Hi Everyone,
Are any of you aware that the United States of America is being held hostage? Not only is this a true fact, but we are being held hostage by one single person! Maybe you are thinking that it is some politician making some outrageous demands and holding up the house or congress. If you thought that, you are wrong. This person is not even an elected official.
Give up? The person's name is Grover Norquist. What, you haven't heard that name? So who is Grover Norquist? He is a man, a non elected person who happens to have extremely wealthy backers who will back him and his ultra secret organization to the end of the world. Legally, he doesn't even have to divulge who his financial backers are! How is this Norquist person holding the country hostage? Somehow he has succeeded in having the majority of elected Republican policitians and presidential candidates (except for two) sign a pledge that includes that they will never raise taxes. Why is this important? Because if any of the politicians who signed the pledge, in reality a contract, raises taxes, Norquist and his rich croonies will pump as much money as it takes to have that politician beaten in their next election. Why is this so important? Because the republicans will now never, ever compromise on a budget that will raise taxes on the rich.
Now you know why the super committee couldn't reach a compromise on how to reduce the U.S. budget by 1.2 trillion dollars. The republicans will never compromise. They want Obama out no matter what it takes and how much they hurt our country. The republicans fear Norquist and what his wealthy croonies will do to any of them who try to raise taxes on the rich. But guess what? They lie! How? The same Republicans who won't raise taxes on the wealthy including Norquist's croonies, want the payroll tax to expire, which will raise taxes on everyone, but especially the middle class, who now, more then ever, need that extra $1,000 or so per year to be able to spend and pump that money into our economy that our sour economy needs. Nothing like speaking with forked tongues!
Don't believe me? Check him out and see for yourselves. Grover Norquist should be tried and convicted for treason and then imprisoned where he should be strung up by his thumbs until he squeals like a pig and recinds his stupid and unholy contract that will kill our country. Think our credit rating is bad now, wait a few more months and see what happens. Then interest rates will go up and help the big banks make more money, but obviously will not help the little guys.
As I said last week, country first and party second........ period!!! Never the other way around. Republicans seem dead set on party first and screw the rest. Common sense has to become a way of life for politicians who just don't get it. It is time for the 99% to take back control of this country and not be controlled by the 1%. Never, ever should one person and/or organization be able to do this!!! This kind of behavior must be made illegal!!! I believe that Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan would be turning over in their graves if they knew what their beloved party is up to.
Again, if you agree with me, send this blog to your friends to help stop this insanity once and for all!!!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
New Rules For Washington D.C.
Hi Everyone,
So the 2011 elections are over and now the focus is on the 2012 elections. I have given a lot of serious thought about next year's 2012 elections. My common sense has kicked into overdrive and I have come up with some proposals that should be given serious consideration. Before I give you my ideas, I would like to preface them with the following thoughts... All Washington elected officials HAVE to put country first in front of party. Our elected officials should not worry about the next elections, but should worry about the next generation and the ones that follow.
The following is my top 10 list on how to try to fix Washington, D.C. and some of these should, in reality, become law:
1) Term limits of eight years (two 4 year terms and no more 6 year terms) for all elected officials, period! Being an elected official was never meant to be life long employment!
2) Insider trading laws must be applied to all of them. Did you know that they can legally use insider information to benefit their own pockets? We can't so why should they?
3) All personal investment portfolios/accounts must be put into blind trusts until they are out of office!
4) Make it illegal to use any secret and/or privileged info in any way, shape or form!
5) Make it illegal to accept free stock deals. Pass the Stock Act!
6) Stop their "special" medical, dental and pension programs that only apply to them. All elected officials should have the same Social Security benefits and medical and dental benefits that are available to rest of the people of this country! They must even have to pay into the system instead of getting it free, paid by us taxpayers.
7) Outlaw all PACS and lobbyists. When big money throws it weight around, the people of this country lose every single time.
8) Campaign donations must be limited up to a maximum of say $2,000 per year, per individual and per company, no exceptions! Billion dollar elections are absurd!
9) Stop the lying by twisting and spinning facts. In the same vein, if asked a question, answer the damn question with no beating around the bush and not answering the question in the end. A direct answer is the only common sense way to go!
