Where the @#$@$@ have you been?

Ray's Corner Soapbox-- Opening The Soapbox

I know it's about time for me to get off my duff and blog some.  This has not been a great year as I have had some health issues.  Let's just say the hospitals are really happy in a financial way.

This year has been very slow for me taking pictures.  But I do have some I can share here in the blog(next posting). I will get to them probably tomorrow.


We live in the greatest country on earth and yet our government has to borrow money just to go to McD's for a hamburger.  How do you explain to the kid behind the counter that "NO!  I don't want fries with that because Congress didn't give me enough money".  Maybe it had something to do with all the golf games or the steak/chanpagne dinners or loaning money to failing "green" companies with no regard as to how much money is left in the account.  When Congress had their own bank, there were several bounced checks and these were the people we trusted with OUR money.

"Yes, we give you entitlements.  You can have all the mustard and catsup you want".  In reality, these are not entitlements because part of what you pay for a burger covers the cost of the "entitlements".

Let's "cut the cheese" and get to the real odor source.  We, the old farts of this country, and for the old retired military guys, have PAID for our retirement. We were recruited with the promise of a pension after 20 years minimum service time. (All we had to do was sell our soles to the government)  Yes, military retirement is an entitlement.  The military men and women did not have to pay a cost-share amount to cover retirement.  What we did was work our butts off (and I'll give you the Navy version) a minimum of 12 hour days, seven days a week while deployed at sea.  We would occasionally pull into a foreign port and have a chance to relax for a few days.  Were we paid overtime? NO.  What we basically used was the military rule: "Due to lack of morale, this weekend is canceled.  Commence Monday on Saturday morning."  While we were at our home station we were on-call 7 days a week (meaning our work day quite often went beyond the 8 hr work day).  We were also sent out on "mini-cruises" (usually 6 to 8 weeks) to train pilots and practice weapon runs on a target towed behind the carrier.  Our families took the brunt of our deployments.  As soon as we would leave the dishwasher, car or any high cost appliance would go belly-up.  Or the kids would get sick or worse...the wife would get sick.  The normal way of life for the military man was to bite the tongue, grin and bear it because you ain't going home.

Social Security: The Entitlement
There is plenty of talk from all politicians to this "entitlement".  Even calling it a Ponzi Scheme.  But....we are the victim, not the one that got all the money.  Well, excuse me but I have paid into Social Security all my working life.  Social Security funds were suppose to be in a "chest" to keep them safe.  Enter politicians that figure how to raid the reserve for SS.  Not enough funds???  Start a campaign for the congressional districts to pay back all the pork barrel items they received because their representative help rape the SS funds. An entitlement?  Hell, no we paid for it.  One additional item about SS, when FDR devised it, all the first recipients were given a gift because they NEVER paid one penny into SS.

Medicare:  The Entitlement
Again, we paid a tax toward coverage of  Medicare.  Now that I am retired, I have to pay an additional $100/month to Medicare for medical coverage.  While that may not be the most expensive medical insurance around, the money paid into the system should classify Medicare as a paid insurance premium.  Boy, we really need to replace a bunch of politicians with people that understand the difference between an entitlement and a consumer paid insurance.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox and call it quits for now.  Pictures to come later.  I have to download a bunch into the computer (this is a new laptop) and then manipulate them so they look perfect.  Hmmm....is that an entitlement or a benefit??

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!

 P.S.  I've updated this a slight amount.  Last night the computer said it could not find Live Writer and gave me an error when I tried to post. Guess I'll have to "add" a couple of things to see if Win7 64 bit is "agreeing" with Blogger.  Thanks to the followers for your comments as it keeps me fired up......and if you each would send me a few thousand dollars, I'd really be happy.