See, I have this cat.

Ok, I have this cat, a black cat named Snoball. Not only is it a black cat named Snoball, but he is also a he. Now, when I first got this cat we were best buds. Now he barely tolerates me. He yells at me all the time, stays gone for days if you let him. Only comes back when he needs food or if it is too wet outside or cold. Maybe he has finally realized that he is a black cat as well as male and I named him Snoball. Maybe there is some animosity building down deep in his soul. Maybe he is a teenager in cat years. His activities somewhat sound like a teenager. Of course when other people are around he is the definition of cute and adorable, but as soon as they leave, spawn of satan or catan or whatever. Who knows. Maybe cats are just that way. I guess you would have to be that self centered if you were a cat. I say that without having any real way to know of course, it just seems that way. But, for the record. If one day you read that something terrible has happened to me and there are no suspects, no signs of forced entry, and nothing stolen........well.......you know who did it.

On Friends....

I have two friends in this world. I call them friends anyway; I can only suppose that they feel the same way about me. I know they are friends because they laugh at my jokes even when they aren’t that funny. I fancy myself a comedian, now how others feel about it I will never really know but, that is how I see myself anyway. We see each other about once a week on average and talk to each other with about the same frequency. One of my friends is into snakes reptiles and other utterly icky things and the other is into backing up without looking. Now that my be hard for you to understand the whole backing up thing but you weren’t there and you aren’t my friend so there is no need to explain. If my friends read this they will know exactly what I mean. Also one of my friends has trouble walking, seeing doors, and removing themselves from small bathrooms, but, they are still my friends. Now my friends have other friends so I am not their best friend but they are mine because I don’t have any others. Maybe these are the only two people I haven’t betrayed in some way. Or maybe I just grew up and became the person I am now before I had the opportunity to screw it up, either way they are my friends. Oh, by the way, it hasn’t been too long since I did the growing up thing so please take that in to consideration. I am not a person that needs a lot of friends, just a few really good ones and that is good enough for me. Luckily, I have been blessed with exactly that. I have noticed lately though that I don’t really fit in with their crowd but that doesn’t seem to bother them too much so lucky me. Luckily my friends and I have all been blessed with the same gift…..the ability to see the humor in ourselves and the complete stupidity in the population at large. Maybe that is why we are friends. So, Gerry and Tephie I say, thanks for everything.

Just A Reminder

Now I usually don’t do things like this but I thought that it was necessary because there is a valuable lesson that needs to be learned here. Many months ago the wonderful shadow government of the lovely city was trying to and succeeded to pass a tax issue. Now anyone who read this site realized that I was not against the tax but against the fact that there had been no attempt to specify why we needed it. I also remember stating that many promises were being made and many threats were being made as well to get this tax passed. Now I do not plan to sit here and go through each individual post, but if you don’t believe me you are more than welcome too. They are all still available for reading. But, I will touch on a few key issues that I raised and we will see where everything stands. First I stated at one point that the pro-tax crowd was traveling around talking to many fixed income citizens and telling them that if this tax did not pass their water rates would quickly increase and soon they would have to decide between water and food or medicine. I stated that even if the tax passes the water rates would increase. Well, guess what? Read the paper lately? Looked at your bill? How quickly we forget. I also stated that promises for a new pool at Jordan Park were being made. I stated that no pool would be built. Been swimming at Jordan Park Lately? Remember the article in the paper stating that a coalition of east side residents had come to the city council to call in the promises. They got lights, a sidewalk I think and maybe a few other things but a pool….nope. Will there ever be one? Doubt it. I believe that one of the city council members stated openly that they had promised them a pool. I think the statement was something to the effect of we promised "these people" a pool. A poor choice of words from someone who taught English for many years but ok she wasn’t a history teacher so I can understand it. Now, I am doing this from memory so the only part of the quote that I remember exactly is the "these people" part, but I think I am pretty close. If I am not I apologize but the fact remains folks were promised a pool, you know, I know, they know and they didn’t get one. I think the mayor even after they asked about the pool they were promised piped up with something along the lines of "how about a community pool at W.C. Whaley, he was still hanging on to hope at that time. Now excluding the area around the square, because that is a state highway and the state did all that, has your street improved? Now if you are one of the friends of the council members that has called in a debt and got your street repaved or your sidewalk repaired, you don’t get a vote, because you are one of the people I am talking about anyway. The bottom line is, the fire department is still a wreck, police department as well, streets, no pool at Jordan Park, water rates going up, because they couldn’t use the tax revenue to prevent it, they knew that and I knew that I was just hoping you would investigate on your own and then you would have known that but you didn’t and they weren’t about to tell you, but in the near future you are going to see some real shenanigans. They will try to tell you that building it will save the city money. But, what they are looking for is their Lake Monticello. See, former Mayor West can drive out to the lake anytime he wants with his grandchildren and say "I did this." The question is do you want them to be able to do that at your expense. Soon you will have to decide.

