Monday, 13 July 2015

By on July 13th, 2015 in government, Jen, news, politics

09:17 – This guy gets it: On Second Thought, Stick to Your Guns He understands that US supporters of the 2nd Amendment are going to keep our guns. They’re not for hunting. They’re not for recreational shooting. They’re for the reason that the 2nd Amendment was written in the first place: to keep the government in line.

And here’s a story about a Customer service shocker. Having dealt with this company frequently for years, it’s not shocking to me. What’s shocking is that it’s not the norm. It used to be.

The headlines are shouting that the Greek crisis is over. Not even close. All that that Marathon 17-hour session accomplished was Greece agreeing to even more stringent terms ahead of any discussions about a further bailout, in exchange for the EU providing a trickle of additional funding. Chances are there won’t be any future bailout, because that would require unanimous approval by all of the EU nations. The probability of that happening is close to zero. Even if Germany could somehow be persuaded to agree, there’s still Finland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, and all three Baltic states, all of which are very strongly opposed to “lending” any more of their money to Greece.


10:33 – Email from Jen. She and her husband have been discussing buying a cabin up at the lake, about an hour’s drive from their home, at least under normal conditions. Interestingly, Jen, who is the strongly pro-prepping member of that couple, is opposed, while her husband is in favor.

Jen argues that it’s too far away, too expensive, might be impossible to get to if things really turn bad, and is a distraction from things they should be doing at home. I told Jen that I agree with her. Their home is already reasonably remote from the underclass. They have infrastructure already in place there, and a supportive group of friends and neighbors. If they were near a large city, that’d be one thing. Barbara and I are relocating in part because we’re currently inside the Winston-Salem city limits, entirely too close to large numbers of underclass scum. Jen and her husband are already located in an excellent location, so it makes sense to me that they should focus their efforts (and money) on improving where they are rather than looking for somewhere else to go. I could be wrong, but events are unpredictable, and as Frederick the Great said, “he who defends everything, defends nothing.”


15:22 – As if we needed more evidence, the Greeks are not the only lying weasels in this mess. The eurocrats are a bunch of lying liars as well. EU demands Britain joins Greek rescue fund

The UK needs to withdraw from the EU immediately. The EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), none of whom are EU members, has been encouraging the UK to withdraw from the EU and join them. That would make particular sense for the UK, which was one of the founding members of the EFTA. By doing so, the UK would get what it really wants–free trade with the EU–without any of the political or economic entanglements that are part of EU membership.

66 Comments and discussion on "Monday, 13 July 2015"

  1. brad says:

    So what the hell was the Greek referendum about? They voted “no” to further European-imposed austerity! Is the Greek population now going to meekly accept what appears to be a much more draconian program? It just doesn’t make any damned sense…

  2. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    As I said, this latest “breakthrough” is in reality meaningless.

    If the Greeks had any sense, they’d tell the EU to get stuffed, default on all of their obligations, leave the euro right now, and re-introduce their sovereign currency. They’re screwed no matter what they do, but at least with the drachma they’ll be in control of their own destiny rather than continuing to play lap-dog to the eurocrats.

  3. CowboySlim says:

    I hated my first bite of an olive decades ago, have not since eaten one and never will eat one. Outside of that, I have no dogs in the fight.

  4. Lynn McGuire says:

    “Rotating canned food system – diy”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLouoGGI6ok

  5. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    @Lynn

    Wow. That’s a lot of work for doing something that doesn’t really need to be done. Why not just buy stuff by the case and (if you insist on rotating) store the cases on shelves where you can put the new case under the older cases? We don’t even do that.

    When I go downstairs to grab a case of something, I don’t even bother to look at best-by dates. I might do that if we had 10 or 15 years’ worth of canned goods on hand, but we don’t.

  6. brad says:

    That rotating can system is total overkill – I mean, you could park your car on it. It doesn’t have to survive nuclear blasts, just roll out the next can. Not only for rotation, but also just convenience – cans that automatically move themselves forward on the shelf.

  7. Ray Thompson says:

    That’s a lot of work for doing something that doesn’t really need to be done.

