Pumps' Perplexities

I like my middle name, but it seems that Barack
Obama does not.......He does not like Hussein.....

I have a suggestion.....In order to honor his
mother he should go to a judge and change
is name to Stanley......

His mother was Stanley Ann Dunham......

End of problem....Barack Stanley Obama......

Besides I never heard of the Hussein
Tool Company........LOL.....Pumps

The Theory of Relativity may be of interest to a
few scientists but not to the "individual"......
The individual is only relative to him or
herself.......

These days have become very "fluid" with
respect to the national economy......Prices,
housing, personal wealth, jobs are all
effecting people - BUT NOT THE SAME......

If you read the newspapers or watch TV
news it seems that "they" are trying to
make the "equation" work by placing
people in one mode of society......NOT.....

Hard times come and go.....Some people
are effected more than others but
such is life......I have seen more price
increases, more financial disasters, more
periods of "boom or bust" and as I see
it nothing has really changed......It all
seems to happen in some kind of cycle......

Just as the sun must rise and then set,
one's life must go up and then down....Pumps

To my best recollection, Sheehy Ford is not an
independently owned company anymore.....It
is a dealership operation owned by the Ford
Motor Company, itself....

I have no complaint with the "business model"
because is is quite common.....That is to
control the manufacture, distribution and
final sale of a product.....Many companies
do this.....

What gets me is that Sheehy Ford in Ashland,
Richmond and Springfield, Va., along with
operations in Gaithersburg and Suitland, Md,
have a bad habit......

If you refuse to have their dealerships conduct
the routine maintenance of the vehicle,
bought from them, your name and telephone
number is turned over to a telemarketer......
I suspect the telemarketer pays Sheehy for
the information......

The telemarketer then sells the information
to other telemarketers and all these people
call you to "update" or "renew" a warranty
on your vehicle.......

Just say NO to Sheehy and you are forever
doomed to telephone calls for a vehicle that
has long ago seen the end of its days.......

Buyer beware, as they say.......Pumps

The prices of food manufactured by the big
conglomerates such as Kraft Foods, Sara Lee,
Con-Agra are on the raise again......So are
the prices of meat, poultry, eggs and milk.....
All because of ethanol as an environmental
additive to gasoline.......

The addition of ethanol has not been
proven to help CO2 emissions but it has
proven costly by raising the price of
gasoline also......

Another scam has now been performed
on the American consumer......

In the name of "the environment" the
price of everything from eggs to light bulbs
have gone up.....With most of this money
going into the pockets of large corporations
and resulting taxes into Government.......

"For there to be Kings, there must be surfs"...
Pumps

It appears that there are some people, who
live on the planet Earth, do not like their
environs and, so with their efforts,
attempt to convince others to "change things"....

I just love when these "people" of same
common thought, and purpose, just start
to "fight" and disagree with each other.....

Good olde George Orwell (aka Eric Arthur
Blair) said in his book Animal Farm that
"All animals are equal, except some animals
are more equal than others"......So true.....
Even for The Greens......

It seems that a person who installed solar
panels on his house in California is suing
his neighbor because "their" Redwood
trees are blocking "his" panels and he wants
the Redwoods cut down......

Same thing as when "#1 Green" builds a wind
turbine and "#2 Green" complains about the
birds it kills.....Or "#3 Green" burns wood and
"#4 Green", the next door neighbor, has asthma....
Another law suit......

I just love it.......Pumps

To keep this "blog" very simple......Today I asked
my local delivery mail person, if he had
noticed the "41 cents" printed on the "Forever
Stamp".......

His answer, "No"......

Pumps

The last time the United States Postal Service
raised the price of First Class postage they
issued a new stamp......It was the Forever
Stamp with a picture of the American Flag.....
There was no postage denomination printed
on the stamp.......

The Postal Service said that by producing
this "generic" stamp it would save them
money, in the reprinting of stamps, should
there be another price increase in First Class
postage.......Good idea......NOT......

Well there will be a price increase in First
Class postage on May 12, 2008.....Only an
increase of a penny from 41 cents to 42 cents....

I have noticed that my latest roll of Forever
Stamps pictures the red, white and blue of
the American flag......AND, down in the
corner, in a gray tone, the words, "41 cents"...

Question: After May 12, 2008 will the
imprinted "41 cent" stamp be valid to send
a 42 cent envelope?........Or was the Forever
Stamp just a fraud?........Pumps

For the past few years I have followed the
draught conditions in the land of Oz -
Australia.......

There was massive concern by the population
as to Global Warming and other natural
conditions......Well,

It has started to rain.....And it will not stop....
It will rain for the next two months in Sydney......
The reservoirs are full, the draught is over
and now the complaints of TOO much rain.....

Don't you just love the "unhappy" human
race.......NOT enough - complain....TOO
much - complain.......Pumps

For some two thousand years the above
"initials" have been used to mark time, in
years, for historians and some of us common
folk.......

They, the "initials", came into use during
the formulation of the Julian calendar in
the latter days of the Roman Empire.......

Now, in this day and age, there are a few
academics which feel that BC (Before Christ)
and AD (Anno Domini = Latin for "year of
our Lord) are offensive......

They want to use BCE (Before Common
Era) and CE (Common Era)........

I guess they do not like Julian anymore.....
And when you come down to it, who are
"they" to say when the Common Era
started.......All they are doing is changing
"initials" because they do not like them.....
It seems that they have made not attempt
to change the Hindu, Confucian, or Jewish
calendars......

When these great intellectuals can tell me
when the "Common Era" actually began
then I will believe in BCE and CE and they
change every known calendar known to
"Common Man"......Pumps

What ever happened to "cheap" junk fish.....Talk
about being extinct!.......

Years ago one would eat Cod, Sole, Haddock and
Flounder......There were other types of fish for
sale but they were considered "cheap" fish......
(In the same family but just a lower class.)....

Pollack, Whiting.....Then along came Chilean
Sea Bass.....Served in the best of restaurants
but still no one knew it was low class......

Today I doubt if any fish eater really knows
what they are eating......How can the Chinese
pack Atlantic cod?.....Wouldn't there have been
a war by now?......

So much for fish and Indonesian shrimp
trays........Pumps

I have concluded that #1 I must be dumb and
#2 I am also olde fashioned......

There was a recent story in the newspapers
about a female college student who tried to
get on a plane with a "make-believe" bomb
device around her waist.......She was arrested
and her "case" in now in court.....

She is claiming that she has the First
Amendment Right of "free speech" to wear
the imitation bomb......

Where did it all go wrong?.....Does not "speech"
mean to speak or to utter words.....To make
noise from a human mouth......

Since when does wearing a imprinted shirt,
imitation bomb or even burning a flag mean
"free speech"?.......There is not movment of
the mouth involved in any of these three.....
Pumps

Yep, it is February first and the day to take the
family buggy in for its annual auto inspection.....

Had a little tough week with "her".....It seems
that the original "5 year" car battery did not
want to last 10 years......It only lasted 9.......
Thanks to a small battery charger, "she"
was gotten to the mechanic in time and "her"
Type #57 Reversed Pole battery was recycled
for a new one......

Good thing I did not go to WalMart.....What
the heck is a "reversed pole" car battery?....But
whatever it was, Ford used one.....

Guess we are good for another year.....Pumps