This Says It All About The United States

Thomas Jefferson once said:

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who
are willing to work and give to those who would not.

DAMN! That sounds EXACTLY like Welfare, doesn't it? Giving money to folks who just sit on their butts every day, watching TV, waiting for their next Welfare check, then spending it on big screen TV's, X-Boxes, big fancy cars, etc, etc. Then they just go back to sitting on their big butts waiting for us workers/taxpayers to send them more money.

Then there is this editorial that says it ALL about what it is like to live in the United States today with all the bleeding heart liberals, protesters, illegal immigrant supporters, double-talking politicians, and so on. Go ahead. Read the editorial. Unless of course you are afraid to read how the United States is a really F***ed up place to live now.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1235.snc4/156701_147138282003387_100001216491126_259618_3952686_n.jpg


Highlight the link then right click, then follow.

Perhaps There Is Another Explanation

In this world, in this life, there is always more than one side to a story; more than one explanation; one than one possibility. Just about everything you can imagine has, at least, an opposite. For instance, hot-cold, fast-slow, good-evil, and so on. So it is with religion.

Anyone who has read the Christian Old Testament and/or the New Testament knows that the Pontius Pilate washed his hands and told the Jews that he saw no reason for Jesus to be crucified. However, the Jews were not satisfied with Pilate's decision to not crucify Jesus. They screamed for the crucifixion of Jesus. Why? Why did the Jews want Jesus crucified?

Well, I am not a scholar, but the way I understand it, Jesus was upsetting the status quo among the Jews. The Rabbis at that time were very powerful. They were also somewhat corrupt. The common Jew did not have access to the Torah. Markets were doing business inside the temples and on the temple steps. Jesus became very angry and chased the merchants out of a temple and the market.

Much of what Jesus was preaching was in conflict with what the Rabbis were teaching. Jesus was, again, upsetting the way things were, and that was upsetting the powers that be among the Jewish population.

It was the Rabbis who paid Judas to betray Jesus. It was the Jews who cried out for Pilate to crucify Jesus. And so it was done. The Son of God, the Messiah was killed.

The Jewish people of the world are still waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. They refuse to admit that the Messiah has already been here and left. The Jews refuse to admit it was the Jews who had Jesus killed. If they were to admit that Jesus was the Messiah, they would also have to admit it was the Jews that had God's son killed. Imagine. The Jews--supposedly God's chosen people, a people more special than any other group of people in history [according to them], and then they see to it that the Messiah is killed. Perhaps that might have really ticked off God, what do you think?

Could it be that all the persecution the Jews have suffered over the centuries has been because God is pretty angry with the Jews for killing his son? Could it be the Jews will NEVER admit Jesus was the Messiah?

I offer this only as a possibility for speculation, not as an explanation. It is worth considering. After all, there is more than one way to look at things.

The Korea Situation

Korea's unprovoked shelling of South Korea has put the entire peninsula on high alert. Add the March 2010 incident when North Korea sank a South Korean naval ship killing 43 Korean sailors and you have the makings of a war, which could include both the U.S. and China.

China is a North Korean ally, but is quietly angry with North Korea's military action. China has been trying to improve U.S.-China relations and a war between North and South Korea could mean China will leave North Korea to itself.

That action could be a fatal one for North Korea. If China withholds its food and supply lines to North Korea, the North Korean government could collapse, sending thousands of refugees into China and the old government replaced by a Pro-U.S. government.

Recently, the U.S. sent the aircraft carrier George Washington into the Yellow Sea as a sign of U.S. support for South Korea, but the presence of the carrier makes China nervous. China requested the U.S. four months ago to refrain from sending any carriers into the Yellow Sea, which the U.S. agreed to do, but the military action North Korea took against South Korea changes things dramatically. Although the Yellow Sea is in international waters, China does not want a U.S. carrier roaming so close to China's shores.

It is believed that North Korea's actions is nothing more than some huffing and puffing to ensure the government is not ignored, but taken seriously, however, its actions are driving a wedge between North Korean and Chinese relations.