    You fail to grasp the situation. It is not about doing a lot of work that does not need to be done, it about doing a lot of work because you enjoy doing the work.

    Some people keep their tools neatly arranged in the tool chest and hung on the wall in marked areas. Other just toss the tools on the bench and rummage when they need a tool. Same idea, just different use.

  8. dkreck says:

    CS
    I hated my first bite of an olive decades ago, have not since eaten one and never will eat one. Outside of that, I have no dogs in the fight.

    HA HA HA! – but we all know real olives come from California. (Obviously you need a taste of either garlic or bleu-cheese stuffed green olives.)

  9. DadCooks says:

    Obola is going to be the first president to visit a Federal Prison. Too bad he isn’t going to become a permanent resident there.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/12/president-obama-to-be-first-sitting-president-to-visit-federal-prison/

    Anyway, get ready for a possible Executive Order freeing a whole bunch of these skels and the restoring of voting rights to felons.

    Edit: 7/13/15 0953 PDT

    And so it begins:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-commutes-sentences-of-46-non-violent-drug-offenders/2015/07/13/b533f61e-2974-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html

    Keep your powder dry and “Out of the Closet for Trump 2016™”

  10. Dave B. says:

    HA HA HA! – but we all know real olives come from California. (Obviously you need a taste of either garlic or bleu-cheese stuffed green olives.)

    I can’t speak for Slim, but I would never ruin perfectly good garlic by stuffing it into an olive. As to the mold stuffed olives, I pass.

  11. CowboySlim says:

    “HA HA HA! – but we all know real olives come from California. (Obviously you need a taste of either garlic or bleu-cheese stuffed green olives.)”

    Actually, when our tract was developed, olive trees were city planted between sidewalks and streets. Quite a mess when kids skated over them on the sidewalks. We planted one in our backyard and still there. City replaced street trees decades ago.

  12. CowboySlim says:

    Not worried about section 8rs invading here. Freeways and interstates almost impassable now. If Ferguson/Baltimore activities breakout up in LA, the almost impassable will become totally impossible.

  13. Lynn McGuire says:

    beautiful picture of a falcon in a tree
    http://i.imgur.com/YW6Fufm.jpg

  14. Lynn McGuire says:

    I could be wrong, but events are unpredictable, and as Frederick the Great said, “he who defends everything, defends nothing.”

    Watched a great special on the History ??? channel about Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of Europe in the AD late 700s to early 800s. He had everything going great to extract Europe from the Dark Ages and then the Vikings showed up. Defending all of the coastal towns cut his army to pieces with garrisons everywhere.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne

  15. Lynn McGuire says:

    I love competition. “Wal-Mart opens counter offensive against Amazon this week”
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wal-mart-opens-counter-offensive-140110212.html

    “The online price fight is heating up between Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, and it’s not even the holiday shopping season.”

    “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has lowered the threshold for free shipping for online purchases to $35 from $50 for at least 30 days and on Wednesday, it will be offering discounts on thousands of items online.”

    Reminds me of watching the T-Rex and the hybrid fight in the “Jurassic World” Movie. I wonder which one will survive. I just hope I do not get stepped on during the fracas.

  16. MrAtoz says:

    Anyway, get ready for a possible Executive Order freeing a whole bunch of these skels and the restoring of voting rights to felons.

    Obola says they are nonviolent offenders. He probably didn’t review shit, some hack picked who he/she wanted. I say transport them to Vermont, somewhere by that big lake. They’re nonviolent you know.

  17. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I say to give them each a tinfoil hat and then drop them as bunker busters in the Middle East. Well, bunker splatterers.

  18. nick says:

    Re: customer service shocker

    I’m not surprised either. They have been great for me for the last 7 years. On occasion, they have changed suppliers and their fresh veg has been off when I got it home. Just take it back on your next trip, or even just tell them and they will replace it. I’ve had to do this (unfortunately) a couple of times.

    I think the key is that they really are a ‘membership’ organization. Lots of retailers claim that, but Costco truly is. American Express is the same in my experience as they truly do support their members vs retailers (which is why many retailers won’t accept the AMEX card.)

