Glaring Contradictions

Congressional Reform and Other People’s Money

2011-10-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

I have to share this with who ever passes this way:

IT is HIGH TIME THIS WAS DONE

I originally wanted to say something today about this Occupy Wall Street thing.

I have not really followed it, just caught the same bits about it on the news I was not watching, but in the same room with.

I am quite up set about hearing that anyone America wants to

Redistribute the Wealth

I believe this was an idea tried by the communists, who found it did not work well.

I also would like, at least the newscasters, to phrase this more accurately

They are talking about:

Distributing money that other people made to people who did not earn it.

Which I understand to be theft & / or what often happens with taxes.

Not knowing more about this movement than what I had overheard, I did check them out a bit, on what I take to be their official web site http://occupywallst.org/, and was at least relieved to find they are actually, or also (?), protesting corruption.

It is still not all right with me.
On the one hand, I do not have the time to check them out, because I am either working or doing chores all the time. I kept tract of this one day this week and found.
In a typical 24-hour day, which is what we all have, I spend 5.5 hours sleeping or resting and 1 hour for breakfast and a leisurely read.
The rest of the time, I am either working, a job I created, because I had to, or doing chores.

Hey, maybe I am just protesting people who have all the time in the world, compared to me, to occupy space?

If they are just about wanting to redistribute other people’s money, it does not appear to be the whole story, they are being misrepresented in the news.

Free E-Cigarettes for Military personal, Discounted for the rest of us

2011-07-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

Down in the new Smoker’s section here to your lower right I will put links for the smokeless cigarettes, free for military personal and discounted, with free shipping for the rest of us!

You will find my updated experience with smokeless cigarettes so far in the Smokers! Section, in the right column.

When I saw the Free for military personal, I just had to share that.

Currently, between the other 2 offers, the South Beach offer below is the less expensive.
Join South Beach Smoke as we Celebrate our 1st Year Anniversary with 10% Off E-Cigarette Starter Kits
Enter Code: YEAR

I do not know how long any of these offers will last though…

My ongoing review of E Cigs

2010-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

I invite any smoker out there with experience with e cigs to comment, share your experiences!

I got my, same week I ordered them, using the banner, and its discount, in this page’s right column, it came to $19.99 total. I choose the cheap, disposable pack, which I have used for 2 weeks. It is just one cigarette, which comes in a normal hard pack. The pack is set up to hold the e Cig and its battery, which is part of the cigarette. This one e cig is suppose to be the “equivalent of more than one pack of cigarettes” per esmoke’s description.

HOWEVER:

So far I have only used it for when I run out of actual cigarettes, and am too busy / lazy to go out and get some. THIS PACK IS GREAT FOR THAT!

My Goal

Why am I doing this?
I want to save money!

Do I like e smokes?

So far, as a back up, YES!

For normal usage, rather than cigarettes…
I am not quite ready to try that yet, but will let you know, as I go along!

Aiming to pay less taxes while Christie Aims to make better of the taxes I’ll still pay!

2010-08-31T03:25:00.000-07:00

I am a New Jersey smoker, who a couple of weeks ago wrote that I will try the new e cigarettes. I ordered the cheapest version, the $20 disposable ones, using the 10% off coupon code.

You will find in their banner in the right column here.

I found this order comes with a $30 off coupon should I choose to use them regular and go with the rechargeable style later!

I just did this yesterday and today in my email I found this Christie: Make Cities’ Aid Hinge on Cuts, Performance article!

I love it when just as I am putting my plan into action to pay less taxes, the current powers that be will be working on making the taxes that we, here in NJ, do pay do more for us!

Are you a Smoker?

2010-08-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

I am. If you have been less amused about the price of cigarettes, and have seen these e Cigarettes on TV and thought:
If this works, I could save a heck of a lot of $!
Well I have, Now I have found a way for us to try this, for less! Note this discount code in the link to e Cigs below!
Then click on the banner and you will find, you can try e cigs for $20, no shipping fee in the USA!

I am going to try this real soon, and post a smaller version of this discount banner here in the right column for all to enjoy. Unless I find them revolting. In which case I will remove it.

I am holding out hope that this will be a pleasant substitute for some of the cigarettes I smoke, may be even all, and will cost less!

We shall see.

If you have tried e Cigs, please post me a comment here!
I am intrigued!

Is you child’s education being curtailed?

2010-03-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

Or supplied by other students, rather than the teachers? Three disturbing issues came to my attention of late, and I cannot decide which is worse!

When asking my daughter’s, 4th grade, teacher if they had to sit in groups? Is it part of the curriculum?

