Social Security for Congress

Jan 27 2012 Published by under American Consumer, Dumb Americans

 

Here is a quote from president Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Speech…

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules,”

Lets concentrate on the “everyone plays by the same set of rules” part of the quote.

If we are all playing by the same rules, lets get the Federal Government (Congress and the President) on the same Social Security plan as the rest of the United states citizens are on. Congress should be requires to be on the Same Social Security Plan, so that any decision/law they make, regarding Social Security, effects them too.

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Obama Bows to Foreign Leaders but Snubs LA Commuters

Aug 19 2010 Published by under Dumb Americans, Goverment policy, unbelievable, Uncategorized

US citizens have died or have been  put into prison for refusing to BOW to foreign leaders. But Mister Obama bows to foregin leaders all the time. He has bowed to the Japan’s emperor. He has bowed to the Saudi king. (notice the lower case letter for emperor and king, no bowing here)

Why does Obama feel the need to bow to a leader that we defeated in World war II. Obama actions reflect, on the United States, as a sign of weakness. Obama should be standing proud and the Japanese should be bowing in respect to all the america lives we  lost in WWII.

But when is comes to the American public Obama has no respect. The latest example is the grid lock he caused during his visit to Los Angeled on August 16th. Mind you the visit to Los Angeles was NOT a state mater. It was a fund raiser for the Democratic National Party.

Obama clogged up LAX Airport and the his Secrict Service closed several major streets in West Los Angeles, causing up to a five hour delay for some people.  Is Obama so important that he has the right to virtually stop Los Angeles traffic for such a long time. I have been caught up in Presidential road closures before.  As I remember I was delayed for maybe 30 to 40 minutes. I was a little late to work, but nothing like wat Obama did in Los Angeles.

There were reports of a mother who was picking up her children from school. A trip that should have only taken a few minutes. It took her over four. Stuck with her children in the car with out moving. She was less than a block from her house. LAPD would not let he back into her house.  When the children need to go th the bathroom they had no where too go.

Or the stories  about the people that could not leave there driveways for hours on end. What about the Doctors that could not get to the hospital for there surgery’s, or care givers who could not get to their patients, Lawyers that could not get to court.  Or any body else who could just not get to work.

In my opinion, the president should not cause that much disruption for a non-state event. Even if it was a state event the Secret Service should limit the disruption to a City like Los Angeles. Obama should have landed Air Force One at military base. That way he would not be tying up a civilian air port. Then he should have take a helicopter to a landing area  close to the destination, a park, an intersection any open space.  If there is no landing area close to the location then change the location.

This was a fund raising party,  not all that important. It was Not state business. It was not National security. The world was not coming to an end.  So mister Obama next time please stay home, in the White House, where you can be safe and secure. Besides the Democrat National committee raised a Million dollars, BUT what did the traffic  control and security cost the citizens of Los Angeles.  I bet you it was over a Million.

 

 

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License Plate Billboards

Jun 25 2010 Published by under American Consumer, Changing scene, Dumb Americans, Goverment policy, unbelievable

California Democratic Sen. Curren Price is sponsoring  BILL NUMBER: SB 1453 to bring Digital Billboard License Plates to California.

So what is a Digital Billboard License Plates? It turns the license plate on YOUR car in to a State of California controlled rolling billboard. So the State of California can sell ad space on Your car. When your car stops, for a predetermined time, the license numbers go away and a digital billboard comes alive. The ads will start to be displayed, until your car starts to move again.

The idea behind the plate wasn’t to make the vehicle into a rolling billboard. Rather, the plate was devised to allow the driver to customize their own license plate to support organizations, sports teams, and colleges. Says M. Conrad Jorda, CEO of Smart Plate.

I can not believe the arrogance of the state legislators that put this Bill together. A Bill that would would become LAW and force you to display the ads the state sells. They need to remember who pays for the car. The state’s reasoning behind this it to develop alternative revenue streams. If the state does this  it it will be  infringing on your rights and privacy. Again, State law makers IT IS NOT YOUR CAR!

I can think of all kinds of problems with this. For starters I’m sure there will be all kinds of ads running on the back of YOUR car. Say your a person that does not believe in a product or topic, or has religious beliefs against a product or topic. Will you be forced to let that ad run on the license plate mounted to your car.