    REI is similar, being a co-op, they work for me and the experience is very different from other outdoor retailers. This has changed a bit as they’ve expanded the clothing section and brought in management from traditional retailing, but it’s still a pleasant place to buy things.

    With instant price comparison, cheap or free shipping, and online retail, you better have some sort of value add if you want to do bricks and mortar selling.

    nick

  19. OFD says:

    ” I say transport them to Vermont, somewhere by that big lake.”

    No problemo, hermanos y hermanas; we’ll put them on small rafts and have power boats tow them at various speeds across the bay here and me and some folks will practice our long-range shots. Iron sights versus optics, betting allowed, bitcoin not accepted.

    In other funny nooz, our bank has still not credited wife’s pay check/s, deposited by me on Saturday AM; the Float continues…gotta pay somebody’s increased greens fee or yacht berth charges.

    Mrs. OFD is in a hotel in Traverse City, Michigan, (home of infamous commie film propagandist Michael Moore) looking out a much larger lake there. Makes ours look like a puddle.

  20. Miles_Teg says:

    “When I go downstairs to grab a case of something, I don’t even bother to look at best-by dates. I might do that if we had 10 or 15 years’ worth of canned goods on hand, but we don’t.”

    I’ve been buying bottled water. The use by date is roughly a year out. I assume I can multiply that by 10-20…

  21. Miles_Teg says:

    Heretics!

    Olives are the food of heaven.

  22. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    As I always tell Barbara, in person I’m a polite, shy, meek, mild, unassuming person (to which she invariably replies something like, “Yeah, like a rabid Tasmanian Devil”, but that’s another story…) But I’ve really had it with progressives in general and SJW’s in particular. If one of them, male or female, gets in my face, there’s certainly a possibility that I will be less than polite.

  23. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I’ve been buying bottled water. The use by date is roughly a year out. I assume I can multiply that by 10-20…

    Yes, water stored in clean PET containers has an essentially unlimited shelf life. I have drunk tap water that I stored 15+ years earlier in clean PET bottles, and it’s fine, albeit a bit flat-tasting. That can be fixed by using an aerating pitcher or simply pouring it vigorously between containers.

    I have also done coliform testing on that same old water, and it passed just as clean as water just drawn from the tap.

  24. OFD says:

    “So much of history is about who gets forgotten in the retelling. The winners not only get to write the history books—they get to keep rewriting them until the losers cease to exist. Just like war, history is a zero-sum game. You either write it, or you get written out of it.”

    http://takimag.com/article/some_dead_bodies_are_more_equal_than_others_john_derbyshire/print#axzz3fnhzBeiC

    And for more boffo nooz concerning our valiant SJWs and Progs:

    http://takimag.com/article/the_week_that_perished_takimag_july_13_2015/print#axzz3fnhzBeiC

  25. OFD says:

    OFD likes olives and will now try the garlic- and blue-cheese-stuff varieties. Outstanding. Also like garlic pickles and there used to be jars of chopped up pickles mixed with mustard at the stores but I can’t find ’em anymore

    Friggin’ hot and humid here again, hot for us being low to mid eighties; if it goes above ninety we die. Or at least do a pretty good impression of dying.

    Most energy I could gin up was for dumping wood cleaner on an old, beat-up farm table on our porch, preparatory to sanding it and applying a bit of finish; this will be my little workshop for firearms, radios and other projects until the cold, i.e., normal weather kicks in regularly, probably October. I’ll have a 17″ HP Workstation laptop out there with stereo sound, running OpenBSD for instructional vids off the net. With a view of our piddly little puddle of a lake.

  26. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    As I’ve said, I think it’s time that all reasonable people start being impolite to progs and SJWs. I’ll leave it up to you guys to decide how impolite you want to be.

  27. OFD says:

    On a scale of one to ten, I’d say…one being a simple smirk, a sneer, a nasty chuckle; five being a bitch-slapping-knee-to-the-groin-stomping; and ten being shoving a live grenade down their throats and drop-kicking them to Kingdom Come.

  28. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Damn. I would have said the grenade down the throat was a one, a forced sex-change operation using only garden tools (followed by the grenade down the throat) was a two, keelhauling (followed by the grenade down the throat) was a three, and so on. I guess I’m just naturally meaner than you are.