The teacher replied that it is part of the curriculum, because the students can then teach each other in that language only children have together.

I am not making this up! She really said that!

I was extremely surprised that this teacher was willing to tell me this, now, in New Jersey, when the teacher’s union and the state’s budget are having a bit of a face off. There again, she does not cover current events in her class…

Silly me, I would think teachers would be trying to justify their existence at this point, or at least teach rather than shunting that responsibility on to the 8 to 10 year old students.

I though this was very Rousseauian. No wonder they seem to have a problem teaching analytical thought! I wondered if this is a reason Rousseau gave to his mistress to put their children to foundling hospitals.

I would expect Lord of the Flies type results. In part because:

This is the same teacher who told me earlier in the year that they rely on peer group pressure to raise the students grades, and make each child more organized and efficient.

Now I also realize that this teacher must go with the curriculum, it is not exactly her choice. It is more of a board of ed thing I guess, but will have to find out, in short time, no doubt.

It no surprise to me that my daughter offers that perhaps she is failing because she wants her school to fail. Why? They will not stop the bullies. The school maintains she is mistaking criticisms from her group mates as bulling. She maintains that she is being disrespected, (verbally abused actually, from what she tells me), every school day. Clearly, she is used to a more polite society, where respect and manners matter, and I am now compelled to look into home schooling…

It gets worse. What about the answer to non-white and non-Asian students at a Berkley high school getting bad grades in science is to pull, (East Bay Express, Berkley High May Cut Out Science Labs, & Berkeleyside, Endangered Science Labs at BHS), or curtail the science courses and labs. How does that work to anyone’s advantage? What good will come of that?

Now I have just read about Women and Science by Christina Hoff Sommers:

The National Review’s review of this book mentions the possibility of the number of men admitted to science courses might have to be reduced, owing to political correctness, and gender disparity, (with regards to title IX of the 1972 civil rights legislation).

Education?

When I first confronted why 4th graders were still sitting in groups
Why schools were teaching groups rather than individual children
I figured if you followed the money
You’d find someone with a real financial interest in Ritalin or some other attention deficit drug
Prompting having children arranged to pay attention to each other
rather than the teacher and their studies.
Now it seems a whole lot more sinister than someone just trying to make a huge buck!

What Our Children’s Homework is Doing, & Not

2010-01-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

PARENTS and EDUCATORS! PLEASE READ At Least the First Section of This!

For all the problems with education today, Homework may be a big part of them. Children today are getting much more than any of us older folks had in elementary school, and to no good end. Stop Homework was good enough to provide us with this The Case Against Homework: A Fact Sheet.

I found out about Stop Homework and why by reading

And Alfie Kohn’s

These books also point out that, other academically higher achieving countries, give less homework. Pages 12 – 13 of The Case Against Homework states that Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic have teachers who assign little homework, whereas Greece, Thailand and Iran have some of the worst scores and the teachers assign the highest quantities of homework.
I wish educators would read these books, especially the Does Homework Improve Learning chapter in The Homework Myth.

What led me to reading about homework these days

For some year, since my daughter began public school, she and I have had the homework wars. Though she rarely did not finish it, her grades began to sink. Part of the reason is no doubt, what I mentioned last week: Her primary school, and now elementary school did not challenge her. Another is in recent years; she does not care to apply herself.

The homework increased each year, as the school warned us it would. I talked to other parents over the years. I found, some lie about the reading their child has done, to make the required minutes per night. Some actually do the child’s homework, if they are sure the child knows the material.

During the school year, all of the children we know have little, if any, time to socialize, exercise or enjoy extra curriculum activities, outside of church or synagogue ones.

We even had a packet of schoolwork for summer “vacation”, which was given to us, at a special conference. It was presented to us as if only my daughter had to do this. About mid summer, on a play date with three friends in her school, one’s mother asked another mother and me, “Has your child started on the “vacation homework” yet?” No. Neither had either of theirs.

As this school year progressed, my daughter’s rather pleasant teacher added new punishments for not doing one’s homework. Our school’s standard, it seems, is miss a homework assignment, no recess the next day. That means even less exercise and socializing.

Then she added, miss a homework assignment, no snack. Well the fourth graders in our elementary school have very little time to eat lunch, once they get it. A friend of mine who works in the school and sees this daily says she figures less than 15minutes, if that. So now they have to go without what ever nutrition you manage to pack them off with for snack. This for me, was the last straw. Or so I thought.

Then came the added HOMEWORK AS PUNISHMENT. Oh yeah that will make lifetime learners out of our children!