Plus the digital license billboard requires electricity to run, where is the electricity coming form? Thats right your cars electrical system. So let’s say the digital license plate malfunctions and stays on all night running down your battery. You do not find out until you try a drive to work in the morning. No battery and you can not start you car. Now you can not get to work. Who’s at fault?

Or the plate malfunction in traffic and the Digital Billboard is flashing ads while you are driving. It distracts a driver and that rear ends you. Who is responsible, the state? It was the California State run digital billboard that caused the distraction that caused the accident?

It’s not all big brother, the digital license plate could also be used to alert drivers of an Amber Alerts or other emergency messages. But it will mostly be unwanted junk.

I hope and pray that the State of California does not do this! It is MY car not the State of California’s rolling billboard.

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100 million is not that much

May 27 2010 Published by under American Consumer, Dumb Americans, Goverment policy

BudgetNeed some help on making sense of what Obama is talking about. Obama talks about a cutting 100 million  from the 3.5 Trillion Dollar budget. Sound Like a lot of money right? And we all feel good that our president is making a differance.

Watch the video. This guy makes it easy to see what the President is doing. And it points our how small 100 million is compared to 3.5 trillion.

Size of the US budget Video

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Movie Trailers Show it all

Jan 21 2010 Published by under Changing scene, Dumb Americans, Hollywood trash

Trailers
Why does Hollywood take all the best parts of a movies and crams them all into a 60 second promo movie trailer. Every studio does it. They entice you with all these really great high energy action scenes, or funny gags. Then when you go to see the movie there is not any new material. It’s all the stuff you saw in the movie trailer.

Or the trailer makes you think it is going to be a funny movie and in reality, the movie is a drama or a real downer or a dark story. Nothing like getting ripped off, it is like a bait and switch, except you have paid for your ticket and waisted an hour and a half watching something that was not what you though it was. Oh sure you could go to the manager and demand your money back, but you went out for a good time, not to spike your blood pressure.

For me, I will not watch a movie trailer of an upcoming movie, that I really want to see. I will listen to all the buzz, or read about it, but I will not watch any movie trailer or news spot on the upcoming feature. So when I finally get to see the movie it is all new and unexpected.

I do the same for TV shows, I never watch the coming attraction of the next episode. So Hollywood take a note, save the good stuff for the paying customers when they get to the movie, don’t put it all in the Trailer.

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Blu-ray Disk Push Blu-ray Techonlogy

Nov 17 2009 Published by under American Consumer, Corporate America, Dumb Americans, Geek stuff

I_believeI do not get it! You already bought the Blu-ray player. You bought or rented a Blu-ray disk. You bought the high definition television to watch your Blu-ray disks. You are knowledgeable about high definition. After all you own all this Blu-ray hardware and software. Yet when you pop in the Blu-ray disk into your Blu-ray player  there is a 30 to 60 second commercial about how great Blu-ray is.

Well, ya I know Blu-ray is great, you already sold me on the Blu-ray technology. Otherwise how would I be viewing the Blu-ray disk. So why are the studios putting these Blu-ray commercials on a Blu-ray disk?  Beats me!

It has got to be the dumbest strategy I have ever seen. It is like preaching to the choir, we already believe  in the Blu-ray technology. So why the commercial? I just do not get it?

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Birthday Number Two

Sep 20 2009 Published by under Changing scene, Dumb Americans

It is are second BIRTHDAY today. secondbirthday-240x300[1]We have been posting, about all kinds of topics, for two years. There have been a lot of posts on alternative energy, and electric cars. I was very surprised to finding the large number of manufactures that are working on ALL electric automobiles.

What does the next year hold in store for us, know one knows. Will there be more post on electric cars, or will our interest stray off into other areas?

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My top 10 computer geeks tips

Mar 28 2009 Published by under American Consumer, Geek stuff

Top 10 Computer Geeks tips:

geek_tips[1]

1. Make backups of all the stuff you cannot afford too loose. That includes your photos and music library.

2. IF it does not work re-boot. The majority of problems can be overcome by a simple reboot.

3. Save, save and save again. Do not expect me to be able to recover the project you been working on all day when windows hangs up. So when your working on a big project save it.

