Friday, September 28, 2012

An International Tax on Smoking

Sorry; but, still under the weather. I post this article that should amuse you.

The Washington Free Beacon - Taxes Without Borders

Once you accept an international tax, you accept it on everything. Many will applaud this as being good for the world; but, it is just picking an unpopular group to bring in international taxes.

On a side not, here is a great article from St Louis. CBS - St Louis - Virtual House Arrest Ordered for Minors in East St. Louis

Who says that we cannot make everyone a prisoner?

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Okay not all better; but, better

The Pimpernel is better and is drinking fluids and eating soup. I actually took a day off to heal, not as young as I was. I slept a lot and tried to read the news. I read where Romney said that he wanted to get rid of some deductions; but, he didn't say which ones. I know which ones, the middle class ones and the one for homeowners. It is already being discussed. Romney's plan is to get rid of deductions for the middle class and keep them for the wealthy.

Richard Nixon was a working class guy, he did some bad things, things that other Presidents had done; but, still wrong. He also proposed a flat tax, 20% or so across the board on income. It is the simplest tax in the world. He also got us off of the gold standard and that was a good thing. There used to be a joke, the golden rule that the person who had the gold made the rules. What is gold, it is simply a metal that has limited uses beyond jewelry.

The moment you buy into gold, you buy into being used. You make a useless metal your God and you can be bought. I would rather have a sandwich than gold. I can live without gold, I cannot live without food. It is said that in heaven the streets are paved with gold, it is that meaningless and would make for lousy streets.

Still kind of out of it in my head. Sorry the post is not better. I did have a point; but, I lost it. Have a great night.

Pimpernel is all better

Just woke up it is 12:00 in the morning. The fever has broken and I slept a lot, lol. I wont say I am normal because I don't know what normal is. I am kind of fuzzy; but, not sweaty and freezy. My dreams were odd and confused. I actually don't hate fevers, just the being cold or hot, the dream part is okay.

I am not fully awake and not asleep. I am still in that in between space, my mind is not oppressed by the world yet, merely confused by it and having it's own thoughts. I have emotional memories, memories of things that mattered to me at the time, things that have passed and people that have moved on. I shall drink lots of water tomorrow.

I had a dream once, I dreamed that I was in an amusement park and it was my home. The little cart went round and round and fell out and tried to get back on. Nonsense; but, emotional to me at the time. Dreams are an escape from the harshness of here, heaven is much better than either. I will not remember this post tomorrow, don't ask me about it, merely ramblings because I slept too much and have not awoken yet.

Is there such a thing as sleep writing? My nose keeps running; but, I keep toilet paper near me. I don't think I am all better; but, better enough to go in tomorrow. I don't want to lay in bed for another day. I think as we age we have less energy; but, we still think we can do the same things, muscle memory or something like it.

Shout outs to two women in the north, my Robbie and another. LOL. I might just have to go north again next year. I will play a song and go back to my fevered sleep, rofl.

YouTube - Dido - Thank You

Completely out of it, back to bed.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I Have a Fever

I was running around so much yesterday that I was not paying attention to my body. Yesterday I woke up kind of shaky; but, just didn't make anything of it. I couldn't eat dinner and went to bed; but, kept going in and out of weird dreams and would wake up covered in sweat and cold.

The dreams were those strange fever dreams, semi lucid. Don't expect a big post tonight, I am still trying to shake it off. I hate the part where you lose your taste buds during a fever, that and the clammy skin; but, the dreams are the most interesting.

Anyways, don't worry about the Pimpernel, I am sure I will be fine. And in case you are wondering, I never take flu shots. I believe (as do many nurses) that they prevent you from gaining natural immunities. I don't think getting sick is always a bad thing, sometimes our bodies have to speak up for themselves.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Still Here

I have been very busy, had to take someone to a doctor appointment and other things. I try and read the news and provide relevant content to my dear readers. I don't write about the garbage that you can read in every news source, I look for what might have been missed.

I did read something, I read that Elliot Broidy would receive his sentence Friday. We will see if it makes the news. I also got notified by Google that all of my g-mail documents have been moved to the cloud.

For those who have been long time readers, isn't it interesting to watch these things transpire? Soon the government and the Federal Reserve will own just about all mortgages, they already control the water and what you can farm and your healthcare. You can vote for Romney or Obama or anyone, it doesn't really matter at this point. We don't produce enough to sell to others, that is just the truth. We manufacture the best weapons in the world; therefore, we make our money from wars. If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

What happens when cannot afford war any longer? The Chinese are not going to come and attack us, they like selling our inventions to us. They just want to get paid with real money. What happens when nobody wants our dollars? Some say we need a revolution and then what, we still don't make anything to sell to others. Who wants to work for $2 a day?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

BioMetrics in New Jersey

You are not allowed to smile in New Jersey when you get your drivers license, it messes up the biometric database that they use to track you.