The U.S. and South Korea are holding military exercises in the Yellow Sea during the next few weeks, knowing North Korea will be taking notice.

If a war starts in the area, there will be no clear winners. And with North Korea's nuclear capability, strategists believe North Korea won't hesitate to use their missiles if they see they are losing the war.

Taking Surveys

Okay, like everyone else, I have been searching for a way to make some money online. I recently came across an honest-to-goodness way to make a lot of money online, but that will be in a later post.

About taking surveys, well--you can make some money and you can just waste a lot of time and money. It's your choice, but I am posting this to help you avoid wasting time and spending money.

Many so-called surveys are just tricks to get you to buy some stuff; sometimes a lot of stuff. You see an ad where you can get a free Dell computer. Oh, yeah. Did you see the little font phrase that says, "Participation required"? Uh, huh. That is the catch. In order to get the free Dell, you have to spend a bunch of money on stuff you really don't need or want. SO, watch out for that little tricky phrase.

Other surveys will only offer you points that either get you nothing more than an entry into a drawing (which is nothing more than a raffle ticket) or you have to collect until you get like 25,000 points before they send you a wad of bubble gum.
Now, think about this: so you get 1500 points that are deposited into "this month's drawing" for, say, $1000.00--wow. A lot of money, right? BUT--how many OTHER people are in that drawing? Thousands? Millions?

Your chance of winning depends on how many entries there are. If one million people in the world, or even if only in the U.S., have their 1500 points added into the pot, just what do you think your chances are of winning?

I got disgusted with spending 30 minutes taking a survey just to get some points added into a drawing that I may never win. I could take surveys for years and never win. Excuse me, but my time is worth a lot more than a few points.

I finally terminated my membership/subscriptions to a lot of survey promoters because I want money for my time, not a raffle ticket.

There are some legitimate survey promoters on the web, but you have to be very careful when reading what it is they will give you for your time. Do not spend your time with folks that require you to "participate." they just want you to buy something. The only people making money there are the people you buy from and the survey promoters who get a commission at your expense.

In a new post I will actually give you links to honest-to-goodness survey promoters that will pay you money for your time. Oh, and...I am not going to make you pay for the info. Isn't that a revolutionary idea?

Bogus $200 Walmart Gift Card

During the first week in October, I received a telemarketing call from some telemarketing scammers who got my number from information I submitted when applying for membership to take surveys for money.

[On a side note, be very, very careful about signing up for "surveys for cash" ads. Most of them just want you to buy something and will only give you what they say they will give you after you sign up for a dozen things you don't really want. In a later note (soon after this one) I will give you the names and links to legitimate survey takers and mystery shopper companies who are also legitimate.]

Anyway, I was speaking to some young man who had an Indian or Pakistani accent. A lot of what he told me I had trouble understanding the first time, and when I tried to get him to stop and repeat it, he just kept talking. I had to actually yell/scream into the phone: "HEY HEY HEY! STOP A MINUTE!" before he finally shut up. Then I got him to speak a little slower.

He told me about a membership in the United Benefit Advantage program, which is a discount shopper program. It sounded like a good deal, with a two week trial period costing only $4.95, so I said okay. He then told me if I agreed to sign up for four magazine subscriptions, I would receive a $200 Walmart gift card! I found that hard to believe, so I asked him several times, "You mean I am going to receive a $200 Walmart card--I mean an actual $200--just for signing up for some magazine subscriptions?" He said yes, it is true.

He took my address and CC number. He actually took my address THREE times, before he got it right. I made him read it back to me to make sure he had it right. He told me I would receive a packet in the mail within 4-7 days. My bank account was charged $4.95 for the buying program. I did not know my bank acct was also going to be charged $49.95 for the magazines! I didn't know that until after ten days when I still had not received anything in the mail.