Whatever math facts my daughter gets wrong on her timed test of 100, she has to write, first 10xs each, next week 15xs and so on. When I explained to the teacher that she did much better practicing timed tests last year, because that is what improved her test scores, last year, she did not seem to care It’s repetition hell for my child, and that is that.

Trying to talk to the teacher principal about this I got nowhere. Actually, with the principal, I got a very strong reaction, quite comical, which I may get to in the next post. Will my take on his reaction do a thing for our children’s plight? No.

The NJ Board of Education reality, I guess

2010-01-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

This past fall I received a nice, if apologetic, call from a nice lady at the Board of Education. It was to notify me that my daughter would be denied free tutoring as our household makes too much.

I said, having applied for the free, or is it discounted, lunch, and been denied, for the same reason, I assured her I fully expected this.

She was more upset than I was.

I explained that my daughter and I live with a friend who is nice enough to put us up, even though I am not involved with him. It is his belief that if everyone helped someone most every know personally knows, social services, welfare, et al, would not exist, or likely not as much anyway.

I assured her that NJ Kid care, the heath insurance plan that covers children in NJ whose parents do not make enough, understands that it is just my income, and they cover us. I explained, and she had to agree, that even with a healthy child, this is a much greater blessing than being covered for lunch.

Still, she was pretty upset. I did not have the heart to tell her that in my best year I calculated I was making about $3.37 an hour.

She was upset because she feels that if a child needs tutoring, that child should get it. I assured her that in our particular case, perhaps not. My daughter is very stubborn and merely has a bad case of ‘I don’t care to’. It is a quality that will server her well in most aspects of life. For now, she will have to deal with the consequences of her not wanting to do the work. I like stubborn people, heck even our dog and cats, makes me feel I actually know who I am dealing with. So this whole no tutoring thing is just fine really.

She was still fuming, asked if I minded if she got on her soapbox. I told her that is just fine.

She, and the poor, (Well yes she makes more than me, yet she has to deal with this sort of thing every working hour.), woman is also upset because her child, a special ed child, is put in a class of children with normal abilities to learn.

This is supposedly to prevent him from feeling poorly about himself. It backfires, at least for her child, he feels stupid because he cannot keep up.

OK, so she has to deal with the things that do not make sense about our education system when she gets home too, like the rest of us parents.

Again I did not have the heart to tell her: My daughter, of normal learning abilities, started to loose her interest in learning during the first 2 years of being in classes mixed with special ed children, who have special assistant teachers in these classes. The lessons apparently move very slow, or as my daughter put it one year; “This class challenges No One.”

The same year a therapist we know told me, the worst thing you can do to a child is not challenge them.

So this mixing of special ed children hurts the slower learners and the regular learners alike.

Who does it Help?

As opposed to

Justice for Whom?

2009-12-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

Consider this hearsay and a remnant from summer:
During the summer, a friend of mine’s son was in a junior police summer program, at either our elementary or middle school. For what it is worth, I believe it was middle school.

Part of this program involved inmates from a local prison coming to address the young students with their story of how they ended up in jail.

One inmate was a woman who was arrested, and convicted, for defending herself in her apartment home.

She told the group of youngsters she was home alone when several women entered her apartment and began to attack her.

Being in the kitchen, she defended herself with a kitchen knife.

Now she is serving time in jail for this.

In the months in between now and when I first heard of this I discussed this with a friend who has had a long term interest in municipal law, or perhaps it is law in general. He assured me that if you injure an assailant, here in NJ, you will be the one prosecuted.

Now I find his certainty of this, and the above-mentioned woman’s story rather disturbing. Just what exactly are you suppose to do if you are attached?

I also find it curious that someone selected this particular inmate to address a group of young students.

I would have to assume folks in law enforcement, well at least some of them, or whoever arranged this meeting with the young students, finds it equally disturbing enough to warn our youngsters of it.

What do you make of these issue?

Cash for Clunkers from the Tax Payer, yet Never Could Afford a New Car perspective

2009-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is pretty crummy and ironic. Lower income people who work and pay taxes, as I have, find some portion of my tax dollars go to a government program that pays people who can afford new cars to turn in their old cars and buy yet again.

To add insult to injury: Destroy the used cars that I and other working, tax paying, lower income people would have purchased used. One, such as I, to whom this would matter, would consider the price of used cars would likely go up. Gee thanks.

A friend of mine told me the clunkers where not destroyed. Yet I found an article:
How Cash For Clunkers Engines are Destroyed with the video below in it.

So apparently they were not only crushed, but disabled before they get scraped, or crushed, I guess.

And apparently , exotic and luxury cars where also traded in for far less than their worth. Read about this in another article, Bently Destroyed in Cash for Clunkers Program. Apparently some people have money to throw away are getting their new cars subsidized by taxpayer money too.