Yahoo News - ABC News - New Jersey Bans Smiling in Driver's License Photos

On a side note, I was recently told by someone that their child would be required to have a Facebook account for school so that they could be in contact with their teacher. Hey, Facebook uses facial recognition software, does that mean that the school is requiring all students to be bio-metrically identified, that is the effect of the rule.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Mortgage Cops - Something I Have Been Talking About For a Long Time

The housing bubble and its bursting were all planned. The prediction I made back in 2006 was that the housing market would collapse, the stock market were drop and eventually the federal government was going to go after people who walked away from their mortgages. Now, that is exactly what has been announced.

Before I post a link to the article, I need to give a little background. First, I bought my last house with full documentation, it was what we called a full doc loan. My last two years tax returns, verification of income and tons of documentation regarding my expenses. I bought the house before the market really took off at a good price in an excellent neighborhood. In 2007 my wife asked for a divorce, I kept paying all of our debts including the mortgage even as the market was going down. I was paying my wife even though it was not court ordered. Eventually, I couldn't keep making the payments and had to pay my attorney instead. I asked the mortgage company to let me be a couple of months late and they agreed and then the court forced me to pay the ex-wife more than I paid in mortgage when you factored in taxes and insurance, it was about dead even. I even argued to the court that we should have to pay our debts and the response was that I could always stop paying my mortgage, Nice, huh. The court also saddled me with all of our debt, she got none of it. I ended up paying the credit cards she used to take trips with her boyfriend.

Understand that this is not about her, I want you to understand what this says about the banks that process the mortgages for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the people who had my mortgage. I was a perfect candidate for a Deed in Lieu, that means that the mortgage company would accept my house as full payment. Now, I contacted my mortgage processor and told them the situation, sent them all of the documentation and they lost some it, so I sent it again and again and called and sent documents. They took absolutely no steps to take the property back. They never called me to demand money, I had to call them. They would send me documents saying how they would lower my interest rate and all of the programs that they had in place. After over a year of that, with no luck, my loan processing company was changed. I called them, got new copies of all the documents and sent them in again. After a couple of months they sent me a letter saying that they were going to foreclose on me. I called them again and asked why they would want to go to the problem and expense of foreclosing when I had been trying to give them the house back for two years.

Oh, the new company couldn't seem to find my docs and we spent a couple months of me constantly sending them and verifying receipt only to be told that they had been lost again. When I first contacted them after the divorce the house was at about a break even with the mortgage. Because I had bought before the boom really took off. At one point my house was valued at $500,000 and I had paid $280,000. I had a conventional 30 year fixed loan at under 5%). During the divorce I tried and tried to get my wife to let me sell it, she knew I had been saying for years that the market was going to bust; but, she thought she would get the house and I would be forced to pay the mortgage and wouldn't budge. She moved out when it was worth less than the mortgage by pennies. In the end the value dropped to an estimated $230,00, a minimal loss to the bank as I had paid them almost a third of the total mortgage over the almost decade I lived in the home. It took another 7 or 8 months to finally get the deed in lieu.

Now here is a little amusement. When I went to move out, they claimed it wasn't clean enough and sent pictures of the garage from when we were still cleaning it as proof. They did not send the pictures of what it looked like after we had everything moved out. They also locked me out of my house before they had finalized the deed in lieu which was absolutely against the law and I could have sued them for it and had the person who did it arrested. I didn't, I just wanted to get away from the house. I felt terrible living in it and not being able to pay. Prior to the divorce I had a credit score of 780.

So why wouldn't they take my house back in the beginning, clearly I qualified because they took it back three years later and gave me a Deed in Lieu. Why was it so hard to get the processors to process the Deed in Lieu. It is my belief that they got paid for processing the loan whether I paid or not, they didn't own the debt so it did not matter to them, they made more by me living there without paying.

The man that lived next to me worked in construction and sold drugs, he bragged about it one day and he still has his house. We live in a bizarro world that rewards bad behavior; but, lets get back to my story. So, I lost everything and moved on. I love where I live now, it is closer to work and I can afford it. The mortgage cops are not coming for me; but, they do have a target audience.

The mortgage cops are going after people who could have paid their mortgages and chose to walk away when the value dropped. Speculators and "investors". You see there was another group of people, people who lied about their income to get their mortgages and figured they would sell the houses when they had equity and that if the market failed, they would just walk away and they did. I sure hope my readers if they did not do that. They are going after that group in order to intimidate others to refinance.

Here is how it will go down. The worst of the speculators that walked away from their houses will go to jail as an example, they say so in the article. The bigger group is people who bought these houses, lied about their income and have stayed in them making no effort to pay or give the houses back or refinance. They will see how the speculators are treated and be afraid of having the same tactics used on them.

The question the speculators and "investors" will face is simple. The fed will say, here is your tax return for the year you bought the house and the year before. The returns say that you made $50,000; but, your loan application said you made $150,000 which one did you lie on? Either one will get you in jail. For those of you in that position, it is the time to try and refinance and pay at least some of what you promised.

The government and the banks have made every opportunity for people to refinance, some just don't qualify; but, others did and made no effort to refinance. Why hasn't the fed taken back the houses, simple, they never wanted people to lost them and they knew that the housing market was a lie. It was a giant ponzi scheme. Why is the Federal Reserve going to buy $40 billion in bad mortgages a month indefinitely? The government already owns 80% of all mortgages.