After ten days, I called this guy back. Of course, I couldn't get transferred to the guy with the difficult accent, so I spoke to a nice woman (I took note of her name, but won't put it here) and she was surprised that I had not received anything. She concurred, though, that I would be receiving a $200 Walmart card. She took my address down again and said she would be sure shipping has my address and find out why I had not yet received the package.

A few days later, I get a text message from this shipping department stating they needed my shipping address to mail the pack out to me! OMG! I was beginning to sense a scam here. Being that I was beginning to fear a scam, I checked my bank account. Fifty dollars had been taken out, but I had received nothing. I called back one more time. This time I was getting pretty hot. I spoke to another person who took my address again and passed it onto shipping. Being that I was a little skeptical, I immediately demanded a refund of my fifty dollars for the magazine subscriptions, but did not demand a refund of the $4.95--yet. The man said a refund was in progress and gave me a confirmation number, which I wrote down. He said it would take 5-7 working days for the money to get back into my account. It's a crime that it takes a business only seconds to TAKE your money, but it takes DAYS to get it refunded.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, I receive a package in the mail from United Benefits advantage and a magazine. The magazine was not the one I asked for. I asked to receive People Magazine, but instead I received a copy of US magazine.

So, on Monday morning I called this damn telemarketing business again and ask to speak with a supervisor. The guy that answered the phone REFUSED to give me a supervisor until I told him why I wanted to speak with one. I told him I had a problem with this entire business transaction and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. He kept refusing to put a supervisor on the line until I told him what it was that I had a problem with. Now I was getting really damn angry!

I told him I did not get what I was told I would get, although money had been taken out of my account and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. He said he would see if a supervisor was available. He put me on hold. About ten seconds later he said there was no supervisor available. I told him that was BULLSHIT! I told him it's just that no supervisor wanted to talk to me, so I was going to contact the Consumer Protection Agency, the FBI, any other regulatory agency, law enforcement agency that might have any jurisdiction in this matter and make a full report.

I told him I was also going to post this entire incident on Facebook, My Space, my blogs, and anywhere else I can, so I can spread it throughout the Internet and maybe save other people from being scammed like I was.

If you speak to someone on the phone and they mention you will receive a $200 Walmart gift card--HANG UP! If you fall for this and give them your account information, you are gonna get screwed like I was.

On Monday, I also called United Benefit Advantage and cancelled my membership there. I told the nice young lady that I had no problems with UBA. I had problems with the telemarketing company and told her what happened. She said she was going to pass on to management what happened, because it cost them business. I cancelled my membership not because of UBA, but because of the bad experience with the telemarketing company, so the telemarketing company cost UBA business. The young lady agreed to refund my $4.95, too.

So, I should get my $49.95 refunded and my $4.95 refunded within a few days. I WON'T be getting a Walmart gift card. I don't know if the magazine subscription(s) will be automatically cancelled or if they will continue. I will just have to wait and find out.

My advice to you, is don't fall for these damn telemarketing scams. Most are probably SHADY at BEST! Everyone wants your money! Don't let them have it.

In my next note, I will tell you about some honest, legitimate mystery shopping companies and survey companies. Many are scammers, but I have been through them and know who they are.

Be careful, my friends.

Side Effects

Side Effects

By

Thomas Carlucci


If you think watching the evening news is depressing, watch commercials for medications. I discovered while at a 45º angle in my recliner, a score of different maladies that I never knew existed until a law was passed allowing these advertisements to educate me in my very own home during prime time.

For instance, you might be suffering from some obscure disease called Digititus Circle Reversal that causes your fingers to curl backwards. Well, taking medication X will fix that, but there are some side effects.

By taking medication X, you might suffer a side effect that causes spontaneous pregnancy, for instance. Perhaps you might find yourself consumed with the overwhelming desire to run onto the freeway during rush hour.

There’s more. You could be plagued with the worst case of runs you ever had, and you are confined to the john because you ran out of toilet paper and your spouse is at the supermarket buying every roll in the store.