  29. Chad says:

    Presidential Commutations aside, I will say that sentencing in the US has gotten a bit ridiculous. The amount of time we make people spend in prison for some crimes is horrendous. The fact that someone can, for example, spend up to 25 years in prison for burglary is absurd. The problem is every time politicians want to look “tough on crime” they pass a bill increasing maximum sentences or implementing minimum sentences or the like. Multiply that across the last several decades and you have some really ridiculous sentencing. Sure, some violent pieces of shit deserve to be lock up for a REALLY long time (if not forever), but not everyone convicted of a felony.

  30. Chad says:

    You should read what the Greeks and their sympathizers have to say on Twitter:
    https://twitter.com/search?q=ThisIsACoup

    They even came up with their own hashtag: #ThisIsACoup

  31. Lynn McGuire says:

    “Flooding the Zone: Obama’s Plan to Integrate Neighborhoods by Class”
    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/07/13/flooding_the_zone_obama_s_plan_to_integrate_neighborhoods_by_class

    Rush finally got around to the news that Obama is going to flood the suburbs with Section 8 housing. I wonder if they will be seizing housing to convert it to section 8?

  32. DadCooks says:

    @Lynn – next best thing, the Government is already underwriting loans to slumlords who are buying up homes for sale in “white” neighborhoods as long as those slumlords use that housing for “half-way” houses or rent them only to Section 8 qualifyees. There are 3 homes in my area that are in this situation. Two are prison half-way houses (one for men and the other for women, on different streets but the backyards adjoin) and one is Section 8. A simple search of the County Land Records proved my conjecture true. The only advantage is that the routine police patrols are now 24/7 and at least 6 times a day.

    Also all new multi-unit house and apartment projects must include a certain percentage of Section 8 homes/apartments are the “State” will not allow the city to issue building permits.

    Yes, our rights have been taken away from us. We are no longer free to associate with those of our own choosing.

    Like it or not, Rush is right.

    Keep your powder dry and I’m “Out of the Closet for Trump 2016™”

  33. ech says:

    I’ve been buying bottled water. The use by date is roughly a year out. I assume I can multiply that by 10-20…

    Don’t count on it. Some bottled water comes in very thin plastic that is neither water nor air tight. I had some water bottles in my garage and they easily lost 20% of their volume in a year.

  34. ech says:

    Out of the Closet for Trump 2016™

    Trump is playing the Republicans. Trump is not a conservative or a Republican.

    He has:
    – backed Hillary! in 2008. She was at his latest wedding, he gave to Bill’s foundation, and said she should have been Obama’s VP.
    – on immigration, he slammed Romney in 2012 for being too hardline, and he told Bill O’Reilly:

    You have to give them a path. You have 20 million, 30 million, nobody knows what it is. It used to be 11 million. Now, today I hear it’s 11, but I don’t think it’s 11. I actually heard you probably have 30 million. You have to give them a path, and you have to make it possible for them to succeed. You have to do that.

    – in 1999 he said he was “totally pro-Choice”.
    – in one of his books, he backed a Canadian-style single payer health care system.
    – he hasn’t yet filed the financial paperwork to be a real candidate.

  35. Rick H says:

    Re Emerg/Prep:

    – How is the book coming? Got a publication date? Hard copy or ebook or both?
    – Any good ‘simple’ prepping books you would recommend? Not the full-press ‘move to wherever and live off the grid’ book, but some good ‘starter’ books.
    – Any good prepping sites you would recommend? Again, not the hard-core places, but ‘starter’ informational site.

    Thanks….Rick…

  36. OFD says:

    “Trump is playing the Republicans. Trump is not a conservative or a Republican.”

    Hear ye, hear ye! No chit. He’s just part of the traveling clown show. There are none, zero, genuine conservatives among the candidates, in the Congress, or at the White House. There are two on SCOTUS and their time is passing.

    “Yes, our rights have been taken away from us. We are no longer free to associate with those of our own choosing.”

    The people of South Boston learned this the hard way over forty years ago.

    “…you have some really ridiculous sentencing.”