On Bailouts....

Man oh man. What I could say about bailouts. Probably nothing you haven’t heard already but maybe it is time to get rid of the big words and just call it what it is. Here is my analogy. You and a complete stranger are in a boat. You are thirty feet from shore in sixty feet of water. You both have shotguns. Someone has painted a bulls-eye with words shoot here in the bottom of the boat right in the middle. Now you both know that the right thing to do is not to shoot a hole in the boat. Now the complete stranger fire two rounds of buckshot right through the center of the bulls-eye and the boat starts to sink. Now, here is the real meat of the whole thing. You acted responsibly, you didn’t shoot, the boat is sinking and no matter what you do it is going to sink because once its starts it isn’t going to stop till it’s on the bottom. Do you A. Wait for someone else to come along and save you. B. Swim ashore and save yourself because you don’t know this person and they are the ones that acted without responsibility anyway. C. Bail out a boat that is going to sink anyway because the person in the boat who caused all of this isn’t going to pitch in and help. We gave billions to the car industry, they are filing bankruptcy, we give billions to finance companies and they gave bonuses and took vacations. Now everyone wonders why all this is happening. I know why. Here it is. In this country we have chosen a mentality that first place second place and third place…is the same thing. Folks, there has to be a winner. There has to be a loser. This mentality that everyone who participates gets a trophy is killing us all. We reward failure with ribbons, trophies, and billions. We reward non-performance with vacations and bonuses. I saw a kid with a ninth place ribbon the other day. Remember the days when if you didn’t win you didn’t get a trophy. The days when if you didn’t do your job you got fired? What if the Olympics said that everyone who participated got a medal? There is a harsh reality. Not everybody wins. We reward non performance, and those that succeed are rarely heard about unless they are riding a bike or running a football. Folks: failure builds character. If you lose it makes you feel bad and you don’t like feeling bad, so you try harder and harder until you win and then you feel good, and you like feeling good so you win again and again. We rewarded a President that was not performing with a second term just because he scared us into thinking we were all going to die in some terrorist cataclysm if we didn’t. Are we safer? Do you feel safer? Or do you feel broke and homeless. Yeah homeless is safer. I have always believed that.

You Don't Normally See Them In Herds Like That....

Recently I was enjoying coffee and sodas with the rest of the members of AIS, when a peculiar thing began to occur around us. I became acutely aware that we were witnessing an event that very few people get to witness in the wild. There is a species of animal running around out there that few have ever seen. You have heard of them, maybe seen a picture, but we had the pleasure of seeing this species in the wild, unconstrained by fences or basement walls. They are easily identified by their pasty complextions and obvious vitamin deficiency. The species is known as male-us-nevergonnagetlaidus. Now where in normal circumstances this species is found only in dark rooms or basements, usually in the parents houses, warming themselves by the soft glow of their broadband connections, and communicating in the dark and secretive language of Halo, or the even more secretive World of Warcraft, this species is rarely seen by the just everyday guy on the street. But here is the beauty of it, not only did I get the opportunity to actually see one of these elusive creatures, I witnessed a herd of them. Yes folks, a herd...I was giddy as you might imagine. It seems that the herd was brought out of hiding, in broad daylight no less, by their animalistic desire to take up all the booths in the restaurant, play Pokemon or some other ridiculous thing and not make any purchases. Please ladies and gentlemen if you happen upon one of these herds do not approach them slowly back away, do not run. If you are female, carry on as if nothing is wrong.....they don't know what you are anyway, and they are probably just as scared of you as you are of them.

PRETTY GOOD MONEY

Ok this one brought me out of retirement. It seems that one of our city council members feels that our city police officers, firefighters, etc., make "Pretty Good Money." He remembers when city employees made a couple of thousand dollars a year. Yeah, he also remembers when a pack of gum was a nickel, and you could pay the doctor with some turnips from the garden and a couple of chickens. Excuse me sir, ask Officer George Strain if he was making pretty good money as he was being run over. Ask other officers if they were making pretty good money as they were being trasported to the hospital after their bones were broken and their heads concussed from fighting with a steroided up lunatic. May I invite you to stand for thirty minutes in the middle of the night in a three thousand degree oven. That is what you ask your firefighters to do when your citizen's house is on fire. Hey I will give you one officer's salary for a year if you would be willing to drive around eight hours a day for a month, in which time I will randomly assault you or shoot at you without any warning just because you are wearing the uniform. Have we got a deal? Didn't think so. Did you know that it is a proven fact that stress causes health problems? Oh yeah, and water is wet if you didn't know that either. I wonder how officer Strain's wife's health was affected as she worried for her husband's health. And, what about the other wives and children who worry about their husbands and fathers? How is their health affected. I challenge you sir to give up one terms salary and benefits for being a council member and use that money to pay for one officer's insurance. I mean really, it isn't like they are risking their lives or anything is it? Oh, and by the way........ well maybe later.