This is obviously a new version of tightening our belts and making sacrifices than I had been familiar with…also a new version of thrift. Are we supposed to be spending money we do not have like mad? Why is the government? Moreover, why spend money we do not have, (We have a deficit right?), so destructively?

Re: Government Jobs and Taxes

2009-09-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

A radio personality at New Jersey 101.5 pointed out this AM that while NJ unemployment is almost up to 10%, in the private sector, the government workers unemployment rate in NJ is holding at 0%.

Of course, government needs more workers now to handle the benefits and programs that aim to assist the unemployed.

Here’s two ideas that must have occurred to many of us already:
What if we had less government and were allowed to keep more of our $ so that we might have some in savings for such a misfortune as unemployment?
What if NJ business we allowed to keep more of their money, by paying less taxes, and perhaps, be more able to not only keep people working, but also, who knows, expand even?

I like the way the American Thinker Government Workers: From Public Servants to Masters looks deeper into the Government workers wages and compensation issue.

I bet life would be better if more folks would think of these things whilst voting.
I wonder what percentage of the NJ, and also the US, working population is employed by state or federal government?

Attack of the Kill Joys. Why?

2009-08-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

This has been going on for some time, I know. I am sure long before Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun, throughout the history of mankind even, we all knew that all people just want to have a good time. In fact, if you are not working, at least to a small extent, toward that, what are you working for? Ok, survival, sure. Some long term goal, yes, but if you are not looking forward to a good time in the near future, then what?

I think we have all know this, yet for likely the history of mankind, have we not put up far too long with the kill joys? Sure if you happen to be a serf, in a fiefdom, or a slave with a cruel master, when you have no choice, then you have to put up with the folks who would take all the joy out of living.

P. J. O’ Rourke calls them the FunSuckers in Driving like Crazy

For less than half the price you can read Florence King’s excellent review of this book in the Aug. 24th 2009 issue of National Review, just take the Nation Review link to your right, then click on buy this issue, under it’s picture. I'm glad I read both, as they are both big fun, and thoughtful writers to read! She covers this fun and independence killing aspect taken up in O’Rourke’s, part of the above book’s subtitle “Celebrating America the Way It’s Suppose to Be”. The review is excellent, as is the book.

My question is, why do we put up with them? The Kill Joys, the Fun-Suckers, the Independence Killers. OK. Some of them are family, so we politely accept their jealousy, limitations, for personal reasons.

In the above mentioned book review Florence King refers to what P.J. found he liked about the South. They still do what they want, are not worried about the future, because this country came from people who kicked the future’s ass.

Last week I posted, in the full figure women’s clothing blog The Aug. 14th 09 post, a post direction readers attention to the firing of a treat basher: Fla. Doc fired over ‘doughnuts equal death’ sign. I was relieved to read some folks had had enough!

With elected in officials in office looking to take away or curtail even more of our personal
freedoms, I can not help but wonder why anyone would want to curtail anyone else’s freedom in the first place. Is it as I suspect in old friends and family, jealousy, limitations, resentment? Why elect such people who take behaving like an overtired child way to far into adulthood and act on these feelings. I just do not get it. Do you?

Even with the best of intentions, why would people think they could protect you from cigarettes, doughnuts and a sedentary life style. Do they want to supervise other people 24/7? If they do, why?

An obvious Glaring Contradiction

2009-06-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

“Illegal Immigration is Not a Crime.” As said by Chris Christie Associated Press 4/28/08.

I got this before the recent election, as part of the only Steve Lonegan promotional material that came on a glossy card. The rest of Lonegan’s promotional material was on newsprint, in the form of a highly informative, smallish newspaper. All of the Christie promotional material was on glossy cards, with lots of pictures, and no where near as informative as the Lonegan little news papers.

“Illegal Immigration is Not a Crime.”
You cannot have a blog called glaring contradictions and miss calling this to people’s attention.

Enjoy fresh insights and educate your youngsters every Monday!

2009-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Watch Uncle Jay Explains the News!

Thanks to Marleed’s misanthropic musings, who I found on Twitter, I can share this excellent source of info with you! We enjoyed an interesting Shabbat evening at home last night huddled around the computer watching more Uncle Jay Explaining the news! You can whet your youngster’s appetite for political satire and improve their exposure to current events to say nothing of improving their vocabulary and have a great time all at once too! Check it out!
See Uncle Jay Explain the News on UTube

An indication of how Governor Corzine stimulates the NJ economy & register to vote in the primaries SOON!