Many will be given the choice of renting, that has already been announced. You can rent or you can refinance and avoid jail, if you do those things they won't bother going back and looking at the documents that you submitted when you got your loan and lied about your income. Either way you will be living in government housing for 30 years. You may have to rent out rooms; but, it is better than going to jail.

I have lost everything; but, it was not because of the housing market, it was the divorce. I went from living in a 2,700 square foot, five bedroom house to renting a one bedroom apartment, just a little larger than my master bedroom that was at my house. I couldn't be happier, I never want to own a house again.

I didn't rent out rooms at my house, I let people move in that were homeless. Some of them had promised to pay me; but, I told them to keep the money, they needed it more than me. The ex-wife, after she moved out, wanted me to rent out rooms while working full time and driving 4 hours a day, she also wanted half. Seemed kind of pointless when I knew I would lose the house anyways. I had a rental home and sold it at the top of the market and paid off all my debt, renting out is a pain in the rear and I decided I would never do it again. It is a second job and I could barely do my first job.

How many people are in my position, very few. Very few Deed in Lieu's were granted. Consider it a get out of jail card for telling the truth. The rest will be chained to the houses they bought and had lied about their income. I don't want to be chained to anything, if I could I would not buy a house. I would prefer to be in an old RV in Slab City. I have worked for 40 years, I have done everything that we were told we should, I worked my way through college, got good grades and worked my way up through my career. I am tired and just want to go away, leave the game to others. I am done with all of it.

The bank re-sold my house, I met the new owners, a nice female couple. They got it at a good price and work for NASA, I know they can afford it, they had to verify their income. The last thing I did to separate from my home was to give the people who bought the house the number to the safe. As far as I know only two people ever had it, me and the original owner, I never gave it out to my wife or kids, the only thing that was in it was mine. The original owner had never given the number until after the sale was complete and I didn't either and I didn't keep a copy. Some things are about honesty and respect, I respected the original owners wishes. I feel good about how I left; but, still feel bad that I didn't pay my debt.

I brought my kids up with a couple simple statements, one of them was, "Don't lie, don't cheat and don't steal and nobody will come by and take away everything you worked for." I was wrong; but, still agree with the sentiment or at least the personal statement, don't be a cheater. You might lose everything; but, you won't lose your self-respect.

Life is a morality test, it is about defining yourself and what you really believe. Who and what are you is the question you answer in this life. Just like the show, "Who wants to be a Millionaire", you have to give your final answer, the one you will live by and die by, the one that truly defines you. The game is rigged and the questions are asked of the sheep who have not determined their answers yet. It is your only chance to define yourself anyways, ignorance is not an excuse when the question is about morality.

Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes, what is your final answer? Mine is to pay off all the debt I was given, mine is to fade away into obscurity and to sleep a lot more. I like sleep.

On a side note, my lead Pastor, the brat, I asked him a question. I am very insecure about preaching, not about public speaking; but, about preaching. He told me that he believed our congregation was going to expand a lot, I told him I was not sure that I would feel comfortable. I told him I was felt better with a just a few members. I told the truth. He reads this but is not listed as a follower. He gave me a funny answer, he said that the way you knew that you were called to preach was simple, he said if you stopped doing it, you felt terrible, he set you felt a need to spread the word. I had to tell him the truth, I thought if I was lucky enough to move to slab city that I would probably preach on Sundays, I figure they don't have too many preachers there. He caught me, I guess I have to preach the word somewhere.

I don't feel I am a very good preacher, I preach like I write. An insane maniac, just trying to make it out the door; but, I have opinions and know what time it is. Sometimes I wish I could talk to Pastor Daniels and ask for her help, she had so much faith and I fear that I am weak and not ready for the task, I feel I am just winging it. I did not prepare to be a preacher, I prepared to be a bad man with a good reason. I prepared for the military. I thank God that he kept me out of it.

I don't care how much the government monitors me, they couldn't get it right if they had to, I grew up in it. I have been monitored my whole life and really, they are not as good at the game as I am. LOL. They learned from my daddy, the one that taught me. Morons. Only a complete and utter failure would fail to understand that he taught me more, I am his son.

The answer to absolute monitoring is absolute confusion, muddy the waters till there is nothing clear. Who wants to play? The government is a joke, the media is a lie, who you are is the question and only you have the answer. There are no shortcuts, who are you? I am me and one young lady knew it, everyone else was confused by who I am, they kept thinking I would take advantage of the system and what I knew, I never did. That is not who I am, let the games begin. That is a joke, the games began before they were ended, that it is how they should be played, the game is over before it has begun.

Okay, you got a long post and one that explained something, something about me and something about the economy, they are the same questions and the same answers. Here is the article you should read.

Chicago Tribune - United Feature Syndicate - Mortgage cops taking tough stance

Redistribution of Wealth

I have said and will continue to say that it does not matter who is elected President. I have no preference between dumb and dumber, they are both liars. Having said that, as between the two, Romney seems much more heartless and concerned only about himself.