A Diversion by Subversion

Well many things have been going on in my life lately and I apologize for not writing as often but I felt I needed a diversion from everything tonight so here I am with a little Diversion by Subversion.

You probably wonder what that means. Well I have been called subversive. Yes little ole me is basically a traitor. I have given away secrets to the enemy. What secrets you ask? Knowledge. Who is the enemy? You are.

Now first let me apologize for something. I coined a new word several weeks ago and it has ruffled some feathers. I invented the acronym LERG, for League of Extraordinarily Rich Gentlemen. It has ruffled a few feathers. I will explain.

I have received complaints that not everyone who is for the tax is rich. Gotcha

I have received complaints that not everyone who is for the tax is male. Point taken.

 I will get back to this in a moment.

I must say I am disappointed in our local paper for their obvious lack of ethical reporting. They too have swayed to the advertisers which are the people who want the tax more than anyone else. Banks, etc. etc., of course that is obvious so I'm not telling you anything you can't figure out, just look at the advertisements. 

So now back to the League. 

I was told by my Honors English teacher many years ago that your ability to recognize sarcasm is a direct reflection of your intelligence. I believe that statement. Many others do too. So I wonder what it says when the people who will be spending your money can't recognize it when it slaps them in the face. What does that say to me? It says to me that the rich and poor, male and female, people who cannot recognize sarcasm are spending your money.

Now to the Mayors letter to the editor. It states that we should listen to the paper and no one else for information on the tax. The problem is that if people really read the paper and believe them the tax will not pass. The newspaper shows that money has been spent on day to day operations and expenses and not on really improving anything. Way to prove my point Advance, and thank you again.

I find it interesting that the pro tax crowd have not picked on the facts of my posts. I know very well that the letter to the editor from the Mayor was talking about me when he said "other sources", but no one can come up with one specific instance when I was untruthful or inaccurate in my statements. Heck, the newspaper has done a wonderful job of showing how poorly your money was spent. It also shows how much money is going to entities of the city that have the same job. Why are we funding the MEDC and the Chamber of Commerce and their jobs are basically the same thing. How is it that we gave 45,000 dollars to the animal shelter and every week they are asking for donations of food and houses and selling televisions to finance their operation? The newspaper is proving many points for me.

So to the men and women, the poor and the rich that have a problem with the acronym LERG. Build a bridge and get over it. But I must in the interest of fairness come up with an acronym that includes everyone. So here are the choices I will let my readers choose.

1. Pro-taxers no factsers.

2. League of Extraordinarily Middle to Upper Class Gentlepersons.

3. League of Non Sarcasm Recognizing Economic Class Encompassing Gender Non Specific    Social Upstarts.

Do not call me subversive because I ask questions. Do not ever tell me I don't love Monticello, you upper class Donald Trump wannabe's, just because you have built your castle's on the sand and are slowly watching them slide into the sink hole that is your own lack of fiscal responsibility.  If you love Monticello so much how can you not listen to it's residents. I live here, I will pay the tax if it passes, why am I not allowed to speak about it? And YES THIS IS A NEW TAX!!!!!!!! I don't care what anyone else says including the Mayor. If the old tax runs out, and another takes its place, that replacement is a NEW TAX. If I run out of bread and go get more is it the same bread? Just because you strategically replace the word "old" with "existing" so as to avoid the old/new designation does not change anything. If my "EXISTING" loaf of bread runs out I will go to the store and buy a "NEW" loaf of freaking bread. You must think we are all idiots.

 Oh, by the way, One reason I have not been blogging is because I was giving the pro-tax crowd the opportunity to take me up on my challenge. I challenged any Pro-taxer to debate me one on one in private or otherwise and convince me the tax was a good thing without fear of it being mentioned here. To date--------no takers. I find it interesting that the pro taxers feel that this site is enough of a threat to tell you not to listen to me, but when the opportunity was given to sway my opinion and use this site to push their issue........ silence. 

In closing, the funniest part of all of this. I never went in to this thinking the tax would not pass. I never thought I could affect it in any way. I am still not sure that I have. I went into this for three reasons.

1. To expose who really runs things around here.

2. Because I truly believe what I have been saying and the questions I have been asking deserve to be heard.

3. Because not only is it my right, it is my duty as a citizen of this community to ask these questions and make these statements.

Well I have accomplished all three. Want to know who runs things. Look where the signs are posted for the tax, and who paid for the advertisements in the newspaper pushing the tax.

I still believe these questions should be addressed but they never have and never will be. (people are to busy pouting and getting red in the face)

And I believe I have done my duty.

Oh and one more reason I did this....... for fun. I don't care if this thing passes or not.

I accomplished my goals, have you?