10) If #7 doesn't become law, once out of office, they can never, ever become a lobbyist, period. If they want to write a tell all book, so be it!
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond the control of all Americans, the elected officials that make the laws, will never make the above proposals laws because it will hurt them financially. But, they have no problem hurting the pockets of the rest of us. Unless, WE THE PEOPLE change the rules and laws governing those in D.C. and make the above the new laws of the land, it will be business as usual. That is totally UNACCEPTABLE! People first, party second!
How is it possible that, for example, U.S. Senators who make $174,000 per year can leave congress after just one 6 year term a millioniare? We must stop the madness. If you want more info on some of my proposals, I implore you to check out last Sunday's, 11/13/11 CBS's 60 minutes.
Now, please, please, if you agree with my proposals, forward my blog to all of your friends and let them know that you agree. Who knows, maybe we can start a common sense grass roots campaign to change D.C. If you have other ideas that you think should be added to my list, let me know. Most of all, please remember that all of my ideas are apolitical and must be applied to all of them across the board, with absolutely no exceptions! Your additional ideas must be in the same vein!
Til next week.
Peter
So the 2011 elections are over and now the focus is on the 2012 elections. I have given a lot of serious thought about next year's 2012 elections. My common sense has kicked into overdrive and I have come up with some proposals that should be given serious consideration. Before I give you my ideas, I would like to preface them with the following thoughts... All Washington elected officials HAVE to put country first in front of party. Our elected officials should not worry about the next elections, but should worry about the next generation and the ones that follow.
The following is my top 10 list on how to try to fix Washington, D.C. and some of these should, in reality, become law:
1) Term limits of eight years (two 4 year terms and no more 6 year terms) for all elected officials, period! Being an elected official was never meant to be life long employment!
2) Insider trading laws must be applied to all of them. Did you know that they can legally use insider information to benefit their own pockets? We can't so why should they?
3) All personal investment portfolios/accounts must be put into blind trusts until they are out of office!
4) Make it illegal to use any secret and/or privileged info in any way, shape or form!
5) Make it illegal to accept free stock deals. Pass the Stock Act!
6) Stop their "special" medical, dental and pension programs that only apply to them. All elected officials should have the same Social Security benefits and medical and dental benefits that are available to rest of the people of this country! They must even have to pay into the system instead of getting it free, paid by us taxpayers.
7) Outlaw all PACS and lobbyists. When big money throws it weight around, the people of this country lose every single time.
8) Campaign donations must be limited up to a maximum of say $2,000 per year, per individual and per company, no exceptions! Billion dollar elections are absurd!
9) Stop the lying by twisting and spinning facts. In the same vein, if asked a question, answer the damn question with no beating around the bush and not answering the question in the end. A direct answer is the only common sense way to go!
10) If #7 doesn't become law, once out of office, they can never, ever become a lobbyist, period. If they want to write a tell all book, so be it!
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond the control of all Americans, the elected officials that make the laws, will never make the above proposals laws because it will hurt them financially. But, they have no problem hurting the pockets of the rest of us. Unless, WE THE PEOPLE change the rules and laws governing those in D.C. and make the above the new laws of the land, it will be business as usual. That is totally UNACCEPTABLE! People first, party second!
How is it possible that, for example, U.S. Senators who make $174,000 per year can leave congress after just one 6 year term a millioniare? We must stop the madness. If you want more info on some of my proposals, I implore you to check out last Sunday's, 11/13/11 CBS's 60 minutes.
Now, please, please, if you agree with my proposals, forward my blog to all of your friends and let them know that you agree. Who knows, maybe we can start a common sense grass roots campaign to change D.C. If you have other ideas that you think should be added to my list, let me know. Most of all, please remember that all of my ideas are apolitical and must be applied to all of them across the board, with absolutely no exceptions! Your additional ideas must be in the same vein!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Consumer Alert!!!
Hi Everyone,
I have blogged about common sense for almost 2 years now and I thought that my excellent common sense would always help me. Not!? This is a true story of what happened to me and how you can protect yourself from it happening to you.
