Your Kids Can Go To School With The Obama Kids

        Well, maybe not the exact same school, but a similar school, i.e. a private school. In case you hadn't noticed, President Obama, who is a staunch supporter of public schooling, sends his kids to a private school. In other words, he is a staunch supporter of public schooling for...your kids.

        The last president who pledged to send his children to a public school was George Washington who then lived out his life without having any children. Is this a great country or what?

      And don't be so quick to accept the excuse that they're the President's kids and we have to make sure they're safe.      

      Remember, these kids travel in a bulletproof limousine, are surrounded  by crack Secret Servicemen (okay, and women), who are armed to the teeth, pledged to take a bullet for the First Family, are backed up by every military asset within 100 miles except possibly for Luke Skywalker and they're not safe in any Washington, D.C. public school? but your kids are?

      You should be able to use your tax money to pick the school of your choice. Give every child a voucher that can be used in any school the parent chooses. Take it out of the education budget. Less kids, less money. Everyone agrees, except the teachers' unions. Schools are for educating children. They're not supposed to be a jobs program For teachers.

       And don't listen to the 'experts' who tell you that you can't possibly know enough to pick the right school for your child. As a doctor who was once a teacher, I can tell you 100% positively and certainly that it's no more difficult to pick a good teacher than it always has been to pick a good pediatrician. In fact, it's easier.

Feel The Bern

      Maximos Harmoneus lived on the slopes of Mount Olympus where he spent his days contentedly making humus which he sold to the people in the village below at a handsome profit.    

      One day, there was a loud knocking at the door. It was his childhood friend, Protesteus.

      "Ah, Protesteus. Where's my gift?"

      "Wrong Greek."

      "Well, no matter. Come in."     

      "I have come to occupy you, Maximos."

      "Occupy me? What does that mean, to 'occupy' me?"

      "I do not exactly know, but I know that I must do it."

      "But why, Protesteus? Why must you occupy me?"

      "Because my goats give no milk and I cannot afford to repay the loans I needed to buy them. It's all your fault."

      "But, Protesteus, I told you that there would be no milk. They are all male goats. Males do not give milk. The fault, I am sorry to tell you my dear friend, is yours and yours alone. And don't blame your stars either."

      "Do not be impertinent, Maximos Harmoneus. And what of the decaying roads and bridges? Are they also my fault? How are they to be repaired?"   

      "With taxes, Protesteus, as always. The workers work, get paid, and then pay taxes out of their wages."

      "Maximos, this is Greece. The workers do not work."

      "Then why are they called 'workers'?"

      "No one knows."  

       "You mean that I, with my humus, am the only worker in all of Greece who works? And that is the reason I must be occupied? Speak of Greek Tragedies..."

      

      And so it came to pass that Maximos Harmoneus was occupied, saw the error of his ways and began producing humus like nobody's business. Soon there was enough to 'spread around' so that there was plenty for everyone in Greece to have his fill. The rich, as we know, can do that if they really want to.

                                               THE BEGINNING
(Compliments of Bernie Bernie who knows exactly how the world works and would explain it to us...if only we'd listen.)

California, Here We Come

      Most people agree that a lasting peace in the Middle East will require that the Palestinians eventually have a state of their own. If it were up to me, I'd give them California.

     Palestinians always look so worn out, so tired, probably because they work so hard. 

Californians never have that problem because they've figured out a way to start working at 21 and retire at 19 with 90% of their last year's salary plus overtime and bonuses. 

    Need some spare change? Just knock on any door and say "Tax the millionaires and billionaires but not you because you're good and kind and wonderful and you have...talent!"  In California, this is called, 'holding a fundraiser.'   

      [For best results, pick a house with a funny looking toy car in the driveway.  It's called a Prius and is only 'driven' on rare occasions to show 'awareness' of something or other. It's real purpose is to provide a place for the homeowner to hang his or her Save The Planet and Save The Whales bumper stickers.]

        Any wonder that the people who live here for awhile start thinking that the world they create is the world that...actually is?  Reality is what we say it is. Isn't it? Well, isn't it?

