Archive for the ‘usa’ Tag

10/08/2022 The American Way (Price Gouging)   Leave a comment

I thought today might be a good time to address the “gouging” that’s been going on with food prices. I thought the oil industry was the champion gouger of all times but once again I was mistaken. I should have known that once it started with gas prices it would eventually spread to damn near everything else. Blame it on inflation or President Biden or on the many business men who seized on an opportunity to put it to the American public once again.

Yesterday I had the misfortune of doing the food shopping for the week. It will be a cold day in hell when I pay $5.50 for a dozen medium sized chicken eggs. I won’t list all of the things that pissed me off but trust me, there were dozens. With that thought in mind I’d like to time travel back to the “good old days” to do some comparison shopping. Welcome to the late 1940’s.

The average salary for a full time employee was $2900.00 and the minimum wage was a whopping $.40 an hour. I’m sure we’d all like to see prices like this again.

Bread (lb) $.14

Bacon (lb) $.77

Butter (lb) $.87

Eggs (1 dozen) $.72

Milk (gal) $.44

Potatoes (10 lb) $.57

Coffee (1 lb) $.51

Sugar (5 lbs) $.47

Gasoline (gal) $.26

Movie Tickets $.36

Postage Stamps $.03

Car $1250.00

Single Family Home $7700.00

Who is to blame? It’s a long list heavily populated by hundreds of politicians and thousands of loyal American businesses and corporations. As always, the regular guy gets stuck paying for their errors in judgement and sheer stupidity. Hooray for love of country and patriotism (sarcasm off).

U.S.A. ! – U.S.A. ! – U.S.A.!

07/30/2022 Odd America History   Leave a comment

I love reading about the history of this country. Not the big splashy headline making history but the odd or lesser-known history. Here are a few factoids you’ve probably never heard of . . .

  • The “American” log cabin got its start in Sweden, where such a building had been popularly used for centuries and was taken to America by the Swedish colonizers of new Sweden, which is now Delaware.
  • The name “United States of America” was coined by a man who lived the last years of his life in disrepute and his bodily remains eventually were lost – Thomas Payne. A chance meeting in London with Benjamin Franklin encouraged his move to America. Later, in 1776 he wrote his popular revolutionary tract Common Sense.
  • In the United States, about 48 billion metal cans, 26 billion bottles, 65 billion metal bottle caps, and 7 million automobiles are junked each year.

  • The United States has about 3,600,000 square miles of land, and on it more than 3,600,000 miles of highways of been constructed. That’s a mile of road to each square mile of land which if combined would pave an area as large as the state of West Virginia.
  • A replica of the head and the torch of the Statue of Liberty sat on the grounds of the Philadelphia Exposition celebrating the US Centennial in 1876, and later in Madison Square on lower Fifth Avenue in New York. A decade passed before enough funds were raised for the erection of the completed statue on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.
  • The Pony Express, which has lived in American legend for more than a century, lived in fact for less than two years. Indian raids curtailed service on the 1,966-mile route between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, And the transcontinental telegraph finally eliminated it in late 1861.

HAPPY WEEKEND

07-05-2016 Journal – Love It or Leave It!   Leave a comment

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Well, another holiday has come and gone. Overall it was a great weekend for us here in Maine.  I do realize there are problems in many parts of this country where patriotism is now frowned upon for fear of alienating all of the aliens, both legal and more likely illegal.  I recently read an article where a student was sent home from school because he wore a pro-America t- shirt.  If that was my son I could easily been persuaded to some sort of violence and rightly so. I realize it’s chic and liberal to trash the United States at every turn but if nothing else it’s disrespectful as hell. It disrespects every person wearing the countries uniform and I suspect it’s mostly done by people who’ve never served.

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Also shame on those of you in the academic ranks who insist on turning this country into a liberal, politically correct, and impotent world power by brainwashing our children with liberal claptrap (that’s right . . . I said claptrap.). Shame on you all.

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Now that I have that rant off my chest let me continue.  My better-half and I did a little traveling around our state over the weekend and I couldn’t have been prouder. It seems that the people of Maine may distrust our politicians (as they should) but still love their country.  We must have seen five hundred or more flags flying from buildings, businesses, and homes.

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In the town of Sebago, Maine which covers a rather large area, every telephone pole that we saw for miles was flying the colors.  So to all of you America haters across the country how about finding the closest airport, get on the fastest plane you can find and GET THE HELL OUT (call me if you need a ride to the airport).

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

 

07-02-2016 Journal – The Holiday Weekend!   Leave a comment

I’m not one to become overly excited about holidays but the 4th of July has a little extra meaning for me. Not because it’s the nations birthday, which is important, but because it was the birthday of my favorite grandfather.  It’s the only day of the year that brings back in vivid detail the many memories that I have of him. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA and grandpa Jeff.

My better-half surprisingly started her vacation yesterday which will include the holiday weekend. Since the day was beautiful and sunny we once again took a day trip to Bridgeton, Maine located an hour east of our home. It’s located in the foothills of the White Mountains along the New Hampshire border. It’s a quaint small town filled with many interesting shops that we enjoy visiting.

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Here are a few shots of the Maine street which was fairly busy with visitors. We hit our usual favorites to look for anything old and interesting. It’s always fun to people watch and roam around and not have to be concerned about the time.

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If you like bells . . . they’ve got plenty.

It was very relaxing day but since we were starving we made a stop at Towanda’s Deli for a nosh. We relaxed at an outside table and had one of the freshest and most flavorful sandwiches we’ve had in a long while.

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At the next table sat this handsome fellow. He lounged quietly with his owners and seemed to be enjoying his day as well. His name is “Russ” and what a sweet and friendly dog he is. He came over and said hello and goodbye as he and his family were leaving. An awesome dog.