    Agreed. I’d let out pretty nearly ALL the nonviolent offenders and put them to work, and paying compensation. Hardcore violent recidivists would be on chain gangs repairing our crumbling national infrastructure; really hard cases would be doing that in Antarctica. Capital sentences, given 100% proof of guilt, for murderers, rapists, child molesters and traitors. And I can be talked into adding lawyers, stockbrokers, banksters, politicians and SJWs.

    “I guess I’m just naturally meaner than you are.”

    That could well be, although rumor has it that you’re just a big ol’ soft teddy bear in real life….

  37. Lynn McGuire says:

    Don’t count on it. Some bottled water comes in very thin plastic that is neither water nor air tight. I had some water bottles in my garage and they easily lost 20% of their volume in a year.

    I’ve got 45 cases of 35 bottle 0.5 L Ozarkas in the garage after my run yesterday to Sam’s Club to grab 10 mores cases (my back is sore today). We typically use 3 cases per week at the house so that is 15 weeks to turnover my current supply. My former USMC son says that in any long term emergency, water usage will run a 24 bottle 0.5L case per person per day (that is what they used in Iraq, 24 bottle 0.5L Nestles cases). I do need to start marking the cases with the month and year purchased so we do not miss any.

    And man, those 0.5 L Ozarkas are almost paper thin! In fact, many of them have trouble standing up in the fridge since the bottoms are so easily deformed. I am concerned that a few of them might actually split when the garage interior temperature hits 120 F or so.

    – in one of his books, he backed a Canadian-style single payer health care system.

    I want a Singer Payer health care system also in the USA. Actually though, the Canadian system is Single Payer and Single Provider. I am firmly against Single Provider as that is where the nightmare is. Canada also has a private system if you want to jump the treatment queue and have the funds to pay for it.

    I am so tired of buying health care insurance for me and my employees. I hate making the decision of how much insurance versus my cost (which is $7K/month right now). And, I have been warned that BCBS rates are going up 32% here in the great State of Texas at the end of 2015.

    And I am not a Progressive! We already have a Single Payer plan here in the USA. It is called Medicare and just about everyone 65 and older on it. Plus the people on Social Security Disability. Covers 15% of the people in the USA and pays 25% of the health care costs. The system works well and could stand covering everyone. Yes, there are payment issues but those can be fixed with the application of a two by four upside the head to some congress peoples.

  38. Lynn McGuire says:

    “Remember when technology was exciting?”
    http://www.cringely.com/2015/07/13/remember-when-technology-was-exciting/

    I miss Byte magazine.

  39. OFD says:

    As do I. And the days when Jerry Pournelle was writing for it, covering the DEC Rainbow and how I could mod it to do neat stuff. Meanwhile I was also reading Charlie Matco (the late Terry Shannon) on the whole DEC line of stuff.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Shannon_%28IT%29

    I still have his book around here somewhere…”Introduction to OpenVMS.”

    I was also a member of the old Boston Computer Society and a regular participant on DEC’s pioneering blog, “EasyNET.” Especially in the SOAPBOX::SOAPBOX forums. Where I got threatened and then the threat was partly carried out, by IRA symps in MA and NH. And a verbal reprimand from my “boss,” too.

  40. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    – How is the book coming? Got a publication date? Hard copy or ebook or both?
    – Any good ‘simple’ prepping books you would recommend? Not the full-press ‘move to wherever and live off the grid’ book, but some good ‘starter’ books.
    – Any good prepping sites you would recommend? Again, not the hard-core places, but ‘starter’ informational site.

    I’m still working on it, but it’s much lower priority than our business. It’ll be finished when it’s finished.

    The best intro-level prepping book I know is Survival Mom by Lisa Bedford.

  41. Lynn McGuire says:

    I like M. D. Creekmore in addition to this place:
    http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/

    Seems to be a nice mix of prepping, habitats, guns and ammo, food storage, food raising, chickens, and a general craziness about the coming apocalypse. His contributors are writing over half of the blog which is nice to see the crazy spread around.

  42. ech says:

    It is called Medicare and just about everyone 65 and older on it. Plus the people on Social Security Disability.