Other side effects include hair growing out of your eye-balls, your ears drooping to your knees, or one butt cheek swelling to twice the size of the other.

After hearing all the side effects of those miraculous medications, I think I would rather suffer with the maladies than take any medications to treat them.

Welcome Labor Day!

Labor Day is like a logic circuit to me; as one gate closes another automatically opens. It signals the end of summer and the beginning of my favorite time of the year.

Football games every Sunday, Monday nights and sometimes on Saturdays, too. Then there is the all-important game on Thanksgiving Day.

The weather man forecasts cool fronts, rain, sometimes snow in higher elevations. Leaves are turning color and as they fall they blanket our lawns and litter the streets. Flocks of migrating birds can be both seen and heard overhead as they head south to wait out the winter in the north. Early morning school buses cruise through the neighborhoods picking up children and making people waiting in cars behind them impatient. Windows are opened to air out the summer and refresh our homes with the coolness of fall. All manner of winter clothing is removed from storage and hung in closets just waiting for Jack Frost to redden our noses and cheeks. Ah, there is much about this time of year that warms the cockles of my heart. How come those cockles don't show up in x-rays?

Parents see Christmas coming, usually faster than they want, but mum's the word. Perhaps if they don't mention Christmas it will not come so quickly. Although, plans are made, even if just in their thoughts, about lay-a-ways.

Stores, however, start putting up Christmas decorations and displays usually right after the second pop quiz in math. They can hardly wait for Christmas, hoping this one coming will be a boon for business that hasn't been seen for a few seasons.

Backyards are cleaned up and winterized, storm windows installed, lawnmowers serviced and stored and the snowblowers taken out of storage.

There are many tasks, both pleasant and laborious, that are awakened like a hibernating bear after Labor Day has passed into history. In spite of the prospect of a hard winter, people get excited, albeit to different degrees, about the coming holidays. Especially football enthusiasts.

I love the holidays. Except for one thing: I cannot take another viewing of "It's A Wonderful Life." Enough already. I'd rather be raking leaves then have to endure another broadcast of that movie. Yes, it is a wonderful movie; if you've never seen it before or can count on only one hand how many times you've seen it. When you have to go to the fingers of your other hand, that is too many times.

Let me be the first to wish all of you Happy Holidays, which includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. Now, that should shorten my Christmas card list.

Calvin & Hobbes

Islam & Muslims

My parents were Christians in general, Catholic & Methodist in particular, who compromised and changed to Lutheran. I was raised in the Lutheran church and never thought about changing to another denomination until I went to an USAF school in Illinois. I met a young woman there who brought me to a  Baptist church. At first, it was quite a shock to see how the Baptists preach out of the pulpit and so emotionally.  After a while, I actually embraced the Baptist style of preaching.  Today, I go to both Lutheran and Baptist services.

My father was in the USAF, and I grew up in several different countries: Germany, United Kingdom, France, & Belgium. We visited many other countries while we were in Europe, like Holland, Scotland, Luxembourg, Austria, to name a few.

Growing up in these countries as a child, I made lots of foreign friends and learned about their societies, their customs, and so on.  The experiences I had as I was growing up taught me, along with the teachings of my parents, to accept other people, other cultures, the beliefs and superstitions of other religions with respect for them.

I have problems with other religions that will prevent me from ever changing my beliefs to their's, but I also acknowledge the Christian religion also has problems mostly due to the conflicts (different interpretations) in the Bible and the really off-beat fanatics who have taken Christianity off the really deep end.

I have problems with different denominations within the Christian religion. I have attended other churches seeking either a reason to join or a reason to avoid that denomination.  For the most part, there usually are only a few beliefs with which I find difficult to accept.  I could list them, but it would serve no purpose to do so. Instead, I want to express the major problems I have with Islam and Muslims.

This essay is not meant to anger Muslims or provoke them to seek me out to kill me, but only to express my freedom of speech and be entirely honest about what I believe and what I don't believe, and any problems that bother me to some extent beyond interesting.