2009-04-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last evening I got a call from women who wanted to survey a registered voter in the house about NJ Governor Corzine’s budget plans to, among other things, stimulate the economy.

I could not help but notice she could not even pronounce Corzine’s name as you normally hear it spoken in NJ.

While I did appreciated, took advantage of, the opportunity to tell the Corzine administration that he needs to reduce government spending and cut, not increase, taxes.

I believe this is the initiator of this survey was the Corzine administration. I also believe this was at least an out of state firm doing this survey. What a fine way to stimulate the economy in NJ, but to hire out of state a firm to handle your survey!

She also asked many questions about when, and if I voted. I assured her I take every opportunity of vote. Is not having the right to vote the very best thing about being an American?

Steve Lonegan points out you only have until April 13th to get your registration to vote the political party of your choice to your county commissioner. They offer a service to have a volunteer pick up your form to get it there on time at the Lonegan web site.

What’s Next? Left becomes Right?

2009-03-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have always considered Democrats to be both Communists and / or Socialists, but I never expected one running for any office to be so blatant about it.

Perhaps it was about this time last year, I read somewhere about Obama was talking about ‘Spreading the Wealth’, or words to that effect. I had read other things about Obama and had come to the opinion that he was the most openly communist, or socialist politician I had ever read about. Shocked, I wanted to know just how the state of affairs in the US had come to the point of actually considering such a person for any government office, never mind president!

While reading some issue of National Review in those months, mention was made of Thomas B. Edsall’s Building Red America. That sounded like it might explain who communism became popular in the US to me. I went out and go a copy of it from our library. I did not read the subtitle until I got home. While reading this book I found that this business of redistributing the wealth in America has been a favorite of the Democrats for a long time. Show you how long I had not been paying attention!

I was truly perplexed as to how a large percentage of Americans, apparently, had come to think of communism and socialism as a good thing.

Imagine my surprise when I found that The Building of Red America is actually about the alleged The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power the Drive for Permanent Power. Now I wanted to know just when Red turned to Blue. I thought it was generally understood that the Red Scare refers to the strong anti-communism movements in the US. Even, at this moment, Wikipedia still considers The Red Scare to be just that. Though, it being Wikipedia, this could change is any moment now I guess.

So how did Red become associated with Republican;

small government less government programs
fewer taxes, less government involvement special interest groups should take care of their own
government stays out of the way of business free enterprise
free people will take care of their own

While Blue the Democratic;

we want to take the largest percentage of the money you earned and distribute it to causes we choose
while making more and more laws that never needed to be
to remove as much of your personal freedom as possible

How did these people get away with disassociating themselves from the concept of Red?

Or, in short; You pay your money, you make your choices vs. They take your money and make your choices.

Even, in 1981, when the movie Reds (Special 25th Aniversary Edition) came out, everyone understood this was about an event in a communist country!

Not much later in the December 15th 2008 issue of National Review I read Florence King’s “the bent pin” article Iceberg, Right Ahead! Where I found out that I am not the only one perplexed by this red is now blue colors switch. If you read her article, you will learn of a hangover free highball and have a good laughs. She mentions other more subtle and basic references of concepts regarding red and blue. She says the color switch started a few elections ago.

I hope, for the sake of simplicity at least, left does not become right.

Why I am a bit of a Contradiction

2009-03-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

With regard to my being a bit of a, perhaps glaring, contradiction my self:

I am a right wing conservative, and always have been. My best friend of 36 years had described me as being slightly to the right of Rush Limbaugh. I do not know if this is true anymore, as I am not a listener, or watcher, but rather a reader. I have not read much Rush Limbaugh recently, but it is likely still true, what my best friend said.
I am reading Anne Coulter's Guilty now. I feel this book’s chapter Two: Victim of Crime? Thank a Single Mother is correct. I hope it will someday be taught in schools to our children.
I am a single mother.

I have been doing my best for years now to educate my daughter in both how and why not to be a single mother like me. I thank Anne Coulter for giving me even more reasons to get the importance of being married before having children across to my child!

I believe in equal rights, but am no feminist and when given a chance to choose I select Miss. as title. I feel life is confusing enough without bringing more confusion into it. I feel if we all regarded ourselves and each other as spiritual beings, this alone would handle all the unfair nonsense that resulted in an array of isms.

My smaller contradictions are I like classic suit jackets, cardigans and twin sets, as well as urban and hip hop fashions such as the twists on the afore mentioned classics. I wear one, a vest, by Baby Phat. I have also seen some other real beauties by the Rocawear, Apple Bottoms and Dereon. As a result, I wear apparel by Baby Phat and Blair. Compared to the above that is a real minor contradiction. You can see my other blog for stuff like that.