So there I was last week, doing my grocery shopping at our ShopRite store just like I have always done. I got to the check out and there was an employee packing groceries for customers. Most of the time I pack my groceries myself, but the employee was there and I allowed her to pack. I told her to use double plastic bags for the heavy stuff since I have had single plastic bags rip one too many times. The packer packed very fast and loaded my cart with my purchases. Before I knew it, she was done and walked away with an arm full of plastic bags. I paid my bill and went to my car to load it. As I finished loading the car, I kind of thought that I was missing some groceries. I went back to the cashier to look and ask if I had left anything. The cashier said that I had not left anything behind.
So I drove home and unpacked. It didn't take me long to realize that I was indeed missing 10 items. I searched the car for the missing items to no avail. I immediately went back to Shoprite with receipt in hand and told the cashier that I was missing items. She brought me to a manager. I told the manager that I was missing 10 items and showed her on the receipt which ones were missing. The manager asked me who the packer was and I told her it was Teresa. Luckily I remembered her name. The manager then rolled her eyes and said, oh her. I showed the manager my receipt and the 10 missing items were all in a row and all were kind of pricey refrigerated things. The manager surprised me when she told me to go get the 10 items and bring them to her. When she checked to make sure I had the same items that were missing, she initialed my receipt and sent me on my way. I thanked her and told her that I hadn't expected them to replace the items.
Even though my items were replaced and I was made whole, I still can't believe that I was ripped off right under my own nose. When Teresa walked away with the arm full of plastic bags, she also had my bag of groceries. I never thought that I should watch a packer since I never had missed anything previously.
A word to the wise, when checking out of any store, my common sense now tells me to keep an eye on the packer, if there is one, to make sure you don't get ripped off. I never thought that this kind of thing would have happened to me, but it did and now my guard is up as so should yours.
Til next week.
Peter
I have blogged about common sense for almost 2 years now and I thought that my excellent common sense would always help me. Not!? This is a true story of what happened to me and how you can protect yourself from it happening to you.
So there I was last week, doing my grocery shopping at our ShopRite store just like I have always done. I got to the check out and there was an employee packing groceries for customers. Most of the time I pack my groceries myself, but the employee was there and I allowed her to pack. I told her to use double plastic bags for the heavy stuff since I have had single plastic bags rip one too many times. The packer packed very fast and loaded my cart with my purchases. Before I knew it, she was done and walked away with an arm full of plastic bags. I paid my bill and went to my car to load it. As I finished loading the car, I kind of thought that I was missing some groceries. I went back to the cashier to look and ask if I had left anything. The cashier said that I had not left anything behind.
So I drove home and unpacked. It didn't take me long to realize that I was indeed missing 10 items. I searched the car for the missing items to no avail. I immediately went back to Shoprite with receipt in hand and told the cashier that I was missing items. She brought me to a manager. I told the manager that I was missing 10 items and showed her on the receipt which ones were missing. The manager asked me who the packer was and I told her it was Teresa. Luckily I remembered her name. The manager then rolled her eyes and said, oh her. I showed the manager my receipt and the 10 missing items were all in a row and all were kind of pricey refrigerated things. The manager surprised me when she told me to go get the 10 items and bring them to her. When she checked to make sure I had the same items that were missing, she initialed my receipt and sent me on my way. I thanked her and told her that I hadn't expected them to replace the items.
Even though my items were replaced and I was made whole, I still can't believe that I was ripped off right under my own nose. When Teresa walked away with the arm full of plastic bags, she also had my bag of groceries. I never thought that I should watch a packer since I never had missed anything previously.
A word to the wise, when checking out of any store, my common sense now tells me to keep an eye on the packer, if there is one, to make sure you don't get ripped off. I never thought that this kind of thing would have happened to me, but it did and now my guard is up as so should yours.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Nor'easter of 10/29/11
Hi Everyone:
There is a very good and valid reason why I didn't write a blog last week. No power, no computer, no blog.
