Pumps' Perplexities

With all "those" people wanting the world to
"do their thing" and Go Green, they have yet
to mention SODA.......

Everyone is concerned about the CO2, carbon
dioxide, from an automobile or the
burning of coal, for the production of
electricity, but no one has mentioned the
massive destruction to the environment with
the opening of a can of SODA or any other
carbonated drink which contains a "fizz"
known as CO2.......

Can you imagine every time you open one
of these "pop-top" cans or turn the bottle
cap you are releasing a harmful, destructive
gas into the atmosphere?......And if the
SODA is in a plastic bottle that is even
worse......

If we have to use less gasoline, change
our light bulbs, we now should also have
to stop drinking SODA or CHAMPAIGNE....
Pumps

In the United States, during the past few years,
there was a whole cadre of people who wanted
the price of gas to go up for the purposes of
saving the environment.....Their desire was to
JUST raise the price of gasoline and people
would drive less, use smaller cars and all
would be well with the earth.......

As always this "type" of thinking is only
focused on one problem with its one result.....

Well "they" got their wish and the price of
gasoline went up to $4.00.......With the cost
of gasoline going up so did the cost of
transportation, cab rides, bus and airline
fares and any other earthly device which
used a petrochemical fluid.......

Transportation effected manufacturing
costs both in raw material and finished
product.....The cost of travel also went
up.....BUT, humans, as humans always
do, adjusted to the changes......They
drove or traveled less.....Now this in turn
had its effect on other business and
governmental tax revenues......

The United States government is now
considering raising taxes due to
the LOSS of taxes because people
reduced their consumption of gasoline
as the "cadre" wanted in the first place.....

SOME "OVERLY SMART" PEOPLE
ARE JUST PLAIN DUMB.......Pumps

In my 72 years many things have changed.....Most
for legal reasons and safety concerns....Someone
is still searching for the "perfect world".....

A New York TV station is reporting today a
problem with the playgrounds in the city
when it gets hot........It seems now that the
equipment in the playgrounds can now exceed
140F........

The latest reported case of burns was to a
5 year old child's feet, not wearing shoes,
when he walked on a rubber mat underneath
a swing set........

Rubber mats were not there 50 years ago......
The mats were placed under the swing set
as to prevent a young child from getting a
scrape on his/her knees or elbows as a result
of a fall on the SAND.......

Sand may get hot but it does not retain heat
as does a rubber mat......What will be the
next "safety material" for a playground?.....
Some lawyer will demand one be found,
I suspect, and soon.......Pumps

Being a native New Yorker, you can not go
through live without giving someone a "tip",
for services rendered......Every cab driver,
waiter or waitress, bartender gets a tip
after they have served you.......

Why in heck do the Democratic and
Republican National Committees want
their "tip" up front?.....Why should I "tip"
prior to "services rendered"?.......

"Show me what you can do and then I may
give you some money"......."Tips" are
dispensed upon the receipt of good service.....

I was taught, at a very early age, that giving
money prior to a "service" was a "bribe" not
a "tip".....That was 52 years ago and I do
not think that "things" have changed much...
Pumps

It did not take long......The following was reported
by the AP news service today regarding the
sale of of Anheuser Busch........

"The (new combined) companies will, however,
sell off "noncore assets", that they would not
name, to raise some $7 billion to finance the
deal. InBev will also borrow $45 billion and
plans to issue new stock to raise another
$9.8 billion.

"Shareholders won't see much in the short
term. InBev warned of lower dividends and no
benefit to earnings per share until 2010"

THE RAPE HAS BEGUN.......Pumps

A company in Belgium wants to by Anheuser
Busch the American beer giant.....This Belgium
company, InBev, is really not in the beer
business, they are in the money business....

The sale of Budweiser to InBev will make
money for a lot of people.....Then InBev will
have its new company make more money
for "it".....First it will cut costs, fire a lot
of people, raid the retirement funds, use
the beer formulations and recipes for
manufacture in other parts of the world......

The Budweiser brand will go world wide
at the expense of United States sales......
When InBev no longer considers America
as profitable, they will allow the original
Busch family members to buy the company
back and reconstruct it, to the American
giant that it currently is.......

