off the sheer cliffs of Washington State in 1943, when the Soviet freighter Lamut struck the rocky ground below a sheer cliff near Teahwhit Beach. Guardsmen hurled a makeshift heaving line from the cliff top to the freighter so the crewmen could ascend hand over hand, “Hanging between the black clouds above and the snarling, crashing breakers below…One slip on the wet line would have meant instant death.” Wow!

The Corsair Fleet, complete with a Donald Duck logo (above), was a motley conglomeration of yachts and smaller craft offered to the U.S. Navy by the Cruising Club of America for emergency U-Boat spotting off the East Coast in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The Navy refused the offer until an avalanche of bad publicity forced its hand and it gave the Coast Guard permission to organize the Coastal Picket Patrol, more commonly known as the Corsair Fleet. During much of 1942, these ships and their amateur crews patrolled in all kinds of weather and spotted a few U-Boats before being eliminated as an economy measure in 1943. Shades of Ernest Hemingway’s private submarine patrols off Key West!
You can read this fascinating little booklet here or find it in a library here.

Be a Philosopher

A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, without limits, follow his inclinations within the aims of his religious beliefs if he soes so discretly

Remember, even a rebel grows old, and sometimes wiser. He finds the things be rebelled against are now the things he must defend against newer rebels. Aging bones creak in the cold. Seek warmth, be descreet, but follow your own mind. When you have obtained position you will have influence. Otherwise you will tear at the bars until your strength is gone, and you will have accomplished nothing but to rant and rave.

Compromise is and evil word, but just think, we compromise and without it there would be no progress, nor could men live together. You may think a man a fool, but if he is an agreeable fool you say nothing. Isn't that compromise?

Victory is not won in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more.

A man should not compromise his principles, but he need not flaunt them, as a banner. There is a time to talk and  a time to be still. If a wrong is being done, then is the time to speak out.

Study, gain prestige, and people will ask you solemnly for advice about things of which you know nothing.

There are many ways of fighting. Many a man or woman has waged a good war for truth, honor and freedom, who did not shed blood in the process. Beware of those who would use violence, too often it is the violence they   want and neither truth or freedom.

The important thing is to know where you stand and what you believe, Then be true to yourself in all things. Moreover, ikt is foolish to waste time in arguing questions with those who have no power to change.