I want to look a little deeper at something he recently said. He is reported to have said, "I think a society based upon a government centered nation where government plays a larger and larger role, redistributes money, that's the wrong course for America." The focus of government is not the redistribution of wealth; but, it is a natural consequence of any taxation. When you tax me and spend half of the money on the military, you have redistributed wealth and in favor of military spending. Who gets that money, his friends in the military industrial complex.

Redistribution of resources (wealth) goes on everyday, sometimes by choice (I choose to buy your product) and sometimes by force (I am taxed or threatened with a lack of basic services).

Lets be honest about things. We live in a nation where we are forced to go to school, you are forced to follow laws that you may not agree with, it is illegal to smoke Marijuana even if you are dying of cancer. If the government is going to force people to do certain things then they must give something back, like an assurance of having your basic needs met. He is not in favor of that and says so.

I don't really care about Romney, I am much more concerned about the sentiment because whether or not he wins, almost half of the voters agree with him. One kid is born to a nice middle class family, the parents are hard working and both lose their jobs because of the recession. The house gets foreclosed on and they end up on the street. The kids schooling suffers and his grades begin going down. What did the kid do to deserve that? That is the reality of what we are seeing right now. He talks about how these people feel entitled, is that the issue?

We love to tell the story about how the homeless black girl got into Harvard on a scholarship. It wasn't enough for her to be very good, she had to be the best. The rules are different if you have money, you don't have to be the best, you hire them. The game is rigged, lets at least admit that some people have advantages that they did not earn and others start the game already being penalized for nothing they did. I hope we can at least agree on that.

A pause. I know I haven't been writing a lot lately, I will try and pick up the pace. I also have a new comment that I have not posted or responded to, it is on a very old post regarding DMT, I will get to it; but, not tonight.

This nation is getting poorer and it is about to get worse. The pie is getting smaller, not larger. The question is how we will distribute what is left. That is truly the question and Romney believes that we should continue to take a higher percentage from the poor and a lower or same percentage from the wealthy. He calls the wealthy the job creators, well if that is what we are paying them for, they are doing a pretty bad job and need to be fired and replaced with people that actually create new jobs for this country. I am not saying Obama is that guy, they are all useless, I want to address the issues, not the people.

Should people who are willing to work go hungry when the "job creators" didn't do their job and create jobs? What is the average IQ, it is 100. Not too many businesses are started by people with a High School education and an IQ of 100, that is not the group we expect to create all the jobs and if it is then we are dumber than that. I suspect most people that are successful at creating companies have IQs over 100 and some training or education and an entrepreneurial attitude. Our nation raised people to be good employees not good entrepreneurs. We get what we teach and have no right to blame them for being raised to be good employees.

What is really going on is the change from an industrial economy that required many workers to a post-industrial economy that needs fewer employees. It is like the game you learned as a kid, musical chairs. We all start with a chair and one by one they are taken away by the teacher until there is one chain and one winner. Not quite right, there are two winners. The last one to get a chair and the teacher who gets all the rest. That is how the powers that be want the economy to be.

If you want a truly fair game then you would not allow the wealthy to hire tutors for their children, you would base the schools they go to based on their intelligence, you would make sure that all hires were blind and made with no regard to who you knew, merit only. This is of course never going to happen. That game is rigged and many of believe that is okay.

Is the game fair? It is not, it is not based on merit alone. If we truly wish a nation based on merit then we would not allow people to inherit money. The argument they use is a lie, the rich do not wish a government and society based on merit alone, they want one where the table is tilted and they get a head start, okay, lets just admit that.

If one does not believe in a redistribution of wealth based on merit, then what do they believe in? I think most of us want people to benefit in this world based on merit; but, that is that is not the system we have in place. We have a system that rewards you for who you know, think it doesn't? How is that fair or based on merit? Take a moment and think about this.

I believe we should reward effort and merit. I think we should reward honesty and not guile or who your mama slept with. That is the real issue we are addressing. It is not about the haves and have not's, it is about who should be rewarded and why. The media will not allow that discussion to occur. How poor shall we allow people to be? How much are we willing to give of what we get? Who are we as a nation?

Will you trade your neighbor starving to death for your guns? I am a Christian, I would trade my freedom so that others could eat. If you call yourself a Christian then I ask, would you? Put your money where your mouth is. What do you want this country to look like when we lose 10% of our wealth? How bout 20%? How will we treat one another, will we treat each other as Christian brothers and sisters?

We are looking to change public pensions, we are going to reward people for retiring young. It is not couched in those terms; but, that is the effect. I am good with that, I ready to go now. Why should we have those who actually care be penalized for sticking around? Why should we limit what public servants get for a pension if they choose to stick around, the one's that actually care and will work even when they could make more by retiring?

Here is how stupid we are. A guy does 30 years for the state and then does 30 years for a county. The state pays him his retirement and the county pays much less even after getting 30 years of contribution from him. LOL. I want to hire people that already have retirements from the government, odds are, they would collect any form the next government they work for. This is now being referred to as double dipping and it is a lie.

