JUST SOME POSTS

 If you are truly pressed for time, just read the bold, italicized, and underlined sentences. That won't take you long at all! Another year has passed and if you are reading this, a new one is getting ready to start (or has started) for you. New Year’s celebrations are a time for reflection on what has happened and also a chance to start anew. New Year’s resolutions are a manifestation of this. Weight loss plans, gym proprietors, exercise equipment makers, and others know this. If you have watched any TV, gone online, or read any magazines or newspapers you know that the people that make their living selling and signing people up for those things are hitting it hard. We like new beginnings and the chance to reset and set new goals. Losing weight, stopping smoking, cut back or stopping drinking, and other things a lot of folks see as improvement are at the forefront of our collective thoughts and efforts this time of year. Although not a real advocate of New Year’s resolutions, I

 Well, even though the media is doing what they always do and making the budget dispute now seem to be unique and disastrous, it is neither. Just since 1980 there have been 10 government shutdowns. Some were for only certain branches of the government (in a bit of disclosure, I am not sure how the government can only shut down only some parts) and some were for only one day (actually only part of one day).  The last two were during the Trump administration. Those times the executive branch (Trump administration) wanted to set some limits on spending and the Democratic controlled Congress did not. The entire government was shut down for three days in January 2018 and then in December of 2018 the majority of the government was shut down for 35 days into January of 2019.  During the Obama administration there was a complete government shutdown for 16 days. The Obama administration was trying to increase spending and the Republican led Congress was trying to set limits. (See the previous p

 Here it is headed towards the middle of the fifth month of 2023, a year that I began promising myself I would start posting regularly again! Oh well... I am moved to do this post due to the totally manufactured "debt crisis" that Congress is foisting upon us, the taxpayer - AGAIN!  Why do we have to raise the debt ceiling again? What is the debt ceiling? Why does any of this matter? The debt ceiling was put into place in its modern form with the Budget Acts of 1939 and 1941. This established a limit to how much debt could be incurred by Congress to try to cap the cost of borrowing and spending. The issue has been, especially of late, that Congress just passed another set of rules saying they could increase this limit at will. (obviously assuming that the two parties could agree on the amount and vote it through) So, the limit is really just a suggestion, more or less. The debt ceiling has to be raised because Congress/the Federal Government is spending more than is being tak

 Today is June 24th 2022, This day will be remembered as the day the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade. I will start out by stating my personal feelings on abortion to clear the air. I have no problem with abortion on demand, even as birth control, in the first trimester (which was what Roe said, fyi). The age of viability (that age where a fetus is more likely to survive than die if delivered) is 24 week currently. The youngest baby to survive was 21 weeks and 5 days old. That is why I have no issue with first trimester (@13 weeks) abortions are fine for any reason. I also have no issue with an abortion at any stage (with some caveats) in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. I think that decision should be up to the mother, her family - to the extent she wants them involved -, her doctor, and whatever higher power she may beleive in. So, this is not my cheer for the end of abortion!  In case this is being read in some distant future where Ro

  Age is just a number. You are only as old as you feel. Ageing is just another word for living. It's not how old you are, it's how you are old. You probably have heard most if not all of those statements. Depending on your age when you heard them, you may have chuckled, or you may have just ignored them. What is old? Age IS a number. We use it to have a measure of someone's maturity, although it is not a very good indicator of this. As for how old one may feel, I cannot speak for others but for me that means there are days I have one foot in the grave and others that I should join in a T-ball game.  To a 4 year old, a 10 year old is - old! In fact, I have a formula - if you are from 5 to 15 in age - someone that is half-again older than you - rounded up to the next whole year, is old (for clarity - I am not talking "ancient", just old). For example, a 6 year old would consider a 9 year old - old. They can stay up later. Instead of being in first grade, they are i

 I have been studying the potential effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the response by the rest of the world on the economy. Some facts on Russia and its economy – Russia has a very large supply of certain minerals and natural resources, and they constitute a large percentage of the world’s supply. For example: Russia provides 10% of the world’s petroleum. Of that, they supply 40% of Europe’s natural gas. As a reference, 25% of all energy consumed in Europe is from natural gas. Russia is the top supplier in the world of grain – mostly wheat, of fertilizer products, and of nickel. Nickel is necessary and critical for production of stainless steel, and of lithium-ion batteries. They are also the top producer of palladium. This rare metal is used in electronics, catalytic converters, and many other industrial uses – like the batteries mentioned above. Russia is the #2 producer of platinum and aluminum. Both critical construction components in high-tech devices. They