Past Philosophers

The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
--Plato (428/427 BC– 348/347 BC)

Why is it that the citizens of this Great Nation are so full of Apathy today. Plato as quoted above was well aware of this over two thousand years ago. Do we not learn anything from past events?

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office--Aesop (~550 BC)

How many crooked politicians can you think of. The more things change the more they stay the same. Are all politicians crooks or are all crooks politicians?

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.--Aesop (620-560 BC
How many politicians in difficulties are running our great nation today? When the fox is in the hen house….

If we really knew the answers to all these questions we could not sleep at night.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the Kings Horses and all the kings men could not put humpty together again.

Greed overpowers righteousness.

Until next time.
Norm

Hedge Trimming

A friend of mine asked me to trim his hedges. His wife really does not think it is necessary. He finally talked her into it and I am part of the equation. Wanting to do a good job and please her (this is important) I looked to the internet for guidance.
I looked at two different sites for information regarding the trimming of hedges. It looked easy; a couple of stakes, string, lopper (pruning shears with long handles) and an electric trimmer and were in business.
I get on site, drive the stakes, run the string, and grab the trimmer; hey wait a minute this hedge is different. Now what do I do? Improvise. I start trimming the top, leaving the sides until last. My friend’s wife comes outside and says “oh you run stakes and string, that’s how you do it?” With an aura of confidence I say “uh huh”. With that she left me to my work.
Three and a half hours later I have a third of the hedge trimmed. Tomorrow my friend (this means his wife) and I will discuss how the job is progressing. I may add ex-hedge trimmer to my resume. Until next time.
Norm

My Southern Gal

Around nine o’clock this morning my Southern Gal came over for a visit. She is beautiful, black, and has the most adorable brown eyes I have ever seen. I have to admit, it was love at first sight. I think she loves me too. I guess the past few months I have grown on her.
Really she belongs to the neighbor lady but my home is her second home, just ask the neighbor lady. My Southern Gal is a Cocker Spaniel. When she leaves her owners home she heads to mine. I feed her, make over her, and play with her. In fact her mom has a hard time getting her to come home.
Today she broke her collar, so her visit has been all day. I talked to the neighbor earlier and she said she would replace her collar and come get her. We have had a nice day but Molly is ready to go home. Too much of a good thing I guess. Until next time.
Norm

Stray Cat

I now have a Stray Cat. Maybe I should say I have always had a Stray Cat. You see this cat has been hanging around for the past four years. I have taken pity on it through the years and thrown tidbits to it now and then.
This year I decided to feed it on a daily basis. I went to town and bought some dry cat food. My wife decided on her own to give it milk a couple times a day too. The cat is in heaven. I thought it was hungry all the time but the neighbor told me she has been feeding Stray Cat for years.
Oh well, I know how it is to be the only cat on the street. Strangers and friends have thrown me tidbits through the years. Stray Cat is feeling good and so am I. Feed a stray and feel good too. Until next time.
Norm

Crowd Psychology

What is really going on in our Government? We have two parties consisting of people having different but similar ideas of what is good for the people. For as long as I can remember they have fought among themselves and wasted billions of dollars on Pork Barrel spending.
They throw a few million dollars at the people while squandering billions overseas on senseless wars and other projects that do not benefit America. We deserve better from Congress and the Senate than the little piecemeal that is thrown our way.
It appears they are caught up in a form of Crowd Psychology that will not let them breakout of their way of thinking. What we as a people need to do is limit the terms of office to three or four years. This will bring in new ideas and no one person will have a hold on anyone else.
The Stimulus Package the President is trying to push through at this very moment is full of Pork Barrel spending. The Republicans are not happy because it does not include any of their ideas. I bet if we look closer this would equal their Pork Barrel projects. Why can not our Government just spend the money we need to get back on our feet and forget the Pork barrel spending?
Again I say they are caught in their own way of thinking and cannot see the forest for the trees. Until next time.
Norm

Army Suicides at 3-Decade High

Around twenty suicides per one hundred thousand soldiers have been reported by officials. Even though the army has increased training, prevention programs and psychiatric staff suicides continue.
Individual cases have revealed the most common factors for suicides were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.
The military spends millions of dollars a year on munitions. If I was a betting man I would put my money on the fact that just a fraction of that amount is spent on mental health.
There are many reasons why our military members are killing themselves. I want you to know through first hand experience that going to mental health for help puts a flag on your career. I would have shot myself before going to mental health and I am not joking.
The military spends millions of dollars and probably more teaching us how to kill but spends very little on teaching us to manage our personal affairs and to reconcile our belief systems.
You cannot get any satisfactory answers. You have no where to turn. Do not tell us to turn to God because obviously for 20 out of 100,000 of us it does not work.
So we go out and womanize, drink, drug, write bad checks, and fight anyone around us. This causes problems at home, with the legal system, and on the job. The training we receive in the above areas are minimal and of a generic nature. Even if we are not deployed to a war zone we can still have these problems because we are human. Some of us finally figure it out and can live with our past. Others turn to pills, guns, and automobile accidents. What ever it takes to end it all.
Unfortunately the world outside the military is no smarter. There are people that think they no. They tell you what to do and collect thousands of dollars but there still are no answers. How can someone that has never experienced what the troops have experienced help them? I have no answers either I am still working through my own demons. Until next time.
Norm

Citigroup

ABC News reported that Citigroup planned to purchase a fifty million dollar jet from France. Last year our government handed Citigroup 45 billion dollars to rescue it. When talking to some members of Congress they were outraged but not enough to take action. There were some comments about not wanting to appear like socialist.
If Congress does not want to appear like socialist then I suggest they let the businesses fail and let someone buy them that will succeed. Making Citigroup account for the 45 billion dollars of the taxpayer’s money is not being socialist; it is just good business sense. However just look at our economy; has the government ever showed any business sense? Why did President Obama have to make the call and tell Citigroup to fix it? It appears that the president has been running things the last eight years. Maybe it is time for Congress to return to their homes and stay there. It would save the taxpayers millions of dollars and maybe the President can get our country back on track. Until next time.
Norm