It had been 24 years since where I live, had a devastating October snowstorm. The very heavy wet snow took down uncountable branches and numerous trees. The destruction was immediate and widespread. In a very short period of time, we went from living in 2011 to living in approximately 1850. It took me almost 5 hours just to clear my driveway to get a car out a day after the storm. My wife and I took a short drive to check out the surrounding areas and were flabbergasted at the amount of destruction we saw. Road closures were the norm and not the exception. We didn't get electricity restored until Wednesday night, for a total of 4 days without power.
During the aftermath of the storm, I noticed 2 things that really got my dander up. The first was that the road that we live on is the only East-West road in my county. Obviously that means that the road is heavily used and is an important connection between the east and west sides of the county. I guess New York state didn't think so. The road that I live on is a state road and is maintained by the state. In just a short 5 mile distance, there were at least 20 trees that had fallen onto the road, taking down about 6 telephone poles and blocking at least one lane of the 2 lane road, 20 times. The road was even closed at one place, where trees blocked the entire road. At another spot, the road was so narrow that firetrucks were unable to squeeze through. You could seen the different paint colors on the guard rail from vehicles that were a bit to wide. With all of that, you would think that NYS would have at least tried to remove some of the trees from the road. But nooooooo! My road wasn't fully open until Wednesday morning 11/2, 4 days after the storm. Now I'm not expecting miracles, but to have the only East-West road in a county closed for 4 days is unacceptable. I'm not sure why it took the state so long to fix it, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a lot of common sense used.
The second thing that got my dander up was an email that I got from my Republican congresswoman, Nan Hayworth on Wednesday, 11/2. The email had important information regarding where to pick up dry ice and bottled water. The problem was that the email didn't have any info regarding my town. It's as if we didn't exist. The second problem was that she sent the email 4 days after the storm. I later found out that dry ice and bottled water were being given out as of Monday 10/31, including my town. Her email was 2 days late. I guess her common sense was left by the wayside, since her email was days late and short on info by leaving out our town completely.
All in all, we survived the Nor'easter of 10/2011, none the worse for wear.
Til next week.
Peter
There is a very good and valid reason why I didn't write a blog last week. No power, no computer, no blog.
It had been 24 years since where I live, had a devastating October snowstorm. The very heavy wet snow took down uncountable branches and numerous trees. The destruction was immediate and widespread. In a very short period of time, we went from living in 2011 to living in approximately 1850. It took me almost 5 hours just to clear my driveway to get a car out a day after the storm. My wife and I took a short drive to check out the surrounding areas and were flabbergasted at the amount of destruction we saw. Road closures were the norm and not the exception. We didn't get electricity restored until Wednesday night, for a total of 4 days without power.
During the aftermath of the storm, I noticed 2 things that really got my dander up. The first was that the road that we live on is the only East-West road in my county. Obviously that means that the road is heavily used and is an important connection between the east and west sides of the county. I guess New York state didn't think so. The road that I live on is a state road and is maintained by the state. In just a short 5 mile distance, there were at least 20 trees that had fallen onto the road, taking down about 6 telephone poles and blocking at least one lane of the 2 lane road, 20 times. The road was even closed at one place, where trees blocked the entire road. At another spot, the road was so narrow that firetrucks were unable to squeeze through. You could seen the different paint colors on the guard rail from vehicles that were a bit to wide. With all of that, you would think that NYS would have at least tried to remove some of the trees from the road. But nooooooo! My road wasn't fully open until Wednesday morning 11/2, 4 days after the storm. Now I'm not expecting miracles, but to have the only East-West road in a county closed for 4 days is unacceptable. I'm not sure why it took the state so long to fix it, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a lot of common sense used.
The second thing that got my dander up was an email that I got from my Republican congresswoman, Nan Hayworth on Wednesday, 11/2. The email had important information regarding where to pick up dry ice and bottled water. The problem was that the email didn't have any info regarding my town. It's as if we didn't exist. The second problem was that she sent the email 4 days after the storm. I later found out that dry ice and bottled water were being given out as of Monday 10/31, including my town. Her email was 2 days late. I guess her common sense was left by the wayside, since her email was days late and short on info by leaving out our town completely.
All in all, we survived the Nor'easter of 10/2011, none the worse for wear.
Til next week.
Peter
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