I am a Caucasian male, but in so being I do not live life believing whites are always right and non-whites are always wrong.  For instance, what the whites did to the American Indians during the birth and growth of the United States was often unforgivable and in the greatest degree of cruelty. To be fair, the various tribes also were extremely violent and sadistic.  What happened was a classic case of  'do what we say or die', instead of understanding the cultures of others and working to live peacefully together.

The Crusades to the Middle East were misguided.  It is terribly wrong to make attempts to force people to change their religious beliefs to the beliefs of the oppressors. Religious beliefs are usually as deeply a part of a person as the marrow in their bones, and this makes it difficult for those people to change their beliefs.  Those who easily change from one belief to another should be suspected of not really being committed to either.

Parents pass on their beliefs to their children, and their children pass on their beliefs to their children, and so on and so on for generations.  Christian missionaries travel to spread the word of the Christian God, but they make no effort to force people to believe in Christ.  The missionaries just keep preaching and teaching.  They do things to demonstrate what people who love Christ would do and should do to please God.  If people then believe, it is a choice they make of their own free will.

The biggest problem I have with Islam and radical Muslims is the way they are trying to force non-believers to believe. It is my understanding that they have two objectives: first, to send a message to the United States by killing innocent people, and the more they kill the better; second, to make everyone on the planet convert to Islam.

It is a futile effort to try and change the beliefs of everyone.  It will not happen; ever. The continued efforts of radicals and fanatics to convert others does nothing but perpetuate the deaths of thousands of people; a complete waste of lives.

Muslims, understand this: spread your message. Broadcast it to the world. Publish it in every book, magazine, all over the Internet. But don't tell people they must convert to Islam or die.  Most people will choose death, and in so choosing nothing is accomplished.

This life we live is a brief one. The belief all religions have is that there is a better life after this one.  We all believe the next life is peaceful and beauty beyond belief.  Most importantly, most of us believe the next life is spiritual, not physical.

How many believe in an evil supreme being?  Maybe a few do, but they would not be the mainstream believers.  The mainstream believers, whether they be Buddists, Muslims, Christians, Jews, or whatever, believe their gods are good, forgiving, full of grace. It seems to me the fanatic Muslim believes their god, Allah, says it is okay to kill and murder.  What kind of god is that?

After many years of speaking with people of other denominations/religions, I have concluded that there really is only one god.  It's just that all the different religions see Him in different ways.  We all need to communicate, but we do it in different languages. We all need to worship, but we worship differently.

I can visualize Judgment Day when all humans will face God, but He will be much different than we imagined.  We will all realize, even the Muslims, that we were very much wrong about Him.  He will be greater than we imagined; more forgiving, more perfect; more than our feeble human brains could possibly believe.

Just because we believe in God differently does not give one religion the right to exterminate another.  Muslims today, the radical ones, are now even worse than any of the Crusaders ever were.  Muslims believe eventually everyone on the planet will accept Islam as the one true religion.  It is insane for anyone to believe killing and murdering will make this change.

Killing in the name of Islam is thoroughly counter-productive.  Each murder, each killing, each instance of mass killing, does not convince people to convert in order to live, but instead drives them further away from any chance of becoming a Muslim.  Each death to the non-Muslim is reprehensible and unforgivable.  It raises the question, what kind of god is Allah? An evil god? A murderous god?  Is this the kind of god Muslims worship? Is that the kind of god Muslims want everyone to worship?

Message to radical Muslims: killing people is not going to convince the Earth's population to convert to Islam.  It will only convince the people to despise and even hate you.  You are not furthering your objective, but moving further away from it.

In a later post I will talk about the things in the Islam religion that I cannot now and never will accept; not even under the threat of death.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Day the Training Wheels Came Off

Way back in the 50's, bikes were a lot different then. They had pinache, like most cars were in those days. You could tell what make & model a car was from three blocks away, you know? Fins were big then and a car was adorned with lots of chrome. Bicycles were that way, too. Today cars are almost clones of each other. How freaking BORING!. Now you have to practically get close enough to see the freaking plastic adornments on the car to identify who made them.