4. When saving your work create a separate version each time you save your work. This will allow you several restarting points if you screw up the file or if the one file you have is unreadable.

5. Do not forget your password. Passwords are secure, there are encryptions algorithms, systems and safeguards in place to make then nearly imposable to hack or recover a password.

6. If your hard drive fails and you did not do number one, you’re screwed. Data can sometimes be recovered but it is very expensive and time consuming.

7. Free down loads are not Free. You’re exposing your machine to the possibility of Virus, adware, spyware, Trojan horse etc…

8. Free software is not free. Some free software is a pain to install and configure. Don’t expect me to spend several hours installing and troubleshooting your free application software.

9. Just because you read it on the internet does not mean it is TRUE. Use your common sense and do a little research. Do not just blindly disseminate the false information to a 100 people via e-mail.

10. For fewer problems buy an apple computer.

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Behavior monitored auto insurance plan

Mar 03 2009 Published by under American Consumer, Dumb Americans, Future things

recorder_deviceUnder the umbrella of saving the consumer money, insurance companies are offering a new kind of auto insurance. Kind of a pay for what you use model. You pay for how, how much, when and where you drive. Drive in a high risk part of town in the wee hours of the morning you pay more. If you accelerate quickly and slam on your breaks a lot, you pay more. Drive more then the average person or if you exceed the upper speed limit of 65 MPH and you pay more.

How is it monitored? You plug a small computer, smaller then size of a bar of soap, in to your cars diagnostics port. The computer monitors how you drive. Current monitoring does not include a GPS to monitor where you drive. But is the GPS function that far off. Imagine your insurance company knowing where you are all the time. They would know if you just left a sports bar. So does your insurance rate for the trip home cost you more because you could  have been drinking and the insurance company has more risk, even if you did not drink.

The implications are not that far off. Most companies, with fleet vehicles, already moniter their driver is real time. They know exactly where there vehicles are. The monitoring system will notify the manager when a driver exceeds the top speed limit. The system will also alert the manager when a car or truck leaves the GPF fence area.

So how far will insurance companies take technology to save us money? And how much of our privacy are we willing to give up to save money? Or are we just dumb Americans and follow the trend?

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California Tax Squeeze

Feb 20 2009 Published by under Changing scene, Dumb Americans, Goverment policy, Taxes

I guess the California State Legislature is out of touch with the real world! In their infinite wisdom our California state law makers are going to kick us when we are down. We get the double squeeze by getting taxed more when wages are being cut, the value of our house is falling, like a rock, and our investments are disappearing,as the stock market keeps falling. The California State Legislators are sticking their hands in our pocket and taking more of our money. Caligornia did nothing to help Obamas stimulus package.

squeeze

Seems strange, that whenever the state government needs more money they just figure out another way to tax Joe citizen more. Oh sure they cut some programs, but most of the time the cuts are just reduction to their increased spending.

On the other hand when Joe citizen needs to make a budget adjustment, where do we get more money. We have no one to add or increase a tax too. No we end up cutting. Real cutting like doing without stuff. That is the only way, the majority of us, can make ends meet. Some of us, Joe citizen, can increase our income or work more hours, but not many of us. So we all do with less.

The State government is encouraging us to spend less by raising the California stats sales tax. So if we buy less the economy suffers, by less goods being sold. That’s great for jobs. If the state lowered state sales tax, people would have more money to buy stuff. If they bought more we get more state sales taxes revenue and more jobs. More jobs produce more tax revenue.

Same problem with higher personal property on car taxes. When Detroit is having a very difficult time selling new cars lets discourage people by doubling the personal property tax on cars. That just makes us all ready to run out and pay MORE sales tax and personal property tax on autos. Great plan to stimulate car sales. A better plan would be to get Joe average guy an incentive to purchase a new car, maybe a tax credit or something.

So who are the dumb Americans? Joe citizen who keep paying more in taxes? Or the State Legislature who think there is not limit to taxing Joe citizen? Californa passed a reverse stimulus package. Obamas stimulus package may have a lot of pork in it but it did not tax us like Califorrnia did.

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