The Muslim Ban That Wasn't

        There are approximately 50 Muslim majority nations that make up the Islamic World.

        President Trump's  temporary travel ban only applied to seven of them, countries which comprise the list of 'countries of concern', a list that was compiled by the Obama Administration. 
        Muslims from the other 43, as well as Muslims living any place else in the world are to be  treated  exactly the same as anyone of any other religion. So, how can this be a 'Muslim ban' if it doesn't ban 'Muslims?'

        Suppose Communism were to have a resurgence in Eastern Europe and we decided to place restrictions on travel by folks coming from Poland or Hungary, most of whom are Christian. Would this count as a 'Christian ban?'

        Or if Nazis were to start making noise again in Germany and we were to restrict travel from that country until we could find out what was going on, another Christian ban? 

        If you don't let Blacks eat at your lunch counter because they're black, that's a 'Black Ban.' Keep Jews out of your country club because they're Jews and that's a 'Jewish Ban.'

        But if you restrict travel from countries that you believe might present a terrorism threat, it doesn't become a religious 'ban' just because most of the people in those countries  happen to be of a particular religion.

"Send us your tired, your poor,,,ok, maybe just your tired."

        With all the talk about immigration bans and such, how come we hear so little anymore about preferential admissions from the Middle East of Christians and Yazidis?

        Aren't these the folks who are being subjected to widespread murder, torture and rape? Isn't that considered to be 'genocide' anymore? 

        Or could it be that it might have occurred to someone, or several someones, that the same American President who would stand up to genocide today in the Middle East might have also taken a stand against genocide in Europe 60 years ago and 'preferentially admitted' a few million Jews.

        Could make him look...good. Lot of very influential people out there might not want to see that happen.
                                                              ***

        "Don't be ridiculous. No one would believe it. Everyone knows he's an anti-Semite."

        "You sure?"
        "Of course, I'm sure. He's a Republican, isn't he?"

Under the Buttonwood Tree

        On May 17, 1792, a group of New York stockbrokers and merchants, who would forever after be known as the 'New York Nogoodniks', met under a buttonwood tree in front of 68 Wall Street and signed an agreement which would lead to the formation of the New York Stock Exchange.

        225 years, numerous bankruptcies, lost life savings and college funds, as well as a few suicides later and the world is still wondering why we don't do something to stop all the carnage. Didn't every government in the world just meet in Paris and decide that we can finally do something about the weather? 

        Well, if we can fix the weather, or the climate, which has been changing for four and half billion years and is controlled by changes in the sun, the planets, Earth orbit, Earth tilt, winds, currents, movement of tectonic plates, volcanoes, and pretty much anything else in nature that you can think of, don't you think we can control something as relatively simple as a stock market which has only been around for 225 years and is controlled 100% by...the folks? 

        Of course, there is always the possibility that nothing we do will actually be able to change the weather, or the climate, (take your pick), that it's as likely to be able to be controlled as would be the stock market and that the only people to really believe otherwise, or at least to say they do, will be governments who can impose new 'carbon taxes' and their friends in the solar, wind, and 'renewable' energy businesses.

Whose Men's Room Is It Anyway?

        Recently, the LGBT-and-don't-forget-the-Q Community was outraged to learn that at least one state will require that boys use the boys bathroom and girls, well, girls never try to sneak into the boys bathroom. Not an issue.

        And no one was surprised when the usual suspects decided to join in the festivities.

        'Born in the New Jersey Highlands' and others canceled concerts because, well, ''there are more important things than making money'', especially when you have so much that you can no longer count it. 

       By the way, you think anyone thought to ask all those other folks who would have to lose a few paydays, you know, the ticket sellers, ticket takers, cleaners, ushers, chatchka sellers, etc. if they would agree to swap a couple of warm fuzzy feelings for...lunch?

        Remember what that Russian guy used to say,

        "If you want to make an omelet, you must be willing to break a few eggs." Too bad all those folks who are always getting their eggs broken almost never get that omelet.