IT IS ALL ABOUT MONEY AND "JOE"
SIX PACK WILL PAY THE PRICE....Pumps

This name means little to a lot of people unless
you use "aka Barack Hussein Obama" along
with it......

The "web blogs" are full of theories regarding
his birth certificate and where he was born.....
I think that this "matter" is about one simple
thing -- ego......Do you think that a man from
Chicago by the name of Barry Dunham would
ever be elected president of the United States?
Doubt it......

Many Afro-American gentlemen have changed
their name to one which is Muslim.....In this
case Mr. Dunham/Obama's father WAS a
Muslim so there is a reason for the name
change......The one question that does exist
is - was this man born Dunham or Obama?
And if Dunham when was the legal document
produced to change it?.......(I changed my
name and it takes a judge to do it.).....

So will the future history books denote the
fact, if Mr. Dunham/Obama becomes
president of the United States, the exact
TRUE name he was born with?....

As a side note: During his youth, his first
name WAS Barry, just read his first book
to confirm this fact......But Dunham/Obama
did get lost in the text........Pumps

This has come to be "The Political Season of
Change"......But do things really change?......

Case in point........Years ago when television
was new, I would watch a wrestling match
on a small black and white screen which
was in a window of a corner store (the store
sold and serviced the new electronic devise.)

Well here we are all these years later and
we are still watching wrestling matches on
our TV......Today it is not in black and white,
it is in digital TV, with High Definition,
but it is still A WRESTLING MATCH.....

You used to buy beer in a metal bucket,
today you buy it in a bottle or aluminum
can but it is still BEER.....Change?....Pumps

A few years back there was a time when you
went to work, in the summer time, you got paid
for it.....It may not have been much, but you DID
get paid.....

In today's business world there is now a person,
and working position, known as an "intern".....

An "intern" is usually a college student which
seeks employment during the summer, in the
profession they desire, in order to enhance their
future work experience resume.......Some of
them may even work other times of the year,
for the same reason......

Know I can not understand why these college
people, in a position of an "intern" are willing
to work for FREE......(They get some side
benefits like free Friday pizza and use of a
corporate bathroom).....But, they do not
get PAID.....They just work for the fun of it and
for the purpose of a listing on a piece of
paper.......

Sometimes I am happy I did not go to
college and become "smart".....Pumps

My local Virginia newspaper had an article,
in today's Sunday issue, regarding the above
noted subject......

A quote from a 16 year old....."There are so
many things you have to do to survive now.
It used to be just clothes on your back, food
on the table and a roof over your head. Now,
it's everything".......

WHAT THE HECK IS EVERYTHING?

A quote from an 82 year old, regarding WWII
and having to ration almost everything:
sugar, leather shoes, tires, gas......"You made
do with the little you had because you had
to. We had coupon books and stamps to
figure out what we could have. Americans
have gotten so use to THINGS that we can't
take it when we hit a bad patch."

The 16 year old was wearing an "approved"
National Baseball League cap, a real
expensive piece of clothing and I suspect
an EVERYTHING item......Pumps

A small point of note......On the cover of their
July 14th, 2008 issue (Vol. 172, No 2 -2008)
is a picture of Mark Twain......There is also
a picture of Mr. Twain on page 49 of the
issue.......

What gets me is that the picture on the cover
of the magazine, drawn by Michael J. Deas
is of Tom Selleck, with gray hair.......

Tom Selleck on the cover of Time????....
Pumps

Everybody knows that the price of all food is
going up.....This blog is not about the food,
it is about the packaging......

Let's take coffee as an example......It comes
in a tin or in a plastic "can" with an easy
grip handle......

Well the plastic "can" is made from OIL,
good olde petroleum......

Now the price of the coffee bean and
shipping (Oil again) goes up....Then you
grind the beans and put them in a plastic
(HDPE) made from OIL container and
you keep on adding to the cost of the
basic product at the retail level......

The price of a TIN can has not increased
as much as OIL has......I suspect you
will find more sales in TIN cans than
you will in plastic (OIL) cans.......

Bottom line - If it comes in a plastic
(HDPE) container you WILL be paying
more for the item......Pumps