It is simple math, actuarials say it is cheaper to hire an older employee because he changes the odds of paying him to retire. He will not live as long. It is just math and common sense. Get it?

Monday, September 17, 2012

my boys

I have been blessed with a couple of young men. Here is what I taught them.

YouTube - Jerry Reed - Amos Moses

YouTube - David Bowie - Putting out fire


Let us play. Pimpernel.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Electronic Money for Illegal Aliens, It Makes Global Sense

So the news was blanketed with stories about how Los Angeles is considering issuing identification cards to illegal aliens that would allow them to borrow books from the library and bank at ATMs. People are outraged, blah, blah, blah and nobody thinks to ask what the real reason is or seemed to notice when the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond went even further with their id's. The thing is, you don't have to be an illegal alien to get these cards, that is not their purpose.

A lot of people don't have bank accounts for a variety of reasons and they have to rely on paper dollars. This is not about illegal aliens, this is about making sure that everyone can use electronic currencies. If people would lift their heads above being led by the manipulative mass media, they just might start looking for the real reasons behind what goes on.

Think about this, not everyone drives or gets a driver's license and you are not required to get a state or federally issued identification. Americans have traditionally been very much against having national identification cards, seems to Germany and U.S.S.R. to us. A local identity card that doesn't judge, that doesn't upset people for the same reason and it lets kids use the ATM limited to how much you put on the card.

Why will this be needed you might ask. Well, banks are going to require you to have a biometrically verifiable identification, I have written about that and linked to stories about that for more than a hot minute. Nothing has changed. It is not about using the library, they can do that already. By the way, an incredibly high percentage of illegal aliens are also illiterate. As for having bank accounts, if you are here illegally you would probably prefer not to have a bank account and keep it all in cash just in case you get deported.

When Oakland was passing their law, the mainstream media pointed out that other cities had city issued identification cards and they used Washington D.C. as an example. Nobody seemed to notice how incredibly stupid this was as D.C. is not within a state and would have to issue driver's licenses. If this was just about having a government verified identification or about using the libraries it would not have happened, this is about electronic currency.

Lets say in in three years you want to visit Sweden, your dollars won't mean anything as the Swedes have already said they plan to be a cashless society in two years. So, how will they get people to visit there? Well, you will have to have some form of valid electronic card. The same will be true here. Los Angeles and San Francisco are two of the largest travel destinations in the world.

Now here is the second part that nobody has considered or at least written about. How will someone from Sweden travel here, they won't be using cash and will quickly forget how to. Well, the cards that Los Angeles will be issuing accept international money transfers. Does a picture begin to develop?

If anyone can understand this and see it for what it is, it will be my dear readers. I have been talking about the coming electronic currency since this blog began. I have been saying that they would eliminate cash and now it is happening. The western nations will love it, in the same way we all experienced the housing bubbles at the same time, we will all hyperinflate at the same time electronically, the rest of the world won't be able to without having the same electronic currency. The picture will be something along those lines.

Here is the infrastructure that needs to be in place. First, you have to be able to give everyone a bank account on short notice with little to put in it. Second, you have to have an electronic debit card with biometric information (just about any picture will do). Next, you have to have a reason to stop using paper cash. Americans will be reticent to go completely cashless unless it benefits them. Here will be the trick, your electronic cash will be in whatever unit based on labor hours or something. In the end that is all cash is, it is a promise of labor or materials in the future. Electronically you can set that rate and inflation then becomes irrelevant, it ceases to exist because you are still entitled to the same ration of return for your efforts. You don't even have to eliminate paper dollars, just hyperinflate them out with an electronic super-dollar, you require one million paper dollars for every one super-electronic dollar. You will trade in your dollars and go electronic or become meaningless.

When this happens, all the turmoil in Europe goes away, everyone becomes debt free and the system reboots; but, with different lending rules. There will be no easy credit when we go all electronic. The rich have a belief, they believe that if we all started from the same place, the same people would end up on top. That used to be discussed in philosophical conversations in Ive League and eastern colleges, I know, I heard it.

So what if I am right, what would happen? Would the Greeks overextend themselves and understand that there be no bailout and they would just be left to their own? I bet you would see a lot of people get their work ethic back real quick and a lot fewer people going on splurge spending.

One day I met a banker, very smart and very attractive. Her and her friend had come to meet me and offer to lend my organization a large amount of money for project I was interested in making happen. I did my research on them before I met them, that actually surprised them. They obviously did not come prepared. Going to Yale does not mean that there are not smart people that went to other colleges. LOL. I do hope that my readers and I can at least admit that I am not stupid and do at least follow the news.

These people hired a consultant just to come talk to me. Now dear friends, this old Pimpernel was not well for a very long time, quite confused and agitated. One of my very dear friends who I saw today commented on how I looked the best he had ever seen me, to this day he will not tell me how bad looked at my worse and I appreciate that. Pimpernel should be dead and I know that, enough doctors told me so and for many years. There was a time when I looked it and some people were betting how long I would last, I would have bet against me too, me ex-wife did. Seems God had other plans and I am still here. I met these two, I am not sure what to call them. They were with a private equity firm, they managed other people's money on the world stage. I am laughing now, I went on a date with a women a couple of years back that did the same darn thing. I will think about that later.