    Medicare is only sort-of single payer. You still have to shop for the coinsurance and the drug insurance. I’m pretty sure that the disabled are on Medicaid until age 65. My disabled brother-in-law (Down Syndrome) has to apply to the state for it and has severe limits on how much he can own/earn.

  43. OFD says:

    “…has to apply to the state for it and has severe limits on how much he can own/earn.”

    Of course. We must beg for the few bones the State cares to throw us, especially the most needy and vulnerable among us through no fault of their own, but we have scads of dough available for wars and the Incumbent’s outrageously expensive vacations.

    And meanwhile guys in my vets group up here, some of them in wheelchairs, or riddled with shrapnel, or their brains hammered by IEDs, are made to jump through endless hoops and routinely screwed over and denied treatment or blown off. The paperwork alone is seemingly designed to discourage us from going very far with it, and forget about actually accomplishing anything online. I’ve tried that, and I’m an IT guy who can type fast using all my fingers and thumbs with a “fast” net connection and I couldn’t do it.

    But don’t get me started…

  44. Lynn McGuire says:

    “Disability Planner: Medicare Coverage If You’re Disabled”
    http://www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/dapproval4.html

    “We automatically enroll you in Medicare after you get disability benefits for two years. The two parts of Medicare we enroll you in are hospital insurance and medical insurance.”

    I wonder if your BIL is on SSI instead of SSD? SSD is for people who have qualified for SS based on working for 40 ??? quarters. SSI is for people who could never work.

    I have no idea how many people are on SSI and SSD. I do know that SSD is rapidly growing right now in age 50+ people who cannot find a job and have some ailment. I suspect that SSI is rapidly increasing right now also.

    Medicare is only sort-of single payer. You still have to shop for the coinsurance and the drug insurance.

    Yup. I never said that Medicare was perfect but the insurance nightmare that we have now is rapidly spiraling into the ditch due to interference by the Federal government. I know a couple (man and wife) who are paying almost $1,000 per month for Medicare add-on insurance.

    Eleven million people on SSD plus 59 million people on SS:
    http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/OASDIbenies.html

    Eight million people on SSI:
    http://www.ssa.gov/oact/ssir/SSI14/ssi2014.pdf

  45. nick says:

    And none of it is sustainable without an expanding economy and a growing workforce.

    nick

  46. nick says:

    Well, I was right, unfortunately. Shades of brown, 5 of 6 with arrest records. 14-18yo.

    PICTURED: The baby-faced teens charged with ‘murdering beloved Albuquerque grandfather on his driveway as they roamed his neighborhood breaking in to homes’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3159507/Teens-charged-murdering-Steve-Gerecke-appear-court-time.htm

    nick

  47. OFD says:

    It would be a grand per month for us if I did not have VA treatment.

    “I do know that SSD is rapidly growing right now in age 50+ people who cannot find a job and have some ailment.”

    Yeah, there are vets younger than me applying for this, ’cause they really can’t do much in the way of work anymore. I WANNA work but apparently am unable to get a regular decent-paying job again; it’s been over two years now since my layoff. At nearly 62, what a joke. So I have to rig something up myself, which I’m working on now.

    Half the country is paying for the other half; soon it will be a quarter paying for three-quarters, etc. Meanwhile, let’s let in another tens of millions of illegal immigrants, no matter their records of murder, assault, robbery, rape and drug dealing, and no matter the hadji sleeper cells that come in with them.

    None dare call it treason…

  48. OFD says:

    “Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3159507/Teens-charged-murdering-Steve-Gerecke-appear-court-time.htm

    Yep, read about it in the foreign press; it won’t get covered here, except by “extreme right-wing” groups, you know, those people clinging bitterly to their guns and religion.

  49. Miles_Teg says:

    RBT wrote:

    “As I’ve said, I think it’s time that all reasonable people start being impolite to progs and SJWs. I’ll leave it up to you guys to decide how impolite you want to be.”

    If I met Sandra Bullock and she turned out to be a rabid feminist prog SJW I’d be very very polite to her… 🙂

  50. brad says:

    It’s always a question of “what’s a disability”.