Back to bikes. The day my dad asked me if I was ready to ride without the training wheels, I felt like a teen getting ready to drive the first time without a screaming parent yelling, "WATCH OUT FOR THAT TRAIN TWO MILES DOWN THE ROAD! YOU SEE IT?" I was excited, yet apprehensive. I mean, would my dad be able to get me to an ER before all my blood ran out of my head should I have an unpleasant encounter with Mrs. Flomax's concrete wall dividing her lawn from the sidewalk? I told myself my dad would drive like the wind while my mother smothered me with a huge bath towel while screaming, "Faster! He's dying!"

I ended that vision when my dad snapped me out of it by cursing the little wrench that slipped off the rounded nut, causing his hand to smack against the bike frame, which was obviously much harder than my dad's hand. "Edward! Watch your language," my mother told him through the open door in the garage that led into the kitchen. Finally, the training wheels were off, and I began to hyperventilate. My dad shoved a big brown paper grocery bag over my head and told me to calm down.

He then wheeled the bike out onto the driveway and I followed. I didn't get far, because I walked into my dad's '46 DeSoto. My dad let out a long sigh and said, "You can take that BAG off your head now." The world came quickly back into focus.

I approached my red and white bike adorned with chrome and streamers coming out of the end of the handlebar grips. My mom came outside to watch, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel and holding a first aid kit under her arm. Slowly the bike began to roll down the driveway with my dad hanging onto to fender over the rear wheel. He helped me make the turn onto the sidewalk and continued holding on for a while longer...then he let go. I assured myself I was going to die.

All I could see was the front wheel as I wobbled down the sidewalk like some kid having a stroke. I kept my eyes on the side walk just in front of the wheel. That was a mistake. The next thing I saw was a huge dog on a leash right in front me. I closed my eyes, grimaced and felt myself flying through the air in the darkness (my eyes were closed, remember?). The dog was yelping and his owner, Mr. Extendz, was yelling, "Damn kid! What the hell is wrong with you?" I was tangled up in the leash, the dog and between two huge human legs. I felt the warm blood oozing onto my my body.

"DAD!" I screamed. "I am bleeding!" I opened my eyes and saw him come running toward the three of us. Mr. Extendz untangled the leash from around me and my bike, all the while the dog was barking loudly. He took his dog back in the direction from which they came; back to their house. My mom arrived a second later with the first aid kit, bandages and insect ointment flying out all around her.

"I'm bleeding, Dad! Don't let me die!" He just stood above me, watching me bleed to death. I thought he must have seen there was no hope in saving me. My mom arrived and stopped next to me--motionless. I figured she, too, saw her first-born going to the big bike track in the sky. Then they both started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh, great! I am dying and all you two can do is laugh at me?"

"Son," my dad said,"do you know what blood smells like?" I put my hand on my lower abdomen and felt the warm wetness. I then looked for the hole where the blood was oozing out. Odd, I thought. Isn't blood supposed to be red? Then the smell hit me. It wasn't blood. The dog was either scared or really ticked off at me, because what I smelled was urine.

My dad picked me up by the back of my shirt and said, "Go back into the house and take a shower. Put on some clean clothes and we'll try again tomorrow in the back yard. Right now I have to apologize to Mr. Extendz and his dog."

Oh ,the bike, yeah. It needed hosed down, but suffered less damage and embarrasment than did I.

Texas Thomas: Pay Pal Verified

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Amazing Things About Everything

Click on the link above to watch the amazing things some people can do. Really amazing!

Thanks to:
http://www.keepbusy.net/play.php?id=amazing-things-about-everything

Texas Thomas

Toyota Prius

Prius Wuus

Okay, so this guy in California is going 94 mph in his Toyota Prius and uses his cell phone to call and speak with a 911 operator--but he can't use one hand to pull the gearshift into neutral? Right. What a wuus.