The question I have always asked is why should a couple of big wig whatevers bother coming to see little Pimpernel when he was not in great shape and had no money, power or fame? Why should they be interested in a project that nobody except a few people even knew about? I asked them that, they said they couldn't tell me. I want to make this clear, it cost these yahoos at least $10,000 (this is being incredibly conservative, it cost a lot more) dollars just to come talk to me. I figured someone knew something and it wasn't me. Why the heck should anyone outside of my friends, family and dear readers give one rat's rear end about me? The reader may think I am being humble, I am not, my job is to give my opinion, not to make the final decision. I have a friend in New Jack City and he knows this. Most people would not come to me, they would go to my bosses boss or above. The decision makers, these people came to see me, what were they thinking?

I feel like writing and want my dear readers to have a journey with me when they read this, I will get back to the beginning, I usually do, don't I? Let me just finish this story first. These people knew my project, my influence and didn't think they needed to figure out who I was. They figured I would do anything to get my project done within legality and reason, they missed morality. I do not do business with people I do not understand, I make sure I understand their interests first, that way we all know where we are coming from. I have friend that used to read this ragged little blog, he knows this. I try and make sure that everyone is on the same page so that we understand in advance where we might differ, that is proper business. At times interests diverge and the important thing is that everyone agrees on how they will handle those situations, with respect for one another.

Not long after the meeting with two big wigs or whatever, I called one of them up and asked, completely off topic of everything I have written tonight or maybe not, I asked whether or not this banker thought that our next currency would be pegged to a nations mineral and labor availability, she told me she heard such things discussed and offered to put me in contact with one of their experts in international banking. Friends, Pimpernel lives in a one bedroom apartment. I do not rate free consulting from an international banker who makes $1,000 a day at a minimum. I never asked for the name nor called anyone, the answer was enough for my purposes.

I have given more than enough explanations. This is not about library cards, this is about the coming electronic currency and how we make sure that it is "fair". How much of one our of hard manual labor is yours worth as compared to a Chinese guy? Is your one hour of labor worth more than his, are you more important that his hour? Is your life more important than that of someone living in communist China? Why should your hour of work be worth more, perhaps, if you put an effort (schooling) into your life then you would have more to offer, your time later might be worth more. How much more is the eternal question and the one that the valuation of a nation's worth will be based on.

Alright, I gave you a lot to read tonight. Here is the link to the article in the L.A. Times.

L.A. to consider multi-use library cards for illegal immigrants

Monday, September 10, 2012

The FCC and Loss of Local Control

While I have written about this before, I decided to do some research and giving an update. The FCC in 2008 began taking steps to begin regulating local right of ways. This may not sound like much to most people; but, in fact it is an incredible taking of local rights of states and municipalities.

Some background information for my readers will help explain. When a developer builds a track of houses they will give a "right of way" or "easement" to the local government. It is rare that local governments actually own the streets, they generally just have an easement. That means that we agree to allow part of our property to be used for travel, roads and sidewalks (usually put in by the developer and maintained by the local government).

Your local roads are controlled by the local municipalities. The new actions of the FCC will put local right of ways under the control of the Federal government. The FCC has spent the last four years to implement this takeover and nobody is discussing it. You do not see it discussed in the news; but, here is a position notice from the Texas Municipal League discussing the situation.

FIFTH CIRCUIT UPHOLDS FCC CELL TOWER ORDER

According to the Texas Municipal League, "The order was troubling because it preempts certain aspects of local zoning authority and to some extent makes the FCC a “national zoning board.” The court has also agreed that the FCC can regulate how municipalities are limited in what they can charge for use of their right of way. The actual court decision can be read at the following link.

Find Law - CITY OF ARLINGTON TEXAS v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

What is really going on is much more complex than putting up cell towers, it goes to the heart of being able to travel freely. Let us remember, as I posted on recently, the government also began requiring car manufacturers to install black boxes in cars and has begun an even more bizarre study.

US DOT - DOT Launches Largest-Ever Road Test of Connected Vehicle Crash Avoidance Technology

This technology will make it possible to notify you and eventually control your driving habits all in the name of safety; however, it also allows the government to eventually shut down your ability to drive and not just on Federal Highways; but, also on local streets. I do hope my readers actually read the links and think about this issue.

I am not particularly worried about these things; but, like the founding fathers, I don't like to see so much control placed in the hands of anyone because of how it could be used.

You Need to Listen to this Music

There is a woman named Charo, she was beautiful, funny and incredibly talented. She is still alive and still beautiful, funny and talented. Her persona was bigger than her music; but, her music is amazing. She is a wonderful Spanish guitarist and you should hear her music.