    It’s understandable that people affected with some injury feel like they ought to get some compensation, especially if it keeps them from working in their usual field. On the other hand, if you can still work by changing fields, then really you shouldn’t qualify for disability. Just as an example, there are plenty of construction workers who get injured in some way that keeps them from doing heavy work. However, there are other jobs that they could do, even if not in their field, and probably not paying very well. Should they get disability?

    Then there is plenty of outright fraud. Who can prove whether or not your back really hurts? Sometimes, people go to ridiculous extremes. There was a woman here with some awful skin allergy. The authorities were suspicious, so they planned a surprise visit, with a photographer sent secretly in advance. They photographed her with normal arms – when she knew the officials were coming, she ran to the kitchen (I guess her hubby delayed the officials) and poured boiling water over her arms, and maybe even took a knife to herself. Nuts, just nuts.

    There was lots of fraud among refugees from the Balkan war, claiming to be injured and then retiring back home on Swiss disability. What would be a marginal living here was luxurious retirement there.

    It’s nice, and a luxury, that our society can afford a social safety net. The discussion comes in how big that net should be, and also in how to detect and deal with people who try to cheat the system. Personally, I would be for the harshest of punishments for the latter: no more government bennies ever. For the former, well, intelligent people can disagree – personally, I think an awful lot more should be left to private charities.

  51. Jack Smith says:

    Had a can of Campbell’s “chunky beef” soup for lunch yesterday, with a use by date code of 7-2013 on the can.

    It had a distinct metallic taste, but seems to have resulted in no ill effects. No signs of can swelling or the like.

  52. Miles_Teg says:

    Scott Walker. Has he got a chance? (Yes OFD, I know he’s evil incarnate…)

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-14/barron-scott-walker-time-a-chance-for-republicans-to-get-serious/6615468

  53. Miles_Teg says:

    “There was lots of fraud among refugees from the Balkan war, claiming to be injured and then retiring back home on Swiss disability. What would be a marginal living here was luxurious retirement there.”

    Same sort of rort happens here. A Turkish immigrant was given a disability pension because they couldn’t speak English. Of course, they needed someone to care for them, so a relative got a similar pension.

    They then returned to Turkey, where inability to speak English was not a disability. The government closed that rort, but not retrospectively, so the couple are still living nicely on their Aussie pension in Turkey.

  54. OFD says:

    “Scott Walker. Has he got a chance? (Yes OFD, I know he’s evil incarnate…)”

    Snowball’s chance.

    And no, he’s not evil incarnate, just another ditzy lying political hack bailing from that same circus clown car.

    I sincerely hope you’re not gonna fulfill my cartoon version of the typical Murkan derp who gushes over every supposed hero-savior to pop up on the MSM…

    We. Have. Nobody.

  55. MrAtoz says:

    Trump 2016!

  56. OFD says:

    Hey, is your avatar an alien wearing a sombereo? Muy bueno, hermano!

    They’re selling Trump pinatas in that failed state to our south; people up here are probably buying them, too, in our soon-to-be failed state, El Norte.

  57. MrAtoz says:

    Si, illegal alien. Taco Señor?

  58. Miles_Teg says:

    “I sincerely hope you’re not gonna fulfill my cartoon version of the typical Murkan derp who gushes over every supposed hero-savior to pop up on the MSM…”

    Nah, just Scott and Rand. You’d prefer them over Hillary too if you’d taken a few less bumps on the head while working in Uncle’s SE plantations.

  59. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Greg, I think you’re assuming that what they say publicly indicates who they really are, which is always a dangerous assumption. Yes, I’d be happy with Ron Paul, who was just what he said he was. Rand? Not so much. And Scott Walker? I’m prepared to believe that he would try to stick to his guns, but I don’t much care for what he says he is. No abortion even in cases of incest or rape? Give me a break.

  60. OFD says:

    “You’d prefer them over Hillary too…”

    Nope. They’re all Hillary-LITE. Might as well get the real deal and have done with it.