Our drive home was pleasant and the day was a perfect start of our holiday weekend.

HAPPY FOURTH EVERYONE

12-16-2013. Resolutions   Leave a comment

I’m still trying desperately to figure out exactly what New Year’s resolutions I need to make for 2014. I’d like just  once to be taking this process seriously instead of resorting to silly and humorous resolutions that I never intend to keep. I decided as always that further research is necessary to assist me in my endeavors.

Being the patriotic citizen that I am what better place to start than with the always politically correct US Government webpage. Here’s their suggested list of New Year’s resolutions for 2014 which are so politically correct and lame they must have been written by Obama himself.

Drink Less Alcohol

Eat Healthy Food

Get a Better Education

Get a Better Job

Get Fit

Lose Weight

Manage Debt

Manage Stress

Quit Smoking

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Save Money

Take a Trip

Volunteer to Help Others

I was seriously tempted not to put that list in this posting because it’s so damn embarrassing.  However it’s important that I look at all the possibilities when trying to decide what will be my goals for the new year. During my research I then discovered a suggested list of New Year’s resolutions for senior citizens. I knew that list was going to piss me off because there’s no way someone who is not a senior citizen can write a list for senior citizens.  Here’s that list and it’s only a little offensive and condescending.

  • Visit your local senior center.
  • Plan to eat at least one nourishing meal a day, not junk food or fast food, but a real meal.
  • Increase your social contacts and make new friends at any senior center.
  • Consider getting help If you live alone and don’t have family or friends.
  • Learn how to use the Internet.
  • Schedule regular exercise.
  • Clean house. Go through your residence to identify items you no longer want, need or will never use again.
  • Get your papers/affairs in order.
  • Consider a personal emergency response system.

Well was I right or was I wrong? You can’t expect much more from a non-senior.  Now, in an attempt at diversity which I’m almost always famous for I decided to see what our friends in the hip-hop community are resolving to do during 2014. These listed resolutions are not from one single rapper but a number of people involved in the hip-hop music scene. They’ll speak for themselves with no further comments from me.

  • I’m an artist…Silence is my canvas!
  • Focus more on the music.
  • By the end of the year I’d like to receive some monetary compensation for creating music.
  • As nice as it is to get weed or liquor for beats, I think I’m ready to step up.
  • Stop spending more time on set up and reading manuals than I do writing.
  • Start playing my saxophone on a daily basis again? Oh yeah,and get some exercise…..
  • Return to sample based 90’s boom bap including scratches.
  • Take guitar lessons.
  • Get back to basics and not focus on what I hear on the radio and finish my studio.

My one last attempt at finding some real help on the Internet landed me onto the trail of a British stripper. Her heartfelt resolutions touched my heart and seemed more genuine  than most of the others I’ve mentioned. This is obviously a woman who loves her work and is trying to make those improvements necessary to increase her revenue stream. If I knew where she actually worked  I just might be tempted to pay her a visit and be talked into stuffing a few good old American dollar bills into some really interesting British places.

  • Work on my flexibility.
  • Whiten those teeth.
  • Work at least four days a week.
  • Work on a few new variations to my lap dance routines.
  • Wake up sober on Thursdays.
  • I’m going to begin yoga until I can once again lick my own leg.

All of this research hasn’t help me at all. My list of resolutions for 2014 is still tentative. I can’t decide on what approach to take in writing them and this research has made it even more difficult. I have a few weeks before the end of the year and I’ll continue my diligent efforts to come up with a few real resolutions I can strive for.  I’d hate to be forced to again  resort to making a list with items that are humorous, sarcastic, and silly.

More to come.

11-20-2012   2 comments

I’m a loyal and patriotic American as most of us are. The discussions I’ve been listening to recently and that many people are dwelling on are serious matters as they’ve always been.  Are we in decline?  Is the younger generations capable of taking over and keeping America strong? Why does everyone in the world hate us?  I’m not here to answer those questions or to solve those problems. I’m here mainly to convey my thoughts and the thoughts of other Americans and non-Americans who’ve had something to say about these same matters in the past.

The results of this last election were an eye opener for me as I’ve mentioned before.  Many millions of voters feel betrayed when so many of their fellow citizens were bamboozled by the Obama propaganda machine and just don’t seem to care about the welfare of the country.  Well people, I’m here to tell you that it’ll take more than Obama and a handful of well placed Democrats to destroy this nation.  I admit they’ve been working extremely hard to do as much damage as possible but since it’s been done within the laws of the land (for the most part) that’s their right to do so. They can’t do much more than we permit them to do. The bottom line is that long after all of them and all of us are gone this country will be rolling along like nothing happened.

Sit down, relax, and listen in.

       

  • "The American dream is not over, America is an adventure." Theodore White

  • "What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from." Marilyn Vos Savant

  • "America is a place where Jewish merchants sell Zen love beads to agnostics for Christmas." John Burton Brimer

  • "What’s right with America is a willingness to discuss what’s wrong with America." Harry C Bauer

  • "America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way around. Human rights invented America." Jimmy Carter

  • "The saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities-a sense of humor and a sense of proportion." Franklin Delano Roosevelt

  • "Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope John Paul II

  • "My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular." Adlai E Stevenson

  • "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want rain without thunder and lightning." Frederick Douglass

  • "A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." Dwight D Eisenhower

  • "Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." Thomas Jefferson

  • "Patriotism is not so much protecting the land of our fathers as preserving the land of our children." José Ortega y Gasset

     

I couldn’t have said it any better.  Four years to a new regime and hopefully a better outcome.

Posted November 22, 2012 by Every Useless Thing in Bitch & Complain

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