YouTube - Charo Live at Bally's "Concierto De Aranjuez/Leyenda/Romance De Amor"

I do hope you enjoyed it. Have a great week.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Information and Rambling

I don't feel like writing much today, perhaps as I do that may change. Two articles worthy of my dear readers attention.

The Guardian - Naomi Wolf - The new totalitarianism of surveillance technology. A nifty little article where the author talks about how the biometric industry plans on tracking your every move.

RT - FBI begins installation of $1 billion face recognition system across America. I kept coming across articles on this and picked this one at random. Biometric identification is the future and you will be in a database or databases as the case may be.

On a completely unrelated note, I went out to dinner today and had two attractive women in their 40s flirt with me, it was a dimly lit restaurant to be sure. The person I was having dinner with commented on it as we exited the restaurant. I must say it was nice to be flirted with. I just didn't feel like flirting back, I was pleasant and even a little amusing; but, I was not going to ask for numbers or call anyone. I should point out that they both discussed how they were both single. There were only a foot away from me, adjacent tables.

I cannot write about what is truly on my mind yet. I believe something that I have waited to occur for quite a while is about to happen. If I am correct and it does happen, it may effect my little life in a positive way; but, still a change and I sort of like my quiet little life. I was also asked to speak to the media about some issues; but declined. I am not afraid to speak in public and have been in the newspaper before; but, not something I really enjoy. Happy to be the anonymous Pimpernel to the world.

If what I believe is coming, comes, then perhaps I shall also find out if this pretty little blog did it's job. This blog is an onion, many layers and purposes; but, there was a beginning and an intent. The intent behind creating it was to let some people know that I could make them believe absolutely anything I wanted about me. This blog was not intended to find crimes, corruption or deeper meaning to life. That became where I drove it; but, not the original intent. Heck, the first post was on the nature of consciousness (later deleted). It was never anticipated that people other than the intended audience would find it.

This blog will end, I have said so many times. I will die or my life will change; but, it will end. I do not know exactly when and will make every effort to leave behind something of use to someone. I have enjoyed the experience of being heard by others, the ones I never intended to read my ramblings.

In the future you will be given an individual IP address, we have discussed this before. When you die all of your on screen personalities will declare themselves dead. That IP address, the individual one will be endedd. Your online presence will outlast you. I think for my next post, I will consider talking about tanks. FPS Russia ia an amusing fellow who likes tanks. That is a blatent recommendation of a YouTube site, FPS Russia is just too amusing. Goodnight.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Something on my mind

Never a good thing, there is something on my mind that I must figure out and I do not know exactly what the question is, something is not quite right in the machine, a pattern that cannot be or better yet a pattern that has hidden part of itself, still it is a patter, it has a logic and must be seen to be real. Once seen, it must see itself or never was real; but, deceived itself. Poetry or prose, let the reader decide.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Joe South - Rest in Peace

A singer songwriter named Joe South died today. He had some amazing songs. I would like to link to one or two of them. Please enjoy.

YouTube - Joe South - Games People Play


YouTube - Elvis Presley - Walk a mile in my shoes


YouTube - Deep Purple - Hush

YouTube - Ray Stevens - Walk a Mile in My Shoes (my favorite version of the song)

YouTube - Lynne Anderson - Rose Garden

He was also a guitarist, he played the electric guitar on this song by Simon and Garfunkel. YouTube - Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends and I hope my lovely readers enjoyed his music as much as I did. Any of my longtime readers should know that I like to post links to music on occasion. My mother was kind enough to bless me with an appreciation of all types of music. My preferences and a certain type of jazz and classic rock; however, I also listen to country, rap, classical, folk and many other forms. Mr. South wrote, performed and played guitar, he recorded his own hits and was recorded by others and those versions became hits. He was played as Country and as Heavy Rock. The man had talent.

I didn't plan on writing about music or musicians tonight, I actually planned on writing about Honduras and a little experiment they have going on there.

Reward in Pastor Carol Daniels Case

I check my stats for this blog on a fairly regular base. I continue to be fascinated by how many people in Russia read it. When I see a spike in viewership, I try and determine which posts were being searched. Today I saw a spike in readership for the post on Pastor Daniels. I did an internet search and found that the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is offering $10,000 for information leading to the killer's capture. They can be contacted at 1-800-522-8017. Here is a link to the article.

KOCO - OSBI renews reward in pastor homicide case on anniversary


A previous spike in readership had led me to discover an article that claimed that the OSBI had interviewed someone in the Chicago area; but, I chose not to publicize that at the time, I didn't want to get in the way. I don't always publish everything I write or even every comment that I receive for a variety of reasons. While I discuss many different subjects on this blog, it was originally intended to focus on just a few things, it just sort of took a life of it's own and I am okay with that.

In the end, the blog is about you and me, it is about the world around us and what it may mean, it is a free floating, what I read today thing. It is written usually in the time that it takes others to read it, I don't plan out anything more than a day in advance for this blog. This blog is about what matters, us and that is what it says in the title. You matter and Pastor Daniels mattered, we all matter.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day, Ribs and Nonsense

It is labor day and I am making braised ribs, beef ribs. Yesterday we stripped off the membrane on the ribs and applied the rub. At present the ribs are in the oven on a slow braise utilizing Jack Daniels and Apple Juice. Once finished I will make a reduction and use that as the bbq sauce. I don't know how many of my readers have had my food because I don't know who reads this; but, I know at least one of my readers has had my ribs before and she liked them.