    As for Walker’s alleged position on abortion or anything else, like Mr. RBT says, they say one thing during campaigns but it’s all forgotten upon election. And even if he was elected, he’d have a snowball’s chance of running that by the alleged majority of the Murkan derps now. They think abortion is about the same as having a tooth extracted or a hangnail removed. Thanks to decades of agitprop from commie sons of bitches, liars, and perverts.

    I really think y’all in other countries ought to either come live here through an election cycle or pay closer attention to just how venal and corrupt the process is now; I mean, it’s always been corrupt, but MONEY is the exclusive deciding factor and nothing else matters, regardless of what they say.

    In terms of money right now, the Jebster is in first place with many tens of millions on hand to blow; Rodham a fairly distant second. That can change daily. They both suck, of course, as does the rest of the field. We had a chance once with Ron Paul, but that’s gone now, long gone, and there is no one else. Period.

  61. Lynn McGuire says:

    Scott Walker and Rick Perry are the only proven fiscal conservatives in the running. Rand Paul is promising but unproven.

    All three are social conservatives also, wait, I’m not sure about Rand Paul. However, in these days, you can rely upon SCOTUS to keep them in check.

    Unlike OFD, I do not want to hasten the apocalypse which Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s wife will surely do. She seems to be as clueless as ever and with failing health to boot. Those two items plus her inherent liberalism adds up to dictatorship in my mind. Older people, especially drug dependent such as myself, do not do well in times of civil revolution.

    I will vote for just about anyone else, specifically Perry, Walker, or Paul. I suspect that at least two of those will be out of the running by the time we get to vote here in The Great State of Texas. I would even vote for Trump over Clinton, that is how desperate I am.

  62. Miles_Teg says:

    “No abortion even in cases of incest or rape? Give me a break.”

    What chance has that got of getting past the Supreme Court. And if it does think of the civil disobediance campaign. Give me a break.

  63. Miles_Teg says:

    Trump’s nuts. Word is he’s a Democrat puppet running to spoil the Repubs. Admit it Dave, you wouldn’t vote for the Pope if he was running. You’re just a contrary old git.

  64. OFD says:

    “Scott Walker and Rick Perry are the only proven fiscal conservatives in the running.”

    Who cares? Immaterial and irrelevant. What they may have said or done in the past or right now means zero, zed, zilch, once they get into office in Mordor, as has been proven countless times already in those precincts.

    “She seems to be as clueless as ever and with failing health to boot. Those two items plus her inherent liberalism adds up to dictatorship in my mind.”

    All true. If she gets too far outta control, I’m pretty sure the machinery will kick in at some point to get her outta there and put the VP in; if not, then we’re looking at a couple of generals and/or admirals stepping up. But it would have to be pretty drastic.

    “What chance has that got of getting past the Supreme Court.”

    None whatsoever. And once the two remaining genuine conservatives are gone and replaced by two more commie perverts, we’ll have legalized incest, pedophilia, bestiality and necrophilia. This is what is known as a “slippery slope.” You think I’m crazy? Loony? How many of us would have thought fifty years ago that homosexual marriage would become the national law of the land? And that cake bakers would be forced to bake cakes for their weddings or be arrested, fined, sued, jailed, whatever? While “sanctuary cities” could harbor illegal aliens/immigrants who are rapists, pedophiles and murderers?

    “Admit it Dave, you wouldn’t vote for the Pope if he was running. You’re just a contrary old git.”

    Haha, not THIS pope, that’s for sure. Hey, popes can’t run; they ain’t Murkan citizens, Grasshopper. You really DO need to examine our actual elections and voting processes, don’t you?

    And yes, I am a contrary old git. If I wasn’t, I’d have to have my head examined…oh wait…

  65. Lynn McGuire says:

    And once the two remaining genuine conservatives are gone and replaced by two more commie perverts

    Ginsburg and Sotomayer?

  66. OFD says:

    No, two MORE commie perverts, in ADDITION to Ginsburg (though she’s not long for the Court, either) and Sotomayer. Ginsburg will be replaced by a third commie pervert.

    So the court will be packed with them, just as in Pharaoh Roosevelt II’s day. At that point the regime will double and triple down on everything. While the Russians laugh at us in utter disbelief that we’re going down the same road they went for seventy years.

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