I think Labor Day was supposed to celebrate the workers, the people who build the roads and bridges, the people who build the cars. We used to celebrate having jobs and our accomplishments. During the 60s that all changed, we started seeing work as an offensive type of slavery.

I began working 40 years ago and have worked ever since. I have worked in a factory, as a waiter, as a gas station attendant, as a salesman, in Real Estate and in government. There was a time when I worked putting cardboard boxes together for shipments, that wasn't a good job; but, I did it and it fed my family. I wonder if my ex remembers me gluing my hands shut to stop the bleeding from all the paper cuts, I bet she does.

I couldn't physically do what I did when I was younger anymore and fortunately, I don't have to. I am on my way out and get paid to have answers and I usually have them. The pressure I feel now is over other people and wanting to make the system work for them, so that they can have a career and hopefully make things better. About the only thing I have left is to teach. In a couple of years, Labor Day will no longer be a holiday for me, it will be my life. Everyday will be a day away from work.

As each day passes, I am day closer to passing myself, that is true for all of us. A nice woman came to work with me last week. We were getting to know each other and talking. We had to discuss some problem and she said something like, "Well it could be worse, we could be underground". I don't think of that as worse, just different, a passage that we all make. I have no bucket list, nothing I feel a great urge to attain or experience or see. I am satisfied with the efforts I made even if I would have preferred different outcomes, we don't always get to determine those.

Each day has it's own challenges and rewards, today I am hoping that my ribs come out flavorful and tender, that would be sufficient for an achievement. A friend has often said to me that the person who finishes a journey is not the same as the one who began it. I am not the same as when I began my work life. I kept my integrity and showed what I was capable of and was fairly successful. When I was younger there was no chance you were going to outwork me.

I cannot imagine having grown up without working. My work life contributed to my self definition (though I have never been my job) by challenging me to push myself and achieve and create and oversee. Without work, life would have been very boring. We seem to have forgotten that, it is now just about money and not about effort or strenuous effort, it is about the quick and easy dollar. The dollar loses all meaning when you didn't have to work for it.

Writing is not work, for some it is, for me it is pleasure, it is an expression of self rather than a burden (though I have limits on how much I can write). There are three things for me to decide in the next two years. First, will I remain alone, probably. Second, will I do something after retirement, consult or teach for instance, probably to maybe. Thirdly, what do I want with the rest of my life. I have absolutely no idea; but, I do like the thought of fading away, possibly to slab city. I will link to a video at the end.

People scream USA is number one when we are not. People ask how "we" lost our edge, we didn't, there is no such thing. Effort is an individual and societal thing, you don't get to live off of past generations laurels, you are responsible for what you do with it. China and India have become world powers. We had the advantage, they outworked us, they didn't outwork me. I know I could get a job in China for more than I make here. I just don't care to do it.

I think we all deserve some time to ourselves, time to look back on our lives and ask ourselves what difference we made, the good, the bad and the ugly. Only we can know what our intent was, not the lies we told ourselves, our true intent. I know what mine was and happy with what I attempted and how I did it.

I wonder if younger people think about that, what their efforts will mean to them beyond how much they made? I hope so, it is a good feeling to know you gave your efforts to more than juts making money, that you effected others.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

They are all liars and need money to run for office

Well, the Republican National Convention is over, I didn't have to watch it. I read about it, more garbage, I expect nothing different from the Democrats, more garbage and little to no substance. Even the reviews and commentaries are garbage, they discuss look, touch and feel, they don't discuss solutions for they offered none, only hope that they would find solutions. Politics is not about answers, it is about opinions and positions. Cookie chasers and justifications.

I had some respect for Ross Perot, he used to say, he didn't have the answers but he would investigate and make a decision. A good management answer and a poor political answer. We expect perfection from politicians, they must have all answers. I disagree, they must make clear by what criteria they will make their decisions, what they will balance, which choices. That is uncomfortable for them so don't get those answers, we get what nice people they are.

This is theater, it is theater of the absurd, it discusses everything except that which matters. I don't want promises of jobs, I want to hear how it will be achieved. I don't want to hear how your care about people, I want to hear what you will do and how it will effect them.

For the first time in over 50 years a Republican Presidential candidate had failed to discuss war while we actively engaged in at least two. What does he plan on doing about these wars, didn't make the discussion. How many must die, how many must we kill, will he keep us at war or end them. Kind of an important thing, at least I think so. Everyone has an opinion, shouldn't we at least require that our "leaders" have an answer, even if it is imperfect?

Here is the "American Idol" scorecard of the RNC. How is it useful, does it give any answers to the real issues or just discuss how people feel?

Yahoo News - The Atlantic Wire - What They're Saying About Mitt Romney's Big Speech